Humanities on the Hill: Mary Beard & Chris Celenza

Mary Beard, Cambridge Professor Emerita, is one of Britain’s best-known Classicists. She has written numerous highly-acclaimed books including Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town, SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome, Women & Power and Twelve Caesars – Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern. Mary’s most recent book, Emperor of Rome, delves a little deeper into what it actually meant to be a Roman emperor, offering insights into the nature of the person and the role.

Mary is a regular broadcaster and media commentator and has written and presented television documentaries on history and culture as well as the highly-acclaimed TV series, Meet the Romans and Rome – Empire without Limit. Mary is Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books and writes an engaging blog, A Don’s Life.

Mary’s scholarship has been recognized on both sides of the Atlantic: by the British Academy, the American Academy and the American Philosophical Society amongst others. She was made a Dame in 2018 for services to Classical scholarship, is a trustee of the British Museum and has also been awarded the prestigious Getty Medal. Mary is currently based in Washington at the National Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts for the 2024-2025 academic year as Kress-Beinecke Professor.

Host or Publisher The Alexander Grass Humanities Institute