Mary Beard is marvellous

[TheYuleLogLady]

i love her. i want to go to pompeii and sare a botle of wine with hr.

I'm sure when the programmes go out and the comments start coming in about stuff that actually matters like how interesting it is, the few things about not being sexy enough will pale into insignificance.

Thanks all. Interestingly, it's much as you say .. the sexist loonies are now getting drowned by people who are actually interested. Lets hope it stays that way.

(@crumpet... I escaped the Wall.. and you can get the blog free via the TLS website)

ooh ooh it's starting

Was just about to sound the klaxon :o

4 mins in and she's mentioned sex twice.... Anyone want to play a drinking game where you have another drink every time the subject comes up?

Mary shows how bumping a really old thread is a perfectly legitimate thing to do .. when you are an expert on history and its interpretation

Looking forward to watching the new programme on iPlayer later. Yay!

LOL Tribpot.

I'm really enjoying it (though may have to wait till the next episode to get really drunk).

I've never heard of Mary or the previous program's mentioned.. But I'm actually quite enjoying this roman thing!

Looking forward to next week's episode- "tunics up, trousers down, everyone shitting together"

What a great programme! Perfectly presented - entertaining and informative. And it has focussed my mind on how much I need to go to Rome.

Who was the poet who talked about getting his own "conquest" at a triumphal procession?

So fascinating re the mutliculturalism - but over what period did the transformation take place? Presumably there was a point at which members of the Roman population were indigenous Romans, or from the surrounding area - how long did it take to get to the point where anyone could be Roman as long as they joined in? Are we talking hundreds of years?

Really enjoyed it - loved the pottery mountain - amazing!

Ds (just 8) came down half way through and loitered whining '...but this is interesting...why can't I watch it?" Any plans for a smut-free version Mary ?

That was really fun. Lots of little details I didn't know about (the uprooted trees in the triumphs) and the gladiator bit with the helmet and little models was fab.
I think sometimes the quotes from ancient authors got a bit lost, they were delivered so fast, whereas the bits with the inscriptions really brought out the meaning of each word, which was very satisfying. Nice to see inscriptions brought to life.

I really enjoyed Boris's book for answering those sorts of questions, Hassled. Very readable and constantly interesting.

(and your hair looks wonderful by the way, don't listen to anyone who says otherwise.)

Villa - thank you for the book link - looks like just what I need. Had no idea Boris had done anything like this.

I really enjoyed the program tonight Mary - thanks!

Right, I have a question for you all. Please bear with me as I am the result of a really terrible education, but at 44 I am now trying to educate myself.

Am I right in thinking that maybe the Roman Empire never really went away, did it just become the Catholic Church in a way? This thought hit me like a thunderbolt tonight while watching the program, but is probably a well established fact! Sorry.

Thank you Mary - can't believe I didn't know that!

Absolutely loved it Mary. It's programmes like yours that make the licence fee worth it. If I could have my time again it would be historian all the way. Auditing is over rated

Any chance you might lead one of the Guardian masterclasses?

Any chance you might lead one for teen classicists?

Really enjoyed it. Interestingly I couldn't believe the used a pot once and then threw it. Then I realised that's exactly what we do with our glass olive oil bottles - .

I'm rewatching it now with DS2 and am struck by Mary's gung-ho attitude to road safety. She's cycling round a busy roundabout in central Rome with a devil-may-care attitude - dunno what the Romans would have made of that.

Loved it Mary, well done!!

Thank you all.. really pleased that you liked it.
The road safety bit!... that was really funny doing it, as I it was fine getting on the roundabout and just going round and round... it was getting off that was the problem!
At least wearing a helmet!