When it comes to timing, Doyenne of Classics Mary Beard has done very well. The release of her new book, “Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient World,” has coincided with the viral TikTok trend where women ask the men in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire (it turns out, a lot).
At her book launch last night, Beard joked that her publisher had started the trend as a publicity stunt. “And they got away with it, no one suspects them!” she said. Beard also called for a “special toast” to the beleaguered British Museum, “because it needs it”. Later Beard told us that she reckons part of the Roman Empire’s appeal for men is the fantasy of being “a big, butch, posh white man in a military skirt.”
Beard has long been an advocate for getting all kinds of people into Classics, but thinks that people like Boris Johnson, who is known to slip into Ancient Greek in his speeches, don’t help the image of Classics as a public school boys’ club. “When kids who feel that they’re not privileged, and they hear that very kind of posh, conservative view of the classics, mouthed by the Tory PM, it kind of puts them off the subject a bit,” she said.
When it comes to similarities between Roman Emperors and our leaders today, one thing hasn’t changed. “We expect too much of them,” she said. “People expected too much of Roman Emperors too. They’re only human, they’re feeble. Sometimes talented, sometimes less talented, but ordinary human beings.”
Just don’t ask Dame Mary for direct comparisons. When Donald Trump was president, she grew sick of being quizzed on which Roman Emperor he was most like. “Either you sit down and say ‘Right, where are we going to start? If you’ve got ten minutes I can explain why that’s a stupid question.’ Or, you give them an Emperor they’ve never heard of,” she said. “I thought, I’m going to at least make you do some Googling.”
The book launch was held at The House of St. Barnabas in Soho, which Beard likes because it was a refuge for “fallen women” in the nineteenth century. She is dressed in a low key outfit, wearing a blazer and black trousers. But one former student at Cambridge recalled the rather more outlandish clothes her professor wore to lectures: “pink trainers, sparkly gold leggings, and a Kylie Minogue t-shirt”. Not your average Don’s uniform.
