Mary Beard's Roman Empire

Filmmaker Kasimir Burgess travelled to Mongolia to follow two young men on their gruelling journey to bring 2000 horses to safer pastures during an exceptionally brutal winter.For centuries, the herders of Tsakhir Valley in Mongolia have protected their horses from the harsh wint ...  Show more

Award-winning Australian author, poet and essayist David Malouf died last week at the age of 92, he spoke with Richard in 2014.The first son of a Lebanese family, David spent his early years in South Brisbane, his vivid memories of life as it was then are captured in his classics ...  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 ...