Mary Beard's Roman Empire

Writer Drusilla Modjeska has built a career exploring the extraordinary lives of pioneering women writers and artists, who have never stopped asking important questions about gender, freedom and expression.Drusilla was born in England right at the end of the Second World War.She ...  Show more

New York Times columnist and author M.Gessen on the slow strangulation of democracy, happening right now in Trump's America.M Gessen grew up in the Soviet Union and migrated to the US as a teenager before returning to Russia in the 90s to cover the country's brief attempt at demo ...  Show more

This week David asks Mary Beard what the Roman Empire can tell us about the nature of unaccountable power, then and now. How did Roman emperors rule when they had so little knowledge of the lives of their subjects? Can absolute personal power ever escape the limits of biology, fr ...  Show more

What happens at a Roman emperor's dinner party? Why would you be lucky to get out alive? And how are emperors even chosen?

Joining Kate today is the one, the only Mary Beard, to take us back to Ancient Rome and help separate the facts from the myths.

Mary's ...

What did Roman emperors actually do all day? Were they really as bloodthirsty as legend would suggest? And why was food so important? Speaking to Matt Elton, popular historian, author and broadcaster Mary Beard tackles some of the big questions about life as a Roman emperor, prof ...  Show more

What did it take to become a Roman emperor? Pliny the Elder wrote that a ruler should be generous, victorious in battle and a father to his people. But how many emperors were able to live up to these expectations? And were these really traits that the typical Roman cared about ...