When in Rome, few were ancient

QUESTION What was the average lifespan for a citizen of Ancient Rome?

The average life expectancy for a Roman citizen was about 25 years — in the low to mid-20s for women (due to high mortality rates during childbirth) and the mid to late 20s for men. But this average figure is skewed by the high infant and child mortality rates.

During that era, as many as half of all children may have died before the age of ten. Life expectancy increased dramatically for those who survived childhood and a lucky few lived into their 60s or even 70s.

Much of the evidence for this comes from the census records of Roman egypt, the only part of the Roman world where such detailed information has survived. Details for individual households included names, family status and ages.

Such life expectancies are similar to those in China in the first millennium AD, 18th-century France, 19th-century Spain and Russia and India in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Many high-ranking Romans did live to old age. The emperor Augustus was in office until his death at the age of 75 in AD14. his stepson and successor Tiberius lived until he was 78. J. L. Schoenbaum, Birmingham.

QUESTION Shakespeare set many of his plays in foreign countries. Did he travel abroad?

FuRTheR to the earlier answer, some scholars have pointed to a letter written by the elizabethan poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney, from utrecht, in the Netherlands, on March 24, 1586, in which he alludes to ‘Will, my Lord of Lester’s jesting player’.

Some have suggested this was Shakespeare, appearing as one of a troupe of players on the Continent in his early years.

It is more widely believed, though, that it was Will Kempe, a celebrated clown.