Today, Beard is a preeminent scholar of the ancient world, but she’s the kind who writes for a popular audience. It’s in her latest book, “Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old,” that she writes about that fossilized bread. It reveals part of what Beard finds so compelling about the classical world — while a humble, baked good is totally familiar, it’s also a reminder that ancient people were much like us. But they also weren’t entirely like us. Beard’s work takes place between those two ideas, the familiar and the strange. She’s joining us to talk about why studying the ancient Greeks and Romans still matters, what they have to teach us, and, of course, what she thought about Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey.”
GUEST –
Mary Beard | She’s a classicist and the author of numerous books, including “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome” and “Women & Power: A Manifesto.” Her latest is “Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old.”
Airdate: July 30, 2026