Professor Mary Beard DBE

Mary Beard is one of Britain's best-known Classicists - Professor at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Newnham College.

She has written numerous books including the Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town, the best-selling SPQR A History of Ancient Rome and the thought-provoking Women & Power. Mary has presented highly-acclaimed TV series, including Meet the Romans and Rome – Empire without Limit, hosts a BBC television arts show, Inside Culture, and is a regular media commentator.

Mary was co-presenter of the BBC landmark series, Civilisations, for which she wrote an accompanying book. She is also Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement and writes an engaging blog, A Don's Life. Made an OBE in 2013 for services to Classical scholarship, Mary was further made a Dame in 2018.

Other accolades include Royal Academy Professor of Ancient Literature, Fellow of the British Academy, 2019 recipient of the J.Paul Getty medal and most recently Mary was appointed a Trustee of the British Museum.

Her latest book, Twelve Caesars – Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern, will be published in autumn 2021.