Bøger af Mary Beard

Det klassiske Rom er vigtig. Imperiet, erobringerne, grusomhederne og udskejelserne er stadig en reference i vores samfund. Myterne og historierne – fra Romulus og Remus til Lucretias krænkede dyd – finder stadig klangbund hos os. Og i dag er de romerske idealer angående statsborgerskab, sikkerhed og individuelle rettigheder samfundsmæssige normer. I SPQR anlægger Mary Beard – en af verdens førende forskere i det antikke Roms historie – et nyt perspektiv ikke kun på den utrolige udvikling fra en ubetydelig landsby i det central Italien til en supermagt, der kontrollerede landområder fra Spanien til Syrien, men også på, hvordan romerne så sig selv og deres resultater, og hvorfor de stadig er vigtige for os. Vi følger tusind års historie, hvor der kastes nyt lys på velkendte forhold fra slaveri til rindende vand, og hvor også demokratiet, religiøse konflikter, social mobilitet og økonomisk udnyttelse udforskes i den store sammenhæng, som Det Romerske Imperium udgjorde. Mary Beard undersøger ikke blot, hvordan vi tænker på det gamle Rom, men udfordrer også de bekvemme historiske forestillinger, der har eksisteret i århundreder. Med et nuanceret blik på klasse, demokratiske kampe, og på hele befolkningsgrupper, som har været udeladt fra den historiske fortælling i århundreder, vil SPQR uvægerligt præge de kommende årtiers opfattelse af romersk historie. SPQR er en forkortelse af Senatus Populusque Romanus (”senatet og det romerske folk”) og er romernes eget udtryk for deres republiks højeste myndighed.

Bogen bringer antikkens verden til live på dynamisk, åndrig og autoritativ vis.Pompejis ruiner, som blev begravet da det vulkanske bjerg Vesuv eksploderede i 79 e.Kr., udgør det bedste vidnesbyrd vi har om dagligdagen i Romerriget. Denne bemærkelsesværdige bog tager udfordringen op med hensyn til at få disse levninger til at give mening, ligesom den gør op med mange myter: selve datoen for udbruddet, som formentlig fandt sted nogle få måneder senere end almindeligt antaget, eller hygiejnen i badene, som må have været et arnested for bakterier, eller det legendariske antal bordeller, som sandsynligvis blot var et enkelt, eller det enorme dødstal, som muligvis var mindre end ti procent af befolkningen.Et usædvanligt og medrivende portræt af en by i oldtiden, dens liv og fortsatte genopdagelse, af en af Storbritanniens førende antikforskere. "Verdens mest kontroversielle forsker i antikken piller vores filmagtige myter om den romerske by fra hinanden med grundig forskning og medrivende energi (…) I lige dele granskende og animeret.”Daily Mail ”Denne vidunderlige bog vandt Wolfson-prisen, og den udgør et forbillede for raffineret, men tilgængelig formidling om fortiden.” The Guardian ”Mary Beards rundvisning fra soveværelserne til bestyrelseslokalerne i en romersk by er uanstændigt underholdende for en så højlærd og skeptisk afmytologiserende bog.”The Independent ”Et fremragende portræt (…) Dette grundige, livlige studie af livet i byen (…) fokuserer berettiget og konsekvent på den levende by.”Sunday Times ”Antikforskeren Mary Beard har haft det forrygende mens hun rodede rundt i den spøgelsesagtige by, og hun har på storartet vis bragt den til live igen.”Sunday Telegraph ”Hun tilfører et menneskeligt element til Pompeji-forskningens enorme felt (…) Denne fængslende, nysgerrige og kærlige fortælling om Pompeji er et forbilledligt et af slagsen. Beard har fanget essensen af det som var, og som, i vor egen tilværelse i dag, stadig er det samme.”The Times ”Meget læselig og særdeles velunderbygget (…) Beards klarsynede og tilgængelige stil gør denne bog til et overbevisende blik ind i historien.”The Observer

Mary Beard fortalte i sin internationale bestseller SPQR den tusind år lange historie om oldtidens Rom. I sin nye bog retter hun søgelyset mod de kejsere, der herskede over Romerriget. Fra Julius Cæsar (myrdet 44 f.v.t.) til Alexander Severus (myrdet i 235 e.v.t.). Kejser af Rom er ikke den sædvanlige kronologiske fremstilling om de romerske herskere, den ene efter den anden: den gale Caligula, uhyret Nero, filosoffen Marcus Aurelius. Mary Beard stiller i stedet for de store spørgsmål: Hvilken magt havde kejserne egentlig? Var det romerske palads virkelig så blodbestænket? Hun følger kejseren i hans hjem, på væddeløbsbanen, på hans rejser, ja selv på hans vej til himlen. Hun præsenterer os for hans hustruer og elskere, rivaler og slaver, hofnarre og soldater – og de almindelige mennesker, der trykkede deres tiggerbreve i hænderne på ham. Kejser af Rom går lige i kødet på de romerske (og vore egne) fantasier om, hvad det ville sige at være romer, og den giver en fremstilling af den romerske historie, som den aldrig tidligere er blevet fortalt.

