Mary Beard

Story Stream

What Did Roman Emperors Do All Day? December 12, 2024

Mary Beard’s excellent new book, Emperor of Rome, begins with a timeline of Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Alexander Severus that gives each emperor’s years of reign, a quick fact or two, and often, his manner of death. But these three pages ar...

An Interview with Mary Beard October 11, 2021

“And perhaps half the number of diet/self-help/well-being books would be quite sufficient,” says the classicist Mary Beard, whose latest book is “Twelve Caesars.”What books are on your night stand?Currently I am reading Elif Shafak’s “The Island of M...

Mary Beard Keeps History on the Move May 24, 2021

If you happen to be speaking with someone who is unfamiliar with Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire Mary Beard, it may take you a few tries to convey her cultural post. “Classicist” doesn’t quite capture it. “Celebrity historian” inche...