I agree. After reading a few Tom Holland books (not really historical fiction) like Dominion, under the shadow of the sword, millennium, Rubicon you start to realise how awful ancient civilizations were. Slavery was just a just an accepted norm. Likelyhood of disease or famine killing you was way higher. Worst of all was probably lack of proper plumbing. Until fairly recently, human existence for the majority, was a picture of hell.