Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town

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Now, in a new book, the inventor of that test, the Cambridge classicist Mary Beard, has provided her own reconstruction of Pompeii. As her concern with dormice suggests, she is a historian who has always been fascinated by the stereotypes we have of ancient Rome: both how they came into being, and how valid they are likely to be. Indeed, such is the relish with which she goes about her myth-busting that it seems to reflect not scorn, but rather a wry affection for the myths themselves. What better theme for her, then, than Pompeii? After all, ever since excavations of the buried city began in the mid-18th century, it has provided us with the nearest thing we are ever likely to have to a freeze-frame from the ancient past - and yet many of our presumptions about what it can teach us turn out, on closer inspection, to crumble to dust. Hence what Beard, coining another catchy formula, terms the "Pompeii paradox": "that we simultaneously know a huge amount and very little about ancient life there". For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Beard graduated from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. As per tradition, her BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree. [15] [16] She remained at Cambridge for her Doctor of Philosophy ( PhD) degree, completing it in 1982 with a doctoral thesis titled The State Religion in the Late Roman Republic: A Study Based on the Works of Cicero. [8] [17] Academic career [ edit ] Honorary graduate archive". Congregations - University of Kent. 29 April 2022 . Retrieved 8 February 2023. The Sather Professor". University of California, Berkeley Department of Classics. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012 . Retrieved 16 July 2008.

What Was Everyday Life Like In Pompeii? | Pompeii with Mary

Discover the fascinating history of the humble notebook, from the bustling markets of medieval Florence to the quiet studies of our greatest thinkers. This is the perfect read for stationery fans and history buffs alike! A] wry, recondite and colorful story of what is known and what is conjectured about life in Pompeii before the fall… Like a canny cook making a banquet from scant means, Beard creates a living Pompeii for the reader from the hard evidence at her disposal. Though she is a skeptic, never pretending to ingredients she doesn’t have in her larder, she knows how to take the gaudy razzmatazz of a building’s facade or the messy amalgam of workaday shops jumbled with mansions, and make them do a little singing for the reader… This is a lively piece of work, with an easy familiarity and obvious pleasure in the subject, wearing its knowledge lightly, and not above some mischievous poking at Pompeii’s many controversies. ” —Peter Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle List of Laureates: Mary Beard". Princess of Asturias Awards. Fundación Princesa de Asturias . Retrieved 29 January 2017. A Point of View, The Oxbridge Interview". BBC Radio 4. 27 November 2011 . Retrieved 29 January 2017. In December 2015, Beard was again a panellist on BBC's Question Time from Bath. [46] During the programme, she praised Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for behaving with a "considerable degree of dignity" against claims he faces an overly hostile media. She said: "Quite a lot of what Corbyn says I agree with, and I rather like his different style of leadership. I like hearing argument not soundbites. If the Labour Party is going through a rough time, and I'm sure it is rough to be in there, it might actually all be to the good. He might be changing the party in a way that would make it easier for people like me to vote for." [47]

Pompeii continues to surprise me

In 2013 she presented Caligula with Mary Beard on BBC Two, describing the making of myths around leaders and dictators. [44] Interviewers continued to ask about her self-presentation, and she reiterated that she had no intention of undergoing a make-over. [45] In 2007–2008, Beard gave the Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. [23] This captivating A-Z compendium by #KateSummerscale explores the world in 99 obsessions - from spiders to clowns to all that will make your skin crawl. Oh Do Shut Up Dear! Mary Beard on the Public Voice of Women". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021 . Retrieved 1 August 2021. In 2020, Beard was named a trustee of the British Museum. [93] The Parthenon Marbles housed in the museum are the subject of a longstanding international controversy. Following reports that after intense public pressure, [94] [95] the British Museum had discussed with the Greek government the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens, Beard struggled to enunciate reasons for the collection to remain in the British Museum. [96] Beliefs [ edit ]

Pompeii - Life and Death in a Roman Town ( Mary Beard ) Pompeii - Life and Death in a Roman Town ( Mary Beard )

Elliott, Cath (27 April 2011). "Cameron's 'Calm down, dear' is a classic sexist put-down | Cath Elliott". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 April 2020. O’Donovan, Gerard (26 July 2013). "Mary Beard takes on Caligula, the emperor with the worst reputation in history". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 3 December 2017.If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. Corresponding Members - Archaeological Institute of America". Archaeological.org . Retrieved 10 November 2018. Demianyk, Graeme (10 December 2015). "BBC Question Time: Cambridge Scholar Mary Beard Thinks Jeremy Corbyn Has Acted With 'Dignity' Against Hostile Media". The Huffington Post . Retrieved 1 May 2018.

BBC Two - Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town

In 2019, Beard appeared in an episode of The Grand Tour, having dinner with host James May, in his effort to get his car photographed by paparazzi. [52] In The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found Mary Beard cheerfully dismantles as many assumptions about what we are looking at in the city’s remains as she constructs hypotheses. She shows conclusively that the city was not entirely taken unawares by the eruption. ” —Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe

And how does Beard herself fare with the dormouse test? Sure enough, some three-quarters of the way through Pompeii, we are shown the illustration of a "dormouse-jar": a curious pot in which the wretched rodents could be kept alive while being fattened up. It is an image that perfectly sums up the portrait of Pompeii we are given in this learned and fascinating book: a myth that is not wholly a myth, but something even more remarkable and strange. Partly they’re larger-than-life recreations of us. They have our faults but they’re bloodier and more lascivious; they have more exciting sex lives, that’s part of it. But also they’ve formed a template of power and what power is since the ancient world itself. So I think we’re curious about how they did it, even if we disapprove. It’s always a timely moment to think about one-man rule and the politics of corruption, dictatorship and autocracy The scepticism that defines Beard’s intellectual approach – so clearly on display in Pompeii – was drummed into her early, when she was a student. Her tutor was Joyce Reynolds, who is now 99 years old. “She is probably working in the library right now,” said Beard. Reynolds would say to her: “Do you really know that, Miss Beard? Is that the only way you can interpret the evidence?” saw Beard present Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed with Mary Beard on BBC One in March. [48] While May 2016, brought about a four-part series shown on BBC Two, titled Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit. [49]