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, and Women & Power and Twelve Caesars – Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern. In addition Mary wrote The Invention of Jane Harrison, a biography exploring the life and work of the pioneering Cambridge Classicist. 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.

A regular broadcaster and media commentator, Mary 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.