Past is prologue: For Mary Beard, history only remains relevant when shared

MUMBAI: It was a slice of cake that did it for Mary Beard. The lecture, based on Beard’s recent best-selling book “Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World”, focused on the novelty and surprise of Greco-Roman classical art and how they represented what they held as divine. I hope the world gets to know about because this seems to be a real message for the future.” Women and power Proclaimed a “national treasure and the world’s most famous classicist” by The Guardian, Beard’s book, “Women and Power” climbed the bestseller lists when it was published in 2018. “It’s about ideas of authority, certainly in the West that go back thousands of years.” Virtual reality As the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement,, Beard was also pushed into using social media forums like X, where she has remained a regular and steady presence despite the hate and vitriol that’s been directed towards her – for her views she has expressed. But for Beard, it remains important to speak up, “A lot of young women have told me it’s been helpful for them to see me calmly responding to someone who said, ‘You look like a witch’ and reply with, ‘You know, that’s an old joke.’” The natural ease with which Beard responds on X is also characteristic of her nuanced academic work, which stands out in an increasingly polarised world.