Mary Beard Lecture - The Meroë Head of Augustus

The incomparable Mary Beard visited us to help celebrate the last few days of our loan of the Meroë Head of Augustus from the British Museum.
As a part of the BBC Civilisations series, Professor Dame Beard hosted two sessions with us, talking about the history of this significant artefact, the site and the archaeology techniques of the day. Our good friends from MSP were there to capture every moment!
Help us caption & translate this video!
amara.org/v/kMEt/

[@dalestaley5637]

I've had a great day listening to Mary Beard while I did my work around the house. I adore her. She's such a treasure.

[@rachaelrogers2104]

I love Mary Beard and she is extraordinary. I've grown to LOVE MARY BEARD! THANK YOU FOR THE SWEET LESSONS IN THE LIVES OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS .. NO ONE CAN DO IT BETTER!!! YOU ARE UNFORGETTABLE!

[@karenclement743]

I would rather watch Mary Beard than any other woman. She not only is knowledgeable but had a captivating personality and sense of humor that other lecturers would only come across as dry causing viewers to turn them off.

[@barbaraleonard8379]

I absolutley love this woman !!!

[@thebotformalityknownasdale2564]

The introduction gave me more reasons to love and respect Mary thank you for teaching me all you have !

[@MrDannyk123]

Drove all the way from Manchester for this!

[@shawnsmith11]

30 mins?

[@vijaygopal534]

How many doll faced women could claim the aura which this wonderful woman incarnate,not to talk about exceptional talent and honesty. Whoever calls her ugly must be having a really ugly mind.Could we ever get enough of Professor Mary Beard❤. I wish youtube publishes more of her documentaries if there are any as well.

[@fionachalom1776]

I went to Meroe and only wish I had hear this prior to going. Wonderful lecture.

[@factsbykidd4765]

My father was born and raised in Meroe, and his father before him and so on, this story hits home.

[@southpolesurfer6936]

She is brilliant and I was too quick to judge her on appearance, but I watched and then I continue to watch this, and since I’ve been waiting for anything new with Marie to come on, she is absolute gold. She reminds me of the best of the BBC from years, before he got infested by left-wing woke ism, she is absolutely brilliant anybody making a judgement it’s easy to be done but Mary really is that special person she’s really an incredible personality very fun, very engaging and highly entertaining and also anyone who speaks Latin in my book is good

[@davidsabillon5182]

Brilliant. Like commented and subscribed 👍

[@nh7361]

What a gem of a woman!

[@jstanton4561]

Starts at 7:14

[@mihitz100]

Great!

[@mikesummers-smith4091]

I feel sure that the whole audience was enthralled by that 7-minute introduction. Everything that mattered could have been said in 2, without notes, and there would have been 5 more minutes for questions.

[@ComplainingHenry]

At the risk of sounding like a prig, Beard pronounces "Meroë" incorrectly throughout her talk. The diacritic on the "e" (ë) changes the pronunciation to "Meh-row-AY". This is significant as, confusingly, there is a modern town in Sudan called "Merowe" (Meh-row-ee) that has nothing whatsoever to do with the ancient capital of Meroë (where the head came from). Unfortunately, very few people are well enough versed in Meroitic archaeology to realise this, hence this is a common error.

[@sharonjanethague7181]

She's great! Loved the lecture.

[@alvarocarrillo3501]

you go mary

[@lamodernista]

I wanted to paint out that white spot on the wall behind her the whole time I was watching this.

[@Dizinii]

(with Humprey Bogart accent) Now that's a smart Dame!

[@stephenmurphy1638]

Today, protruding ears are 'pinned' at an early age. Augustus was normal in an age before plastic surgery and would have seemed normal to Suetonius.

[@mackray3746]

Should read Dale Carnegie - how to introduce a guest !

[@Sunfried1]

I think she's a very brainy babe.

[@trueherbsman]

voodoo goes way way back obviously ;)

[@matthewlawrenson2734]

What a babe!

