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Faculty of Classics

 

Biography

I am Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

Publications

Key publications: 

Books

Pompeii: the life of a Roman Town (London and Cambridge, MA., 2008)
The Roman Triumph (Cambridge, Ma., 2007)
The Colosseum (with Keith Hopkins) (London and Cambridge, Ma, 2004)
The Parthenon (London and Cambridge, Ma., 2002)
Classical Art: from Greece to Rome (with John Henderson) (Oxford, 2001)
The Invention of Jane Harrison (Cambridge, Ma., 2000)
Religions of Rome (with John North and Simon Price), (Cambridge, 1998)
Classics: a very short introduction (with John Henderson) (Oxford, 1995)
Pagan Priests (ed. with John North) (London, 1990)
The Good Working Mother's Guide (London, 1989)
Rome in the Late Republic (with Michael Crawford) (London, 1985, 2nd ed. 1999)

Among my favourite articles are:

“While Ridgeway lives research can ne’er be dull”, in C. Stray (ed.), The Owl of Minerva: Cambridge Praelections 1906 (Cambridge, 2004)
"Ciceronian Correspondences: making a Book out of Letters", in T. P. Wiseman (ed.), Classics in Progress, ( London , 2002), 103-144
"Looking (harder) for Roman myth:  Dumézil, declamation and the problems of definition" in F. Graf (ed.), Mythos in mythenloser Gesellschaft:  das Paradeigma Roms (Coll. Rauricum III, Stuttgart, 1993), 44-64
"Souvenirs of culture:  deciphering (in) the museum", Art History 15 (1992), 505-32
"A Complex of Times:  no more sheep on Romulus ' birthday", PCPhS  1987, 1-15 (reprinted in C. Ando (ed.), Roman Religion ( Edinburgh , 2003))
"The Sexual Status of Vestal Virgins", JRS  70 (1980), 12-27

Teaching and Supervisions

Research supervision: 

Recent topics: The culture of Roman display; Roman colour; paradigms of power in the Roman empire.

Professor of Classics
Professor Mary  Beard

Contact Details

c/o Debbie Whittaker PA
Newnham College
Cambridge, CB3 9DF
dw365@cam.ac.uk
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Latest news

Teaching Associate in Greek literature (Temporary Cover)

6 February 2025

The Faculty of Classics is seeking to appoint a Temporary Teaching Associate in Classics (Greek literature) from 1 October 2025 for two years. This post is open to those, at any stage in their career, with a primary research and teaching interest in ancient Greek literature. The successful applicant will benefit from the...

Assistant Professor in Classics (Ancient Greek History)

4 February 2025

The Faculty of Classics is seeking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Classics (Ancient Greek History) from 1 September 2025. The role is open to those, at any stage in their career, with a primary research interest in Archaic/Classical/Hellenistic Greek History. The successful candidate will have the ability, or be...

Philip Leverhulme Prizes 2024

18 October 2024

The Faculty is delighted to announce that both Dr Lea Niccolai and Dr Henry Spelman have been awarded Philip Leverhulme Prizes in the 2024 competition. Professor Anna Vignoles, Director of the Leverhulme Trust, said: “Now in its twenty-third year, this scheme continues to attract applications from extraordinarily high...

Elen Wynne Vanstone Award

3 October 2024

The Faculty would like to congratulate Sólveig Hilmarsdóttir for winning the The British Federation of Women Graduates' Elen Wynne Vanstone Award for her work Talis homo qualis oratio: social status and its connection to the language of Roman writers. Sólveig works on the interface between Latin linguistics and Latin...