I have seen every documentary of hers that I could find and her lectures are not only thought provoking, informative they are also humorous. No wonder she is so well liked as a professor, lecturer and an amazing individual
I just love Mary Beard. I've listened to nearly all her lectures and series on Rome. Marvelous stuff!!!! A wise woman who sees the political sickness of the far right in relation to the ancient and the modern world. Brava!!!!!!
Dame Mary Beard reminds me of Phil Harding, the Wessex field Archeologist from Time Team. They could be brother and sister. I could listen to her all day. 😊🥀🥀
@gvjudd, that was my reaction exactly on listening to this bizarre political lecture, in which her particular ideological viewpoint stretched the argument further than the elastic in the oldest item in my pant drawer!
saggoh , I couldn’t agree with you more that skin colour should have no relevance. Cultural differences do. However we live in times when skin colour does appear to matter. If that were not the case we wouldn’t hear silly ‘white privilege’ references, nor would we see the slow genocide of white skinned people in South Africa.
What an amazing world we live in. The fact that people have the time, money and/or energy to argue about the "whiteness" of of statues and anything else in the ancient world is amazing. Hooray for us!
Refuting false historical narratives is important. Greek and Roman statues were painted and the Roman empire was ethnically diverse. Conservatives deny and gaslight regarding this historical reality. Also please tell us what your grand contribution is to humanity, Ryan?
@@ozvulcan An ethnically diverse imperialistic slave state! You must love slavery and imperialism bigot!! Haha you're a bit overly sensitive huh? Besides, every one knows classical statues were painted.. Oh, and I build high end, high performance desert race vehicles that spew tons of carbon for you to choke on. 🤣 Take a deep breath. Jeez, I was just commenting on what an amazing age we live in.
I wonder how likely it was that Praxiteles' Hermes with the infant Dionysus had a colour scheme that was imitating chryselephantine ie the hair, drapery, and maybe some details were gilded, while the skin was highly polished white marble in imitation of Ivory. There are examples of statues, particularly of gods with this colour scheme from the Roman period, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to imagine this originated earlier.
The fortifications of Tiddis, in Algeria, home to Quintus Lollius Urbicus, the Algerian Berber General who conquered Scotland, built the Antonine Wall and became Governor of Britain.
@@Torric25 I see that you edited your comment that stated that the Romans found in Britain were Berbers and not Black. 1. What is your are of expertise? What qualifies you as an expert? 2. I just ask because you suggested 1. That Berbers can't be Black whereas Berbers are not a racially homogenous group and there are and have been Berbers of Light and Dark complexions and everything in between. 3. Perhaps you edited your comment upon discovering that Beechy Head lady was indeed believed by forensic scientists to have been of "Sub Saharan" African origin. Nevertheless which ideas of blackness do you think Professor Dame Beard should be debunking? Is it difficult for you to see that the VAST AMOUNT of Scientific Racism has gone ONE WAY only? I am not speaking about some fringe bedroom scholars but respected scholars from large institutions. I really missed the part when White People became victims. But it certainly started around the time the concept of the historically destructive pathology that has been Whiteness began to be studied. And note I do not say that White People are desctructive just that the idea of Whiteness has been one of the most desctructive and pyschopathic pathologies our species has ever seen. You've heard of the German fellow, strange beard and highly ambitious? Yes is not even the last in the line.
@@Ayo.Ajisafe I didnt want get into the "are Berbers Black" debate. The question requires a definition of "Black". "Whiteness" only came to be in the 18th century after the Atlantic slave trade took hold. Whiteness then was really only defined as "NonBlack". So if we cannot define Black, we cannot define White. There was no whiteness in history except in the context of Atlantic Slave Trade. There is also no Blackness.
@@Torric25 Exactly! But in the short history of whiteness...... I'm sure as you know the century...you probably know the events. Whiteness in a modern context is not defined as just nonBlackness. Whiteness has various problems from Jim Crow to Eugenics to Aryanism which is just Eugenics on steriods. To Apartheid and modern day racism. But the other problem that Prfoessor Dame Beard is speaking about is using the current ideas of Whiteness and projecting them back into history. I'm not really sure what you disagree with.
@@Torric25 you’re a coward, it’s not good. She’s a liar and propagandist that pushes bull crap and no one like her will ever push back against “blackness” and you know it.
I was born in Scandinavia 80 years ago. Although everyone had white skin, there were many people with variations in hair color. My parents would often refer to a particular friend of theirs who had dark brown hair, white skin, and blue eyes, as "the black one". As a 5 year old little girl, I had a huge crush on him.
You have got to be out and around people of diverse origins and racial makeup, think of them as your equals, before you can ever understand that skin color isn't such a big thing after all. If you life in a very insulated world consisting of only people that "look like you" and never truly mix with others, you never understand it. Sad part is that people of all races are to a point guilty of the same sins.
If you ask anyone what colour a member of the Roman Empire was - the sensible money would always be on MIXED Looking at statues doesn't help - Green, Granite/Slate or Sandstone?
@@GabrielM-t5x thanks Gabriel for the kind words 😂😂👏👏. Trust me theres a silent majority who are sick multiculturalism and certain narratives being shoved down there throat. Just remember Germany was the most Liberal country in Europe before the Nazis rose to power.
@@GabrielM-t5x Weimar was known as the most degenerate country in europe. Read up on Berlin in the times of the Weimar republic, the sick shit they did then would make modern western cities blush by comparison.
This is how I know you people are full of shit. This lecture was very level headed, encouraging people not to think of the Roman empire as a white fascist fantasy OR an empowering symbol of diversity. It was a brilliant lecture with a lot of interesting things to take away, but you didn't come here for knowledge, did you? All the twats came to this specific lecture (1 of 6 btw) to be triggered, because you always need to feel like the victim.
I think she succeeds at opening a discussion based on facts and evidence without coming to conclusions that could never be 100% proven. However, she’s not sidestepping the issues and she isn’t afraid to call out white supremacy for what it is.
Prejudice is real. I have been told that my handicapped son could not enter a store, and that his more handicapped sister could not go to the local school and could not be treated for mental illness because she wasn’t smart enough. Prejudice isn’t exactly what many people think it is.
Stop bringing disabled children into this World and then cry about it. You should take all responsibility why both of your children are handicapped instead of blaming society for being "prejudice". Should had better do yours and your partner's health tests or check family tree beforehand. Reckless behaviour.
