Mary Beard and Charlotte Higgins on how antiquity shapes the modern world (Part One)

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How does the classical world shape our politics, culture, language and lives today? On today’s episode, we’re joined by two of the greatest names making classics accessible for the modern day. Dame Mary Beard is a classicist who taught at Cambridge for almost 40 years. She has close to 20 books to her name, including Pompeii, which won the Wolfson History Prize, SPQR and Emperor of Rome, both of which were bestsellers in the UK and US. Charlotte Higgins is the chief culture writer of the Guardian. She studied Classics at university , and has since written many books on this topic, including Greek Myths: A New Retelling. Charlotte and Mary sat down with classicist and author Honor Cargill-Martin to explore taking a ‘post-truth’ approach to antiquity, how the idea of the Romans have been used as a political tool throughout history, and what the Greeks got right and wrong about human nature. You can find more of Mary and Charlotte discussing antiquity and the present day on their new podcast, Instant Classics, available to watch or listen weekly from Thursday August 28. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:15.0	instead ask more of your phone google pixel 10 welcome to intelligence squared where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Serente.
1:30.3	Today we're joined by two of the greatest names making classics accessible for the modern day.
1:35.3	Dame Mary Beard is a classicist who taught at Cambridge for almost 40 years.
1:40.3	She has close to 20 books in her name, including Pompeii, which won the Wolfson History Prize,
1:45.6	SPQR and Emperor of Rome, both of which were bestsellers in the UK and the US.
1:51.6	Charlotte Higgins is the chief culture writer of The Guardian.
1:54.5	She studied classics at university and has since written many books on this topic,
1:58.6	including Greek myths, a new retelling.
2:01.9	Charlotte and Mary sat down with classicist and author Honour Carl Gilmartin to discuss their
	...

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