De tolv cæsarer er en fascinerende historie om, hvordan afbildningerne af de romerske magthavere har påvirket kunsten, kulturen og billedet af magten i mere end 2000 år. Hvordan ser magtens ansigt ud? Hvem fejres i kunsten og hvorfor? Og hvordan reagerer vi på statuer af politikere, vi ikke bryder os om? I De tolv cæsarer fortæller Mary Beard – med udgangspunkt i vore dages ”skulpturkrige” – hvordan portrætterne af de rige, de mægtige og de berømte i den vestlige verden er blevet formet af billedet af de romerske kejsere, især de tolv cæsarer, fra den hensynsløse Julius Cæsar til den fluepinende Domitian. Bogen undersøger, hvorfor disse morderiske autokrater har optrådt så ofte i kunsten fra antikken og renæssancen frem til i dag, hvor politiske ledere stadig kan risikere at blive karikeret. Til grund for bogen ligger et fascinerende detektivarbejde, og Mary Beard fortæller en medrivende historie om nogle af de mest udfordrende og foruroligende magtportrætter, der nogensinde er blevet skabt.

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 yearsWhat does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book-against a background of today's "e;sculpture wars"e;-Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the "e;Twelve Caesars,"e; from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian. Twelve Caesars asks why these murderous autocrats have loomed so large in art from antiquity and the Renaissance to today, when hapless leaders are still caricatured as Neros fiddling while Rome burns.Beginning with the importance of imperial portraits in Roman politics, this richly illustrated book offers a tour through 2,000 years of art and cultural history, presenting a fresh look at works by artists from Memling and Mantegna to the nineteenth-century American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, as well as by generations of weavers, cabinetmakers, silversmiths, printers, and ceramicists. Rather than a story of a simple repetition of stable, blandly conservative images of imperial men and women, Twelve Caesars is an unexpected tale of changing identities, clueless or deliberate misidentifications, fakes, and often ambivalent representations of authority.From Beard's reconstruction of Titian's extraordinary lost Room of the Emperors to her reinterpretation of Henry VIII's famous Caesarian tapestries, Twelve Caesars includes fascinating detective work and offers a gripping story of some of the most challenging and disturbing portraits of power ever created.Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Vuelve Mary Beard con la continuación de SPQR. Una nueva manera de ver el Imperio Romano. ¿Fanáticos del control, adictos al trabajo o adolescentes malcriados? ¿Cómo eran realmente los emperadores de Roma? En SPQR, Mary Beard narró la historia milenaria de la antigua Roma. En este nuevo libro centra su atención en los emperadores que gobernaron el Imperio romano para darnos una versión matizada y más precisa de estas glorificadas figuras clásicas. Desde Julio César (asesinado en el 44 a.C.) hasta Alejandro Severo (asesinado en el 235 d.C.), pasando por el loco de Calígula, el monstruoso Nerón y el filósofo Marco Aurelio, Mary Beard recorre la vida y los mitos de los grandes gobernantes romanos y nos plantea grandes preguntas: ¿qué poder real ostentaban los emperadores?, ¿quién movía los hilos entre bambalinas?, ¿cómo se gobernaba un imperio tan vasto?, ¿realmente estaban las paredes de palacio tan manchadas de sangre? Para darnos respuesta y acercarnos un poco más a la realidad imperial, Mary Beard sigue los pasos del emperador de cerca: en su hogar y en las carreras, en sus viajes e, incluso, de camino hacia el cielo; nos presenta a sus esposas y amantes, a sus rivales y esclavos, a los bufones y soldados de la corte y a la gente corriente que le entregaba cartas de súplica. Emperador de Roma nos lleva directamente hasta el corazón de Roma, y de nuestras fantasías sobre lo que era ser romano, a través de un relato como nunca antes se había contado. «Un relato arrollador del mundo social y político de los emperadores romanos por "la clasicista más famosa del mundo"». --The Guardian ENGLISH DESCRIPTION INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Best Books of 2023: New Yorker, The Economist, Smithsonian Most Anticipated Books of Fall: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, TODAY, Literary Hub, and Publishers Weekly "A vivid way to re-examine what we know, and don't, about life at the top.... Emperor of Rome is a masterly group portrait, an invitation to think skeptically but not contemptuously of a familiar civilization." ―Kyle Harper, Wall Street Journal A sweeping account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors by "the world's most famous classicist" ―The Guardian.In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome, from its slightly shabby Iron Age origins to its reign as the undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean. Now, drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and writing about Roman history, Beard turns to the emperors who ruled the Roman Empire, beginning with Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) and taking us through the nearly three centuries―and some thirty emperors―that separate him from the boy-king Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE). Yet Emperor of Rome is not your typical chronological account of Roman rulers, one emperor after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Instead, Beard asks different, often larger and more probing questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? What kind of jokes did Augustus tell? And for that matter, what really happened, for example, between the emperor Hadrian and his beloved Antinous? Effortlessly combining the epic with the quotidian, Beard tracks the emperor down at home, at the races, on his travels, even on his way to heaven. With its finely nuanced portrayal of sex, class, and politics, Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman fantasies (and our own) about what it was to be Roman at its richest, most luxurious, most extreme, most powerful, and most deadly, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before. 160 images, 16 page color insert.