There's a record (an inscription, I assume) which says that during the Roman occupation of Britain, some "Tigris boatmen" somehow wound up at Seahouses in Northumberland. It's easy enough to construct more than one plausible military story: e.g. a message from Britannia to Rome: "Send me x warm bodies"; "OK" (selecting the group either nearest to hand or the one someone most wanted to get rid of). I'm guessing that the Tigris boatmen didn't like the climate much. My mother and her family were from Newcastle. I wonder if I have some Marsh Arab genes? I wouldn't be surprised.
I might have some non European genes since they invaded and enslaved lots of south east Europeans, and some of my ancestry is from the Balkans. I hope I don’t but if I do I’m not proud of them. It’s vile that silly people like Mary Beard put a romantic spin on diversity in history.
Greeks and Italic peoples had their look, but their populations received northern huge migrations. But they had a different phenotypes, there are writings that talk about how tall the Germanic soldiers were, that the Romans had to attack them to their legs. So, Germanics tended to be have lighter hair and surely lighter skin and less capacity to produce melanin.
Caesar describes them in the Conquest of Gaul. And the Germans were tall. He theorized that it was partly due to be less sexually precocious at a young age.
@@dibensy59 Yes he did, he said something like they could reach 18 or twenty years in complete innocence, or something like that..At least some were very tall. I have met modern and Swedish and Danish people, some are very tall, but many are average with other peoples.
The Romans and Greeks weren't white as we think of white today (northern European), in fact they would have viewed them as barbarian, however she is being disingenuous about the BBC history animated portrayal of an "average" roman family in Britain during the early imperial period, it was part of a series of animations about British history in which black people were depicted as prominent at every stage of British history, Boadicea Celtic revolt against Rome, half the celts were black, 1066 Norman invasion, black people, medieval Britain etc etc, this was done quite deliberately by the BBC for political reasons and this was what prompted the backlash described as "right wing" by Mary Beard (which explains a lot about her politics), she is also disingenuous about what a "north African" would have looked like in this period, north Africa was peopled by a mix of barber, Phoenician, Greek and Latin and had been for centuries, the Bantu expansion to these area's hadn't happened yet, so they would have looked much like the romans. That being said, I do enjoy Mary Beards lectures, they are interesting and thought provoking and I think most historians do and have project their world views into their interpretation of history.
Yes, she used to be a good historian, but who can blame her when wokeness sells a LOT? It all began when some idiots online called her ugly. She milked this incident for years and years, and then went on to make more money with wokeness. Her introduction in this video is ridiculous. She admits that the cartoon stated that this was a typical family in Roman Britain. The fact that they retracted it doesn't erase the INTENTION from the beginning: to transform the past into a Benetton ad. What bothers me is that if you try to just defend common sense, you will be called far right.
To what extent do Mary Beard's strongly held left wing views make her over stress the limited evidence that ancient Britain or the Greco-Roman worlds were more multicultural than they actually were?
They incorporated all those they conquered. Greeks, Romans were not all "white". Read! BTW, she's an authority on Romans and her country was actually occupied by them. What are your qualifications? She's spent a lifetime in this and you are insecure.
On the Cambridge Latin Course I feel her comments, though obviously true, don't take account of the time it was created in the late sixties/early seventies. This was a completely different time, where the racial make-up of Britain and the approach to racial issues were totally different. Caecilius was a real person, and the course uses a bust (believed to be him) found in his house in Pompeii to inspire the illustrations. The latest version of the CLC describes this in more detail.
In my naiveté I was convinced this question of who's White and who's not was an American fixation, it appears it's not. Seen from outside the Anglosphere, it makes no sense whatsoever.
Great lecture. There is an additional pertinent point that it is not necessarily the white aspect of empires in European classical history that attracts the interest of the alt-right but rather the philosophy/cult of dominance, military suppression, enslavement, self-indulgence and self-aggrandisement. This culture was prevalent in the British empire and contemporarily in the American empire. It is a cult which is attractive to assholes of all colours. It is only a demonstration of an extra layer of stupidity and naivety to assume such a cult of power and greed is the exclusive domain of one particular ethnicity or skin colour. I must say I don’t agree though with her point at the end that these people aren’t “intelligent enough” or that we may have nothing to fear from them. It is from just such isolated groups that very dangerous movements have arisen. There is a thin line between the willingness of the public to buy into a beneficial philosophy and a malign one.
What a pity the subtitles are not by someone whose native language was not English (on the other hand, they might have been produced by someone semiliterate, at best).
Well, Mary Beard is a senior academic who reads Latin and Greek, and who has studied the topic of the Roman people for decades, because there is evidently some demand for it. And the alt right are at best recalling what they were taught in grade school, and what they can glean off the internet. Is all that the same to you?
@@floraposteschild4184 She is an activist who admits that the cartoon in question does not represent the average Briton at the time of Roman occupation, yet will smear anyone who points this out in a critical way as alt-right
@@airstrip1836 She was saying how the cartoon is not 'typical' but it is still possible. The alt-right are deny the slightest possibility of this happening
Michelangelo's sculpture "David" was completed in 1504 and Mary says that this was the 15th century. I am aware that she wants to view/change history in a way that will suit her own agenda, but maths is maths Mary. This post is dated 08/08/2020, which is the 21st century or in Mary's eyes the 20th century.
@@genesis191960 Oh so she is changing history Norma? Tip that is what historians do. You are getting the study of history confused with dogmatic religion. Did you know historians often disagree with each other?
Correcting Mary Beard’s error in assigning David to the 15th century is one thing. Slipping in the assertion that she “ wants to view/change history in a way that will suit her own agenda” is merely your opinion, and extraordinarily that of a number of others, including academics who should know better. It betrays a misunderstanding of what Professor Beard is saying, (and I have listened to several of her lectures and read several of her books) and/or a concept of history that is rigid and assumes that a particular interpretation of history at a particular moment in time is the “correct” version of events. Mary Beard always includes qualifying statements, underlines the uncertainty of uncertain evidence, the possible unreliability of contemporary historians. She is not dogmatic, except in her anti-dogmatism. She has done so much to inform the general public about Roman history and culture through her television programmes. Perhaps those academics who criticise her are simply envious of her media success.
