Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge
Seminar: March 29th, 2023
What can we learn from the past
to face the challenges of the future?
Mary Beard (Much Wenlock, England – 1955) is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Cambridge, Research Fellow at Newham College and Professor of Ancient Literature at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. She is a member of the British Academy of Arts and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and also an editor at The Times Literary Supplement and a regular collaborator at the BBC. Her studies have delved deep into issues such as the historical and social role of women, and the status of refugees. Her most important books include Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern (2021), Civilisations. How We Look & The Eye of Faith (2018), Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017), Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations (2013) and Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town (2009, awarded The Wolfson History Prize). In 2016 she was received the Princess of Asturias Award in Social Sciences and was included in the Order of the British Empire. In 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and in 2019 from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.