In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome, from its slightly shabby Iron Age origins to its reign as the undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean. Now, drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and writing about Roman history, Beard turns to the emperors who ruled the Roman Empire, beginning with Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) and taking us through the nearly three centuries-and some thirty emperors-that separate him from the boy-king Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE).Yet Emperor of Rome is not your typical chronological account of Roman rulers, one emperor after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Instead, Beard asks different, often larger and more probing questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? What kind of jokes did Augustus tell? And for that matter, what really happened, for example, between the emperor Hadrian and his beloved Antinous? Effortlessly combining the epic with the quotidian, Beard tracks the emperor down at home, at the races, on his travels, even on his way to heaven.Along the way, Beard explores Roman fictions of imperial power, overturning many of the assumptions that we hold as gospel, not the least of them the perception that emperors one and all were orchestrators of extreme brutality and cruelty. Here Beard introduces us to the emperor's wives and lovers, rivals and slaves, court jesters and soldiers, and the ordinary people who pressed begging letters into his hand-whose chamber pot disputes were adjudicated by Augustus, and whose budgets were approved by Vespasian, himself the son of a tax collector.With its finely nuanced portrayal of sex, class, and politics, Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman fantasies (and our own) about what it was to be Roman at its richest, most luxurious, most extreme, most powerful, and most deadly, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

"From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years. What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore?"--

"First published in Great Britain in 2002 by Profile Books"--T.p. verso.

Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site in the world, visited by more than two million people each year. Here, acclaimed historian Beard explores what kind of town it was, and what it can reveal about "ordinary" life there.

Begun in 1878 by a prominent Danish family, the collection now housed in Copenhagen's renowned Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek includes exceptional Greek, Roman, and Etruscan sculptures, works by Danish Golden Age artists and by French artists such as Rodin and Carpeaux, and notable canvases and ceramics by Paul Gauguin. Published to coincide with an exhibition of works from the Glyptotek, this important volume illustrates some 200 artworks.Flemming Friborg is director of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Mary Beard teaches classics at Cambridge.

Vestens kvinder har meget at fejre, når det handler om ligestilling. Alligevel deler millioner af kvinder stadig de samme frustrationer som tidligere generationer: De bliver gjort tavse, bliver ikke taget alvorligt og bliver afskåret fra magtens centre. Se bare på efterårets enestående #metoo-kampagne verden over om mænds behandling af kvinder.Men hvis vi ønsker at forstå – og gøre noget ved – den kendsgerning, at kvinder stadig skal betale en meget høj pris for at blive hørt, så må vi erkende, at der er en lang forhistorie. Ved hjælp af mytologiske kvindefigurer som Medusa og Athene og nutidige som Hillary Clinton og Theresa May kaster Mary Beard - der er en af verdens førende oldtidshistorikere - lys over nutidens kvindehad. Som hun skriver: ”Vi bliver bedre til at se på os selv, når vi ser på det antikke Grækenland og Rom, og det gør os bedre til at forstå, hvorfor vi tænker – om kvinder – som vi gør.”I dette manifest konstaterer Beard, at det ikke er nemt at indpasse kvinder i en struktur, der allerede er kodet som maskulin. Og hun spørger: Hvis kvinder ikke for alvor bliver set som nogen, der er en del af magtstrukturerne, er det så ikke magten, der skal ændre sig, i stedet for kvinderne?

What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena? Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing-from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book-Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient "e;monkey business"e; to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really "e;get"e; the Romans' jokes?

A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, this is "the perfect introduction to classical studies, and deserves to become something of a standard work" (Observer).

Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928) is the most famous female Classicist in history, the author of books that revolutionized our understanding of Greek culture and religion. This lively and innovative portrayal of a fascinating woman raises the question of who wins (and how) in the competition for academic fame.

A reexamination of the most extraordinary of ancient ceremonies, this book explores the magnificence of the Roman Triumph-but also its darker side, as it prompted the Romans to question as well as celebrate military glory. This work is a testament to the profound importance of the triumph in Roman culture-and for monarchs and generals ever since.

This textbook outlines the factors that every student must assess for a proper understanding of the period, from the attitudes of the aristocracy and the role of state religion to the function of political institutions.