@@Jojotonks she's clearly an identitarian, as we can all perceive by reading and listening to her. Her defense of the cartoon in the beginning of the video is weak, very weak. She states that something POSSIBLE is also PROBABLE, which is not the case. In my opinion she's a good academic that saw how much money you can make with wokeness.
the academic said it was not accurate - she said although it was not typical it was not inaccurate and went on to give a traceable example of a black figure of authority
Prof Mary Beard is completely right that it is entirely possible that one or other Roman officer was from North Africa and had some sub-saharan ancestry. Entirely possible. But unlikely. Then, the cartoon makers choosing such unlikely officer genetics, just because it's possible, that is the criticism. Specially when the unlikely event is not the theme, but just shown as if something common.
@@Pstephen She does know it. Which is why she almost only talks about it being possible. She doesn´t give the odds. She know the odds are small, but she doesn´t go into such detail.
@@rogeriopenna9014 - Does she say the odds are small? And why on earth is it so important for you to imagine that there were hardly any black people involved with the Roman empire?
@@vinbin423 - Reasonable comment, until you started bringing in the idea the historical accuracy is in any way politically correct. We have always been given the idea that Romans were all white: is that not just as politically correct as the idea that a good many of them weren't white at all?
Natural mineral pigments were precious in the ancient world for their rare brightness. Look at surviving frescoes in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The vermillion is dazzling red to this day!
Metella & Caecilius look very Italian to me. Perhaps a hint of 60s American historical epic aesthetic, but when I look at Caecilius I do not see "the European White Man". And on black-and-white paper for simple educational imagery, what did you expect? Ink wasted on giving the images the 'right' colour? Just for the sake of virtue signalling? And what's up with that comment about giving these fictional characters togas? When an artist needs to draw a 'Western man', obviously a drawing of a man in a suit and tie will be more relevant than drawing a homeless man in old clothing. I think it's kind of pathetic to also immediately say "oh, no one in particular is to blame. We are all collectively to blame". Ah. So everybody in particular is guilty of white supremacy. Is it worth bringing up the fact that Beard also thinks that when people mentally picture Romans they think of "us" as in "white Western Europeans". Sheesh maleesh can you tone down the white guilt? Beard says this around the 18 minute mark
The reason modern Europeans care so much about classical Greece and Rome (and not so much about ancient India, China or Japan) is because they see themselves in them.
Dame Mary, would I be able to take you to lunch if I leave you a compliment on twitter? That's how it works right? (I've never used twitter but would make one for this) In all seriousness you are the person I would pick in the hypothetical 'if you could have dinner with anyone' question. ❤️
@Kranky. K! So you personally were affected? I never had any slaves. My ancesstore did even not have any slaves. They have been poor farmers like 99 percent. Not free.
@Kranky. K! You are wise to do so. But politician are abusing it and are starting race baiting. BLM is such an organisation. Making each situation worse by calling it a race issue. One thing you still have to consider never argue from your point of view only. It is an overall situation in society. As a scientific person try to generalize and find patterns. Not through ideology or feelings. Use statistics and are open to cross check it. Exemptions are always were, since the induvidual is were. Hope you keep your good spirit and let you not drag in into this race baiting. I believe MLK would turn in his grave by seeing the devopments.
@Kranky. K! You are right to say so. Good and evil in one person is always were. The evil should be taimed. At least if you try to develop further. Most people are not that reflected or honest to themselves. I know a lot of assholes are around. I avoid them in personal life as much as possible. If I find good persons I stick to them. And forgive little mistakes. Most position of power are possessed by assholes. Sometimes you need to be one to reach a certain goal. Be aware of it and have your boundaries. Have a good day.
It is interesting how some academics whitewash history. About the year 2000 I was reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Yes, the American Philadelphia celebrity. I found it interesting to read that B Franklin donated money to help build a mosque for the Philadelphia Islamic COMMUNITY. I am not saying that B Franklin was Islamic, because he wrote that he supported several religions. I found this interesting because history books and other media paint Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Colonies as Christian. I wanted to follow this thread and wrote the Philadelphia Historical Society for more information and left my address and phone number. I was in Albuquerque at the time and to my surprise I received a phone call from the director(?) of the Philadelphia Historical Society. I have lost his name and phone number. But, he EMPHATICALLY assured me that Benjamin Franklin would "under no circumstances promote a terrorist religion, and there were no persons of Islam in Philadelphia." To which I replied "this is in B Franklins autobiography, you simply have to read his book." It sounded to me that he slammed the phone down. It could have been that he swooned and dropped the phone, i can not be certain. We did not have video phone service back then. I am Christian, but must acknowledge from this lesson that the religions of the American Colonies included Islam. And, possibly it is worth investigating if the Minute Men and their comrades included volunteers of Islamic descent or other colors. B Franklin's biography points out that even Quakers provided aid for the cause, despite their religious convictions.
@@fukpoeslaw3613 of course the Philadelphia Historical Society provides a wonderful service to the community. It simply meant that I needed to find another source for my query. And, now that I pointed this out possibly someone at the Society will try to find the location of that mosque.
@@franciscoosuna259 Did you write an email to that Society? Do you think they might phone me too if I wrote them an email or letter? Even if my phone number is a Dutch one? (can hardly believe you can still be positive about that Philadelphian Society! confusing a bit)
A natural interest in ‘old’ has had me learning from so many sources since early childhood. It took many many years to even begin to understand how my ‘white centric’ self education effected my path. Coins, following that rathole of interest began opening up trails of pursuit in understanding the ancient cultures they sprang from and the flowing economics that they supported near and far. Before this first step? Our ancient origins were so shrouded to me in a way that perpetuated the ignorance promoted within my slow evolving ‘academic’ sampling. This lecture shows just how important the conflict within study is (in and of itself).
Andro mache Roman has vassals in Africa and some of those men joined the army and went around the Roman world. Including Rome. The Roman grave monuments to Africans in africa are proof.
@Andro mache Why do you think that? Could it be the mixing of ethnicities and because of the Roman Empire? You need to think a little deeper before you comment.
Achilles might have not existed, but the Greeks who fought at Troy did exist, and they were not black. Had they been black, there would be black Greeks today as they are black Nigerians.
Many of the Alt right experience anxiety over issues such as immigration, white identity etc. to mock them without addressing those issues and those anxiety’s is rather cheap. It makes me uncomfortable watching a learned professor of Cambridge dissing the educational achievements of the mass of the working class for we can not all be so privileged. Having said that , I enjoyed Dr. Beards presentation and found it interesting and informative.
