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" We make two mistakes about the ancient world. One is to assume they were better than us - that, for instance, the ancient Olympics didn't involve money-making. The opposite mistake, and just as common, is to think our Olympics are much more civilised than ancient sporting competitions. Neither is true. "

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" One of its most powerful weapons has always been 'barbarity': 'we' know that 'we' are civilised by contrasting ourselves with those we deem to be un-civilised, with those who do not - or cannot be trusted to - share our values. "

Mary Beard

Powerful

Values

Most

" I think you have to realize that most ancient warfare is really kind of hit and run, honestly. You go and you bash down the walls of some enemy 50 miles away and you take some slaves, you take some cattle, probably a bit of cash too, and then you say goodbye and go home and you probably do the same thing next year - or try to, or they do it to you. "

" In real life, Oxford and Cambridge are two excellent universities, like many others in the country. They are full of highly intelligent, hard-working, and quite ordinary students and teachers. "

" There's plenty of firm evidence for ethnic diversity in Roman Britain. "

" My mom was born before women had the vote in general elections in England. "

" It's a bit naff, but there is something exciting about pulling a bit of pottery out of the ground that's 2,000 years old. "

" If women are not perceived to be fully within the structures of power, surely it is power that we need to redefine rather than women? "

" The reason why the British theatrical tradition is world-leading in Greek drama is because there is a flourishing tradition of people rethinking Greek tragedy. "

" Classics isn't about the ancient world. It's partly about the ancient world, but it's about our conversation. It's how we try to talk to antiquity. "

" The thing about being a university teacher is that you're fairly tolerant about young people saying things they shouldn't have said. "

" Greek myths, early Roman history, is configured around violence against women. And I think we need to get in there, get our hands dirty, face it, and see why and how it was. "

" In general, I never think it is a good idea to try to recreate past successes. You have to strike out on your own, for better or worse. "

" My day job is working on Roman history and ancient Roman history. "

" I don't think that we are completely dominated by what we have inherited from the past, but it is the case that as far back as you can go - just to Homer, but also to the literature of Rome, the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance - what you will find is that women's voices are not taken seriously. "

" No women in ancient Rome ever had the vote. "

" I'm exploring the long history of women, first of all, being silenced and, secondly, not being taken seriously in the political and public sphere. It's a call to action through understanding and through looking at ourselves again and trying to reformulate the whole question of women and power. "

" You always regret upsetting people needlessly. "

" I was not much good as a waitress. "

" I do not think that the lives of women of my generation, as a class, were blighted by the way the power differentials between men and women operated. We wanted to change those power differentials; we also had a good time. "

" There is no argument that I won't take seriously. "

" I don't want to see a world in which women can communicate on Twitter, but their actual voices are not heard. "

" People who exploit others come to spend an enormous amount of energy wondering about and justifying that exploitation. "

" I'm actually in a tradition of classicists with a big public face who like sounding off. "

Mary Beard

Big

Face

" At 16, I got into local-education archaeology classes - you got to go to summer digs. It allowed me to be both intellectual and a bad girl with a wicked social life every evening! "

" However judicious academics may be - not like me - they are all taught to see through crap. "

Mary Beard

Through

See

" You don't overturn x-thousand years of patriarchy in a generation. "

" There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would want people to stop reading the 'Odyssey.' But I want them to read it with their eyes open. To notice it and then to think what it says about us. "

" Grey is my hair colour. I really can't see why I should change it. "

" Barring some sociopaths, probably, there is nobody who doesn't care about their appearance. "

" The gloomiest way of describing the ancient world is it is misogyny from A to Z, really. "