Mary Beard (classicist)
Mary Beard | |
|---|---|
Beard in 2017 | |
| Born | Winifred Mary Beard 1 January 1955 Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, including Raphael |
| Awards |
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| Academic background | |
| Education | Newnham College, Cambridge (MA, PhD) |
| Thesis | The state religion in the late Roman Republic: a study based on the works of Cicero (1982) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Crook |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Classics |
| Sub-discipline | |
| Institutions | |
| Notable works | The Roman Triumph SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome |
Dame Winifred Mary Beard (born 1 January 1955) is an English classicist specialising in Ancient Rome. She is a trustee of the British Museum and formerly held a personal professorship of classics at the University of Cambridge. She is a fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, and Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature.
Beard is the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, for which she also writes a regular blog, "A Don's Life". Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist". In 2014, The New Yorker characterised her as "learned but accessible".