Alan Blight I love how liberally the word “anxiety” gets thrown around by these pansies. It has almost lost its definition. Everyone has anxiety these days.
Yeah I think that Mary Beard is right to point out the historical cases (which there obviously were quite a few of) of racial mixing in ancient Rome as befitting her role as a professor. I think it's always interesting, albeit often uncomfortable, learning about how wrong the popular conception is when compared to actual historical evidence. That being said, I also agree that this attitude that Beard and people of her class, profession, and influence have regarding the attitudes of the "common" people's toward mass immigration and clashing of cultures comes off as dismissive at best and elitist and arrogant at worst. There's been a complete and utter failure of the left to address the concerns of these common people up until maybe the last 4 years, and even then it's only been a very select few leftists. The rest see fit to just call them "right wing" and scoff at their "unenlightened" attitudes.
Arnaldo Momigliano's parents died in Auschwitz. He never wrote about it. Some internet trolls called Mary Beard ugly. She's talked and written about it for years. I hope she's making a lot of money with wokeness. I would forgive her if that's the reason. She used to be a good academic. Pity.
What do you mean by this 'woke' phrase? And more importantly, why does the possibility of a dark skinned person being in ancient Britain bother you so much? Is it just the fact you dont like the idea of a black person in a position of authority?
Imagine a Japanese or Chinese historian suggesting they incorporate more European perspectives into the field in order to appeal to a more diverse group of people. You can't. Only in the Judaized West are the indigenous peoples villainized, even in the study of their OWN CULTURE. I can't wait for the black actress portraying Anne Frank and the English actors portraying key figures in documentaries about the Han Dynasty. Mary is afflicted by the same sickness as most Boomer "intellectuals". She'd flee real diversity if it ever arrived on her doorstep. Her "privilege" lies in never having to encounter that which she believes benefits the hoi polloi.
Same here. We have a white English woman obsessed with the works of Greeks and Romans, which she is not. What's it to her if she slanders the history of the Italians and Greeks?
Don't let the door hit you on the way out. But before you go, why do you and your friends bother to go around posting remarks about her lectures? If you don't like them, and don't have anything concrete to say to counter them (calling her names doesn't count), just don't click on them. And you might learn something if you hear some of it accidentally -- why take the risk?
What prof. Beard says about the governor in the cartoon boils down to saying that: There's no info of the guy's skin color, so it's reasonable that he was black. Is that science?
Wow... that's not even close to the argument. Did you pay attention at all? The man was from Africa, the only question is how deep into sub-Saharan Africa his roots go, so it's unbelievably reasonable that he was black, and was at least darker than the average human in Britain.
@@Cubroncs03 Of course he was darker that a Brit. He was as dark as a modern Moroccan. The probability that a sun-Saharan man got to be a governor is slim.
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt Living in a given country and being a governor in a given country are too different things, which have nothing do to with skin color, but have a lot to do with one's origin, culture and connections. Furthermore, getting form Mauritania to Morocco in those time was a lot harder than now. There are black people in China or Japan, but there are no black province governors in China or Japan.
If you have a north African live in Britain for a year, there skin get's much lighter pretty quickly. I know some North Africans and they could easily pass as French, Spanish, Italian or Greek. This woman couldn't figure that out?
I suppose she has to put this political statement out to show the BBC that although she's white, she's onboard with their extreme left views and would still like to work for them 🤣
I think this gnaws at some of the British since back then the indigenous people to the British isles were primitive, living in wooden shacks, with little culture, while the Greeks and Romans had already built such incredible culture, art and architectural achievements centuries before. What ancient books does she have to glean through? Nothing her ancestors wrote. My advice is to go appropriate your own culture lady, focus on English history, and not provoke those of Greek or Roman descent by claiming their nations were swarming with Africans just to overcompensate for the pathetic state of your people back then. Oh and while we're at it, return the Elgin marbles back to the Greeks who your people stole them from. I understand it's sad that your people back then did nothing but stack up some stones at Stonehenge, but that's the best you got.
In the History and prehistory of humanity 2 or 3 or 10 thousand years proves nothing, it all happened like the movement of fluids, it happened when it happened, region, weather, sea close by...Nobody did anything by its absolute self.
@@ojberrettaberretta5314Don't you realise what evil influence you can and will have on non Anglophones learning English by comment section? now say you are sorry and you will not do it again!
Please lady. A real white supremacist is as rare in this country as a yellow bellied snog. And if anyone does own the classics you can be sure it isn't anyone east or south of the Mediterranean.
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt A real white supremacist is a old story long dead. Joe Biden was a card carrying dixicrat who made many speeches against integration of schools. I suppose he if anyone would have been a real white supremacist but even he gave that all up. So there are no white supracists Really. It's just a bogeyman for dumb people who'll believe anything they hear.
@@robertalpy9422 If you want white supremacists, (like the memorial in St Pauls to to Christopher Wren), "look about you", they are everywhere. You can spot them when they use the same rhetoric as the old race warriors - merely substituting words like Liberal or Woke etc. The same tropes are used - " nxxxx and jews" are involved in secret evil conspiracies etc. Look at the stupid hysterical fuss made over black actors playing Achilles or Anne Boleyn.
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt you're taking that a bit far. What would happen if a red headed Scott played Shaka Zulu? It's pretty important to respect people's cultures by not muddying history by confusing it. Achilles was a Greek not an African. Anne Boelyn was Anglo Saxon not African. You seem to think all culture related to Caucasian or indo European bloodlines are white supremacist by default. Next you'll be saying the hitites were white supremacists. This theory of yours is ridiculous. You are either a clown or just plain stupid. Whichever is worse I'll leave for you to decide. Clowns are pretty harmless though so I'd go with clown were I you.
@@robertalpy9422 And you are an idiotic bigot. You object to seeing the jew Sir Anthony Sher playing Falstaff? Though we know for sure there no jews in England at this time? No jews for Anne |Boleyn either apparently You don't care about skill and talent, merely race and skin colour? And no I wouldn't mind if the actor was capable. Saw RIII played by someone in a wheelchair once, saw the King Oedipus set in a Ghanaian village, saw a woman play Odysseus, saw Ben Kinglsey play a jew in Schindler's List - brilliant productions all. But then I require talent, not skin tones and racial purity. And get this we don't know what Anne Boleyn looked like, like most people of this period her portraits are not realistic depictions. Attempts to decide acting roles simply on whether the actor has a vague resemblance to the character is beyond stupid. Ian McEwan looked like Caesar? As I say a bigot. Oh and Achilles did not exist stick to Game of Thrones.
