Mary Beard

Mary Beard on Emperor of Rome

'The world's most famous classicist,' Mary Beard, will join us in Younger Hall for her epic new book Emperor of Rome, a sweeping account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors.

In her international best-seller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome.

Now, she shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE).

But Emperor of Rome is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Beard asks bigger questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman (and our own) fantasies about what it was to be Roman, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

Mary Beard is Professor Emerita of Classics at Cambridge, and the classics editor of the TLS. She has worldwide academic acclaim and has become a beloved writer and presenter to the British public. Her previous books include the bestselling, Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii, Confronting the Classics, SPQR.