Last week, we caught up with City Lit Fellow and one of Britain’s most famous classicists Dame Mary Beard. Speaking with City Lit Chair of Governors Lindsay Nicholson, she talked about her new book Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient World.
As the name suggests, the discussion was all things Roman emperor. Attendees were treated to a fascinating hour, examining some of the myths around some of human history’s most famous rulers.
Dame Mary Beard is an English scholar who specialises in the Roman Empire. She’s had a 40-year academic career, including becoming a Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Newham College. Her distinguished career has seen her write over 20 books on the Ancient World. She's presented many television and radio programmes and is a trustee of the British museum.
Perhaps the crowning jewel though (certainly in our eyes anyway) is when she became a City Lit Fellow in 2020. What a pleasure it was to have her back in the college!
‘Same Play, Different Cast’
Most accounts of Roman emperors we’ve come to know so well focus on their differences. But with her new book, Dame Mary Beard chose to look at the similarities between these rulers. “I was very frustrated with the way this piece of history was being told,” she told the audience at City Lit.
Quoting Marcus Aurelius, she described the Roman emperor position as the “same play, different cast.”
She went on to examine emperors more generally. She delved into the power dynamic of the Roman Empire, the process of succession and the gender stereotypes that existed in Ancient Rome which still exist today. After a back-and-forth Q&A, Mary treated the audience to a book signing, in what was a great evening all-round.
Flying the flag for education
Being the face of modern classics, Dame Mary Beard’s influence on education has been enormous. A Guardian profile from 2018 described her interaction with a group of English schoolgirls. “They went insane,” a colleague of hers said, “it was like they’d seen a boyband.”
Her reach extends well beyond the many fortunate Cambridge students she taught every year. Her books such as ‘SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome’ and ‘Woman & Power – A Manifesto’ have also been hugely influential on historical and classical studies.
At City Lit, Professor Beard has also previously spoken at City Lit’s Classics Day event, which runs every summer.
As well as our Classical History events, City Lit also runs a varied range of classics courses.
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