I have seen every documentary of hers that I could find and her lectures are not only thought provoking, informative they are also humorous. No wonder she is so well liked as a professor, lecturer and an amazing individual
I just love Mary Beard. I've listened to nearly all her lectures and series on Rome. Marvelous stuff!!!! A wise woman who sees the political sickness of the far right in relation to the ancient and the modern world. Brava!!!!!!
💩💩💩💩💩
Mary Beard is the kind of person who probably enjoys the ESCAPING from lectures as much as she enjoys lecturing! What a cool and earnest individual.
She loves the sound of her own voice, but then most of us love it too.
Lmfao you can’t possibly be a real person
She’s another bore , conformist Leftist.
Thank you so very much for posting Gifford Lectures! Information, knowledge, understanding that is SO needed today, thank you Mary Beard!
Dame Mary Beard reminds me of Phil Harding, the Wessex field Archeologist from Time Team. They could be brother and sister. I could listen to her all day. 😊🥀🥀
Yes! I have always thought so!
But only one is an actual professor and academic, the other is more like Bill Nye: a TV host
oh heck, no wonder I like her so much. This makes sense.
@@triskut he is an academic, he just prefers hands-on to lecturing.i have respect for both of them
I could listen to Mary beard all day. I never listened to lectures until I found hers online
She is excellent. If only for saying that we don't know something
I could too. If I were strapped into a chair and forced to against my will.
Being used to the painted statues in Catholic churches the polychromatic look doesn't seem as outlandish to me as it does to many people
That's a really good point.Thanks for mentioning it.
We can have a pretty good idea of how Greeks and Romans looked by looking at the hundreds of pictures and statues they left us.
Alexandr Solzhenitzn: “To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.”
????????
@gvjudd, that was my reaction exactly on listening to this bizarre political lecture, in which her particular ideological viewpoint stretched the argument further than the elastic in the oldest item in my pant drawer!
@@lks6248 She's discussing Roman history; she isn't burning your house down.
saggoh , I couldn’t agree with you more that skin colour should have no relevance. Cultural differences do. However we live in times when skin colour does appear to matter. If that were not the case we wouldn’t hear silly ‘white privilege’ references, nor would we see the slow genocide of white skinned people in South Africa.
@ Out of the Africa is just a theory.
Thank you for the BRIEF introduction - I appreciate it!
What an amazing world we live in. The fact that people have the time, money and/or energy to argue about the "whiteness" of of statues and anything else in the ancient world is amazing. Hooray for us!
Beard's lecture a waste of time.
Refuting false historical narratives is important. Greek and Roman statues were painted and the Roman empire was ethnically diverse. Conservatives deny and gaslight regarding this historical reality. Also please tell us what your grand contribution is to humanity, Ryan?
@@ozvulcan An ethnically diverse imperialistic slave state! You must love slavery and imperialism bigot!! Haha you're a bit overly sensitive huh? Besides, every one knows classical statues were painted.. Oh, and I build high end, high performance desert race vehicles that spew tons of carbon for you to choke on. 🤣 Take a deep breath. Jeez, I was just commenting on what an amazing age we live in.
Yeah ! It was diverse allright....as
long as you weren't a slave .!
Best study some History - save you from making a prat of yourself
in future.?
@@ozvulcan Yeah, RYAN
GOD, I LOVE MARY BEARD SO MUCH!
I wonder how likely it was that Praxiteles' Hermes with the infant Dionysus had a colour scheme that was imitating chryselephantine ie the hair, drapery, and maybe some details were gilded, while the skin was highly polished white marble in imitation of Ivory. There are examples of statues, particularly of gods with this colour scheme from the Roman period, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to imagine this originated earlier.
Mary Beard don't be shy name drop the academic who said ur living proof of the death of british academics
It was Nassim Nicholas Taleb in a Twitter spat.
@@johnmarshall9575 Taleb is hardly an academic.
The fortifications of Tiddis, in Algeria, home to Quintus Lollius Urbicus, the Algerian Berber General who conquered Scotland, built the Antonine Wall and became Governor of Britain.
I would be honored to be able to take one of her classes and maybe take her out to lunch. I love to see women succeeding.
PROFESSOR
DAME
DAMN.
The idea that some internet trolls think they can undermine or debunk her because of their insecurities.
she is inconsistent....she debunks assumptions of whiteness which is good, but she should debunk ideas of blackness..
@@Torric25 I see that you edited your comment that stated that the Romans found in Britain were Berbers and not Black.
1. What is your are of expertise? What qualifies you as an expert?
2. I just ask because you suggested 1. That Berbers can't be Black whereas Berbers are not a racially homogenous group and there are and have been Berbers of Light and Dark complexions and everything in between.
3. Perhaps you edited your comment upon discovering that Beechy Head lady was indeed believed by forensic scientists to have been of "Sub Saharan" African origin.
Nevertheless which ideas of blackness do you think Professor Dame Beard should be debunking?
Is it difficult for you to see that the VAST AMOUNT of Scientific Racism has gone ONE WAY only? I am not speaking about some fringe bedroom scholars but respected scholars from large institutions.
I really missed the part when White People became victims. But it certainly started around the time the concept of the historically destructive pathology that has been Whiteness began to be studied. And note I do not say that White People are desctructive just that the idea of Whiteness has been one of the most desctructive and pyschopathic pathologies our species has ever seen. You've heard of the German fellow, strange beard and highly ambitious? Yes is not even the last in the line.
@@Ayo.Ajisafe
I didnt want get into the "are Berbers Black" debate. The question requires a definition of "Black".
"Whiteness" only came to be in the 18th century after the Atlantic slave trade took hold.
Whiteness then was really only defined as "NonBlack". So if we cannot define Black, we cannot define White.
There was no whiteness in history except in the context of Atlantic Slave Trade. There is also no Blackness.
@@Torric25 Exactly! But in the short history of whiteness......
I'm sure as you know the century...you probably know the events.
Whiteness in a modern context is not defined as just nonBlackness. Whiteness has various problems from Jim Crow to Eugenics to Aryanism which is just Eugenics on steriods. To Apartheid and modern day racism. But the other problem that Prfoessor Dame Beard is speaking about is using the current ideas of Whiteness and projecting them back into history.
