Indeed, all roads were to lead to Rome, and here was the Professor, striding along the Appian Way. Did the greatness of Rome and its power happen because of their empire-building, or did the Romans create the empire because they were already powerful? Scholars still argue whether Rome conquered Greece or Greece conquered Rome Why the Romans? was her fundamental question. The first instalment included examinations of the city of Rome, journeys around what became the Roman sea, the Mediterranean ( Mare Nostrum, Our Sea) with some stopovers, and nifty aerial maps to show us Rome’s expansion. (View the archived video at .) As the Lucy Shoe Meritt Scholar in Residence, she returns to the Academy in the winter for eight weeks.Inviting us to share her passionate interest in Roman history, she was almost obsessively determined to ensure that we too can understand why the subject is so compelling and important.

Titled “ The Classical Body: The Naked and the Nude,” Beard’s talk was delivered to a packed house at the Villa Aurelia. The book contains text and images that complement her episodes in Civilisations, the epic BBC and PBS documentary television series that premiered earlier this year.īeard gave the Christina Huemer Lectureship at the Academy on September 25 that inaugurated the 2018–19 series of events, New Work in the Arts & Humanities: The Body. Beard’s newest book, How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization (2018), looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity, from prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul. Since 1992 she has been the classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, which also hosts her popular blog, A Don’s Life.

She is the author of eighteen books on society and culture in the ancient world, including Women and Power: A Manifesto (2017), The Roman Triumph (2007), and The Parthenon (2002). Mary Beard is professor of classics at Newnham College, University of Cambridge.

Roman history mary beard