[@brendawarren4113]

I'm reading her book, Women and Power: a Manifesto, which is two of her lectures published in book form. And I've watched her BBC series on Rome. And her debate with Boris Johnson. I admire her greatly. I must, however, write that it's only her hair that makes me cringe, as I have when I've seen other women with long, stringy hair. How might it look in a long, beautiful, silvery braid over one shoulder or in a chignon. Perhaps it would even enhance her celebrity, her pulchritude. And too, I hold men to standards of appearance. No long, stringy hair, no long, scraggly beards, ughhh! And that offender of hair par excellence--Einstein. Suppose genius negates time for or interest in appearance. Voila!

[@macvena]

Great video despite the first 7 minutes of rubbish.

[@mackray3746]

everyone should read "how to introduce a guest" by Dale Carnegie - he says 2 mins is enough even for the Queen of England - I think he is right.

[@stconstable]

I was enjoying this enormously until Beard totally dismissed Seutonius's clearly accurate description. Handsome. Curled hair. Startling eyes. Nose. Small teeth (in a small mouth).

[@michaelpfeil6793]

One thing's for sure: most of the lectures I went to as a student were a good deal less captivating.

[@DS-yg4qs]

She is so wrong on Brutus and subjective to.

[@767scarecrow]

Do illuminate us.

[@j0nnyism]

Brutus is one of those hate him love him characters.

[@JustinTyme33]

“Why am I and why is everyone else so sure” as of nobody disagrees with her. How deceitful of her. Shameful.

[@johnclarke5459]

AVE DONALDUS TRUMPUS IMPERATOR

[@Rahburry]

Summary: “hey look at these pictures I’ve found.”

[@konaboyz1690]

I respect Mary with the depth of my heart but the introduction made me vomit....

[@h31763]

Thank you for the information about this woman’s 9/11 comments. I’ll never watch or read anything of hers again.

[@mikesummers-smith4091]

Keep your head in the sand, then.

[@flowermeerkat6827]

She’s a nutter. Like all second rate foreign policy “experts” she thinks she knows a simple answer to a complicated issue. It makes me doubt her ability as a historian if she thinks so simplistically. She must have developed her theory from watching Michael Moore documentaries, who is yet another nutter.

[@flowermeerkat6827]

Ant B simplistic analysis. While Americans were helping protect Muslims in Bosnia, Al Quadra was there recruiting. Islamists were in the works long before 9-11, they don’t just pop out of the woodwork. If you have half a brain, and I’m not sure you do, do better research.

[@flowermeerkat6827]

Totally agree. I’ve seen her debate before and she’s a rigid self-righteous prig.

[@zarasbazaar]

9/11 didn't happen in a vaccum. It's blowblack from decades of US interference in other governments. You only have to look at Iran to see the damage done by the CIA. We have hundreds of military bases around the world and that breeds animosity, just like it did in the Roman Empire.

[@frankandstern8803]

I wish they would cram all the women,'s Marchy crap and stick to her expertise. And remember Mary nobody said anything about Bethany Hughes cleverness. Think it over. My point? Don't end up with Carrie Fisher syndrome. Obsessed with an insecurity about gaining some pudge here and there Carrie wouldnt shut up about body image and America. The truth was it was her problem not America's. Why? Because she didn't have a clue about how to achieve what she wanted physically. Ahem, certain princesses just think the key is to starve or not to starve. Not to big on fitness or actually understanding nutrition. And all these low protein carby birdseed bulls##t diets don't help matters much either. And how can an individual study classical history with such zeal only to walk away from it talking about the great leaders as no more than blood thirsty tyrants? Cut the crap. Keep that up and along with the statues we are popularly pulling down will be accompanied by our museums of the WESTERN WORLD. WE CAN ALL DO WITHOUT THE ROT, THOUGH SOME TWITS DONT THINK BEFORE THEY FLAP THEIR GUMS ABOUT THESE MATTERS. SPINSTER IDIOCY.

[@wllm4785]

Seriously, you need to get to the hospital ASAP.

[@TWOCOWS1]

A fifth of this vid was the "introduction" to Mary Beard! What an ego!! Never mind the poor organization of her presentation, jumping all over the place needlessly, going on tangent more frequently than discussing the main topic of the presentation. And the shameless sensationalism she engages in--ringworm and all!! Good god!! Age must be taking its toll on her--if she was ever running on the full thrusters to begin with