I'm not really sure what you disagree with.
@@Torric25 you’re a coward, it’s not good. She’s a liar and propagandist that pushes bull crap and no one like her will ever push back against “blackness” and you know it.
Thank you. Always a pleasure to listen to Mary
Only Love for this congenial wise woman. Thank you so much for putting all these lectures online!
I was born in Scandinavia 80 years ago. Although everyone had white skin, there were many people with variations in hair color. My parents would often refer to a particular friend of theirs who had dark brown hair, white skin, and blue eyes, as "the black one". As a 5 year old little girl, I had a huge crush on him.
Well when I went to Denmark, I hardly noticed any blonde people here…tall people with mainly brown hair
@@hackett152332 Perhaps because they captured people around the world, or perhaps I don't know what I am talking about..
You have got to be out and around people of diverse origins and racial makeup, think of them as your equals, before you can ever understand that skin color isn't such a big thing after all. If you life in a very insulated world consisting of only people that "look like you" and never truly mix with others, you never understand it. Sad part is that people of all races are to a point guilty of the same sins.
Skin colour is nothing at all.
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt then why gave a lecture entitled “whiteness”?
Listen to the lecture and you may get the point
How old are you, twelve?
Silly. Skin color is but one part of a person. Ever live in a vibrant community? Your assessment would change dramatically.
8:07 Yes! 👍🏼⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️🌹
I love her wisdom, eloquence, erudition, confidence and courage!
If you ask anyone what colour a member of the Roman Empire was - the sensible money would always be on MIXED
Looking at statues doesn't help - Green, Granite/Slate or Sandstone?
Next time try watching the lecture before commenting.
People like this are pushing me further and further to the right and I'm not the only one.
@@GabrielM-t5x thanks Gabriel for the kind words 😂😂👏👏. Trust me theres a silent majority who are sick multiculturalism and certain narratives being shoved down there throat. Just remember Germany was the most Liberal country in Europe before the Nazis rose to power.
@@GabrielM-t5x Weimar was known as the most degenerate country in europe. Read up on Berlin in the times of the Weimar republic, the sick shit they did then would make modern western cities blush by comparison.
@@slashmerc2764 yeah he already said liberal.
@@GabrielM-t5x Are you really thinking the victim mentality is from the far-right ? You really have to be blind
This is how I know you people are full of shit. This lecture was very level headed, encouraging people not to think of the Roman empire as a white fascist fantasy OR an empowering symbol of diversity. It was a brilliant lecture with a lot of interesting things to take away, but you didn't come here for knowledge, did you? All the twats came to this specific lecture (1 of 6 btw) to be triggered, because you always need to feel like the victim.
Non-Roman Citizen soldiers were separated into the Auxila, that is until the reign of Caracalla.
She is Awesome! Thank you for posting this!
Love this woman! Says it how it is!
I think she succeeds at opening a discussion based on facts and evidence without coming to conclusions that could never be 100% proven. However, she’s not sidestepping the issues and she isn’t afraid to call out white supremacy for what it is.
The Dr Who story 'The Eaters of Light' features a group of young Roman soldiers of the 9TH legion showing the diversity of Roman recruitment
The BBC are liars though
@@sontayatoemsook1266 As are its bigoted critics
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt Bigot one i tolerant of other views, indeed
@@sontayatoemsook1266 Does that include tolerating anti-semetism, Child Poxx advocates, holocaust apologists?
British people writing about Romans. Which they are not.
Prejudice is real. I have been told that my handicapped son could not enter a store, and that his more handicapped sister could not go to the local school and could not be treated for mental illness because she wasn’t smart enough. Prejudice isn’t exactly what many people think it is.
Stop bringing disabled children into this World and then cry about it. You should take all responsibility why both of your children are handicapped instead of blaming society for being "prejudice". Should had better do yours and your partner's health tests or check family tree beforehand. Reckless behaviour.
There's a record (an inscription, I assume) which says that during the Roman occupation of Britain, some "Tigris boatmen" somehow wound up at Seahouses in Northumberland. It's easy enough to construct more than one plausible military story: e.g. a message from Britannia to Rome: "Send me x warm bodies"; "OK" (selecting the group either nearest to hand or the one someone most wanted to get rid of). I'm guessing that the Tigris boatmen didn't like the climate much.
My mother and her family were from Newcastle. I wonder if I have some Marsh Arab genes? I wouldn't be surprised.
I might have some non European genes since they invaded and enslaved lots of south east Europeans, and some of my ancestry is from the Balkans. I hope I don’t but if I do I’m not proud of them. It’s vile that silly people like Mary Beard put a romantic spin on diversity in history.
Pathetic self hating white people desperate to be something else.
@@jikkh2x God you're weird.
@@jikkh2x yes true degenerates. Fearful the woke may come after her easy Cush job.
Would love to see Mary Beard do a Documentary about Spartacus
Why should she do a Documentary about Spartacus?
@@SolidSharkOFFICIAL Sure. But only if she took on the STARRING role. Talk about a post-modern re-inactment!
@@JohnnyCanuck32 Spartacus was a male slave Johnny and a lot younger (we can assume) than the professor.
Oh. And in that documentary Spartacus is a black man too ?
@@pedromarques5948 pout more
Per Michelangelo's David - maybe not "painted" but gilded on tree trunk and waist. Also see Antico's work
Greeks and Italic peoples had their look, but their populations received northern huge migrations. But they had a different phenotypes, there are writings that talk about how tall the Germanic soldiers were, that the Romans had to attack them to their legs. So, Germanics tended to be have lighter hair and surely lighter skin and less capacity to produce melanin.
Caesar describes them in the Conquest of Gaul. And the Germans were tall. He theorized that it was partly due to be less sexually precocious at a young age.
@@dibensy59 Yes he did, he said something like they could reach 18 or twenty years in complete innocence, or something like that..At least some were very tall. I have met modern and Swedish and Danish people, some are very tall, but many are average with other peoples.
They wouldn’t DARE! 🤩🤩🤩🙌🙌🙌🙌 yaaaas!!!!
