Mary Beard's Roman Empire

Debra Richardson joined the police at age 18 in the 1980s, working undercover as a prostitute and surviving the Russell Street bombing. Years later, she met her foster son, Yuri, who had also survived disaster.Deb and her family met Yuri after they agreed to care for one of the m ... Show More

From Wollongong to London, via Alice Springs, this is writer Nikki Gemmell on her deeply romantic life, and how she defied expectations to become a famous author.Nikki grew up the daughter of a coalminer father who thought writers were a burden on society, while her mum taught Ni ... Show More

Professor George Williams was uninterested in school, instead spending his time melting down lead to sell to a nearby scrap yard. Then a special primary school teacher gave him permanent detention, which changed his life.Growing up in Sydney, he was the rebellious child of a sing ... 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

<p>What happens at a Roman emperor's dinner party? Why would you be lucky to get out alive? And how are emperors even chosen?</p><br><p>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.</p><br><p>Mary's ... Show More

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

<p>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 ... Show More

In the late 4th century and early 5th centuries two massive largely-Germanic confederations arrived on Roman borders, having been uprooted from their homelands by the Huns. These were the Goths and the Vandals. Both peoples would become prime enemies of the Roman Empires in the E ... Show More

This week, we drop in on a conversation between Mary Beard and two former TLS editors; and Anne Enright joins us to talk about turning poet in her new novel.'Emperor of Rome: Ruling the ancient Roman world', by Mary Beard'Big Caesars and little Caesars: How they rise and how they ... Show More

Born Varius Avitus Bassianus, the emperor now known as Elagabalus scandalized ancient Rome with his constant displays of extravagance, his numerous sexual escapades -- and his insistence that all people worship the sun god Elagabal (represented by a mysterious black stone he brou ... Show More