Talking Classics : The Shock of the Old by Professor Mary Beard SIGNED COPY

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF EMPEROR OF ROME AND SPQR

'The rock star scholar of Ancient Rome' FINANCIAL TIMES

'The reigning Queen of Classics' SPECTATOR

What's exciting about a piece of bread 4,000 years old? Or some pots of paint abandoned in the eruption at Pompeii? Why should we be bothered with the distant past anyway? What's the point?The life, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome have something to offer everyone. They are not the property of wealthy white men only. They make us wonder how to make sense of people who lived long ago (from angry landlords to giggling senators) - and to think harder about our own world, to look at it differently.

In Talking Classics, Mary Beard points to the surprising connections between antiquity and the present. From revolutionaries to dictators, Bob Dylan to Beyoncé, she joins forces with the varied modern characters who have been transfixed by the ancient world. It's not compulsory, she argues, to be excited by antiquity, but it's a shame not to be.

After half a century teaching and studying classics, she fills the book with lively stories, curious facts and some good gossip. Talking Classics explains why the deep past does really affect us all.

Format:Hardback 208 pages, integrated photographs/illustrations
Publisher:Profile Books Ltd
Imprint:Profile Books Ltd
Edition:Main
ISBN:9781805220312
Embargoed until:16 Apr 2026
Classifications:Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, BCE to c 500 CE, European history, Ancient history: to c 500 CE
Weight:324g
Dimensions:143 x 224 x 27 (mm)