The Romans and Greeks weren't white as we think of white today (northern European), in fact they would have viewed them as barbarian, however she is being disingenuous about the BBC history animated portrayal of an "average" roman family in Britain during the early imperial period, it was part of a series of animations about British history in which black people were depicted as prominent at every stage of British history, Boadicea Celtic revolt against Rome, half the celts were black, 1066 Norman invasion, black people, medieval Britain etc etc, this was done quite deliberately by the BBC for political reasons and this was what prompted the backlash described as "right wing" by Mary Beard (which explains a lot about her politics), she is also disingenuous about what a "north African" would have looked like in this period, north Africa was peopled by a mix of barber, Phoenician, Greek and Latin and had been for centuries, the Bantu expansion to these area's hadn't happened yet, so they would have looked much like the romans.
That being said, I do enjoy Mary Beards lectures, they are interesting and thought provoking and I think most historians do and have project their world views into their interpretation of history.
Northern African were Vandal too, and those were some type of Germanic.
Yes, she used to be a good historian, but who can blame her when wokeness sells a LOT? It all began when some idiots online called her ugly. She milked this incident for years and years, and then went on to make more money with wokeness. Her introduction in this video is ridiculous. She admits that the cartoon stated that this was a typical family in Roman Britain. The fact that they retracted it doesn't erase the INTENTION from the beginning: to transform the past into a Benetton ad. What bothers me is that if you try to just defend common sense, you will be called far right.
To what extent do Mary Beard's strongly held left wing views make her over stress the limited evidence that ancient Britain or the Greco-Roman worlds were more multicultural than they actually were?
They incorporated all those they conquered.
Greeks, Romans were not all "white".
Read!
BTW, she's an authority on Romans and her country was actually occupied by them.
What are your qualifications?
She's spent a lifetime in this and you are insecure.
Thanks! Excellent!
Septimus Severus was born in North Africa of Latin , Punic and Berber origins
On the Cambridge Latin Course I feel her comments, though obviously true, don't take account of the time it was created in the late sixties/early seventies. This was a completely different time, where the racial make-up of Britain and the approach to racial issues were totally different. Caecilius was a real person, and the course uses a bust (believed to be him) found in his house in Pompeii to inspire the illustrations. The latest version of the CLC describes this in more detail.
This is hilarious.
Please do more! 😄
In my naiveté I was convinced this question of who's White and who's not was an American fixation, it appears it's not. Seen from outside the Anglosphere, it makes no sense whatsoever.
... wow... still relevant right now!
Great lecture. There is an additional pertinent point that it is not necessarily the white aspect of empires in European classical history that attracts the interest of the alt-right but rather the philosophy/cult of dominance, military suppression, enslavement, self-indulgence and self-aggrandisement. This culture was prevalent in the British empire and contemporarily in the American empire. It is a cult which is attractive to assholes of all colours. It is only a demonstration of an extra layer of stupidity and naivety to assume such a cult of power and greed is the exclusive domain of one particular ethnicity or skin colour.
I must say I don’t agree though with her point at the end that these people aren’t “intelligent enough” or that we may have nothing to fear from them. It is from just such isolated groups that very dangerous movements have arisen. There is a thin line between the willingness of the public to buy into a beneficial philosophy and a malign one.
What a pity the subtitles are not by someone whose native language was not English (on the other hand, they might have been produced by someone semiliterate, at best).
Sorry, I forgot to say, erudite Dame Mary never fails to please!
I can't work put who is more obsessed with race, Beard or the alt right.
Well, Mary Beard is a senior academic who reads Latin and Greek, and who has studied the topic of the Roman people for decades, because there is evidently some demand for it. And the alt right are at best recalling what they were taught in grade school, and what they can glean off the internet. Is all that the same to you?
@@floraposteschild4184 She is an activist who admits that the cartoon in question does not represent the average Briton at the time of Roman occupation, yet will smear anyone who points this out in a critical way as alt-right
@@floraposteschild4184 😂 chill.
@@airstrip1836 She was saying how the cartoon is not 'typical' but it is still possible. The alt-right are deny the slightest possibility of this happening
@@societyofjesus5943 Any evidence to back up your claim?
Michelangelo's sculpture "David" was completed in 1504 and Mary says that this was the 15th century. I am aware that she wants to view/change history in a way that will suit her own agenda, but maths is maths Mary. This post is dated 08/08/2020, which is the 21st century or in Mary's eyes the 20th century.
Call me a pedant but it’s century not centuary! It’s only a small point but spelling is spelling Norman
@@John-uo4xl Fair comment John. I have rectified my error, however I hope you get my point.
@@genesis191960 Oh so she is changing history Norma? Tip that is what historians do. You are getting the study of history confused with dogmatic religion. Did you know historians often disagree with each other?
Correcting Mary Beard’s error in assigning David to the 15th century is one thing. Slipping in the assertion that she “ wants to view/change history in a way that will suit her own agenda” is merely your opinion, and extraordinarily that of a number of others, including academics who should know better. It betrays a misunderstanding of what Professor Beard is saying, (and I have listened to several of her lectures and read several of her books) and/or a concept of history that is rigid and assumes that a particular interpretation of history at a particular moment in time is the “correct” version of events.
Mary Beard always includes qualifying statements, underlines the uncertainty of uncertain evidence, the possible unreliability of contemporary historians. She is not dogmatic, except in her anti-dogmatism. She has done so much to inform the general public about Roman history and culture through her television programmes.
Perhaps those academics who criticise her are simply envious of her media success.
@@Jojotonks she's clearly an identitarian, as we can all perceive by reading and listening to her. Her defense of the cartoon in the beginning of the video is weak, very weak. She states that something POSSIBLE is also PROBABLE, which is not the case. In my opinion she's a good academic that saw how much money you can make with wokeness.
Name calling hurts your argument
Actually it doesn't.
It just doesn't contribute to it either.
So...she admits that the Roman family in the cartoon was not typical, and then calls people alt right for saying the same thing.
Airstrip1
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Europe was Black
Not typical but possibly accurate if indeed based on the real character she mentioned.
the academic said it was not accurate - she said although it was not typical it was not inaccurate and went on to give a traceable example of a black figure of authority
@@Ayo.Ajisafe Take a look at the average North African. The fact is, they're not that black.
@@dibensy59 Nobody claimed that thought...???
Prof Mary Beard is completely right that it is entirely possible that one or other Roman officer was from North Africa and had some sub-saharan ancestry.
Entirely possible. But unlikely.
Then, the cartoon makers choosing such unlikely officer genetics, just because it's possible, that is the criticism. Specially when the unlikely event is not the theme, but just shown as if something common.
And you'd know better than she does.
@@Pstephen She does know it. Which is why she almost only talks about it being possible. She doesn´t give the odds.
She know the odds are small, but she doesn´t go into such detail.
@@rogeriopenna9014 - Does she say the odds are small? And why on earth is it so important for you to imagine that there were hardly any black people involved with the Roman empire?
He is from Algeria
@@vinbin423 - Reasonable comment, until you started bringing in the idea the historical accuracy is in any way politically correct. We have always been given the idea that Romans were all white: is that not just as politically correct as the idea that a good many of them weren't white at all?
colours of the time would not have been as harsh as the paint shown on these sculptures, they had only natural pigments
Natural mineral pigments were precious in the ancient world for their rare brightness. Look at surviving frescoes in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The vermillion is dazzling red to this day!
We've had only natural pigments until the end of the 19th century, would you say renaissance paintings are dull and muted?
Metella & Caecilius look very Italian to me. Perhaps a hint of 60s American historical epic aesthetic, but when I look at Caecilius I do not see "the European White Man". And on black-and-white paper for simple educational imagery, what did you expect? Ink wasted on giving the images the 'right' colour? Just for the sake of virtue signalling?
And what's up with that comment about giving these fictional characters togas? When an artist needs to draw a 'Western man', obviously a drawing of a man in a suit and tie will be more relevant than drawing a homeless man in old clothing. I think it's kind of pathetic to also immediately say "oh, no one in particular is to blame. We are all collectively to blame". Ah. So everybody in particular is guilty of white supremacy.
Is it worth bringing up the fact that Beard also thinks that when people mentally picture Romans they think of "us" as in "white Western Europeans". Sheesh maleesh can you tone down the white guilt?
Beard says this around the 18 minute mark
The reason modern Europeans care so much about classical Greece and Rome (and not so much about ancient India, China or Japan) is because they see themselves in them.
Ancient History for Dummies ( part 1 ).
don't invoke the woke.
Dame Mary, would I be able to take you to lunch if I leave you a compliment on twitter? That's how it works right? (I've never used twitter but would make one for this)
In all seriousness you are the person I would pick in the hypothetical 'if you could have dinner with anyone' question. ❤️
She praised Judith Butler's lectures in the 1st one in this series. That was a clue we may be heading in this direction. Paying club dues.
Bizarre how captivating such a thin, obvious concept can be to thoroughgoing academics. Gives an insight into how the culture of academia ticks.
The main question id why are they choosing the most unlikly color to show as normal..
I dont get this lecutre we needed it pointed out that Rome had more than white people in it?
Anyone who knows anything about Rome doesn't need it. The rest, well, QED... clearly they do
Yes it’s pretty much a waste of time. Complete rubbish from a 2nd tier academic.
@@GJC-lh4mi Unlike your hero Alfie Rosenberg.
Romans are not white theyr are little brown but still white people
Most emperors and famous historical people was white
It had some people of color. But Rome was overwhelmingly white, as proven by the statues.
very good the Professor Dame Mary Beard is very honest
To talk on skin color which comes with birth and make it an identity is the racism of the 21st century.
@Kranky. K! So you personally were affected? I never had any slaves. My ancesstore did even not have any slaves. They have been poor farmers like 99 percent. Not free.
@Kranky. K! You are wise to do so. But politician are abusing it and are starting race baiting.
BLM is such an organisation. Making each situation worse by calling it a race issue.
One thing you still have to consider never argue from your point of view only. It is an overall situation in society. As a scientific person try to generalize and find patterns. Not through ideology or feelings. Use statistics and are open to cross check it.
Exemptions are always were, since the induvidual is were.
Hope you keep your good spirit and let you not drag in into this race baiting. I believe MLK would turn in his grave by seeing the devopments.
@Kranky. K! You are right to say so. Good and evil in one person is always were. The evil should be taimed. At least if you try to develop further. Most people are not that reflected or honest to themselves.
I know a lot of assholes are around. I avoid them in personal life as much as possible. If I find good persons I stick to them. And forgive little mistakes.
Most position of power are possessed by assholes. Sometimes you need to be one to reach a certain goal. Be aware of it and have your boundaries.
Have a good day.
@@sw.7519 slave owners were the few rich elite Londoners much the same people behind today’s woke idiocy.
@@sw.7519 How do you make shooting someone worse? Saying it's a race issue entitles more white policeman to shoot you does it?
It is interesting how some academics whitewash history. About the year 2000 I was reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Yes, the American Philadelphia celebrity. I found it interesting to read that B Franklin donated money to help build a mosque for the Philadelphia Islamic COMMUNITY. I am not saying that B Franklin was Islamic, because he wrote that he supported several religions. I found this interesting because history books and other media paint Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Colonies as Christian. I wanted to follow this thread and wrote the Philadelphia Historical Society for more information and left my address and phone number. I was in Albuquerque at the time and to my surprise I received a phone call from the director(?) of the Philadelphia Historical Society. I have lost his name and phone number. But, he EMPHATICALLY assured me that Benjamin Franklin would "under no circumstances promote a terrorist religion, and there were no persons of Islam in Philadelphia." To which I replied "this is in B Franklins autobiography, you simply have to read his book." It sounded to me that he slammed the phone down. It could have been that he swooned and dropped the phone, i can not be certain. We did not have video phone service back then. I am Christian, but must acknowledge from this lesson that the religions of the American Colonies included Islam. And, possibly it is worth investigating if the Minute Men and their comrades included volunteers of Islamic descent or other colors. B Franklin's biography points out that even Quakers provided aid for the cause, despite their religious convictions.
So, does this mean that the Philadelphia Historical Society is not to be taken seriously?
@@fukpoeslaw3613 of course the Philadelphia Historical Society provides a wonderful service to the community. It simply meant that I needed to find another source for my query. And, now that I pointed this out possibly someone at the Society will try to find the location of that mosque.
@@franciscoosuna259 Did you write an email to that Society? Do you think they might phone me too if I wrote them an email or letter? Even if my phone number is a Dutch one?
(can hardly believe you can still be positive about that Philadelphian Society! confusing a bit)
A natural interest in ‘old’ has had me learning from so many sources since early childhood. It took many many years to even begin to understand how my ‘white centric’ self education effected my path.
Coins, following that rathole of interest began opening up trails of pursuit in understanding the ancient cultures they sprang from and the flowing economics that they supported near and far. Before this first step? Our ancient origins were so shrouded to me in a way that perpetuated the ignorance promoted within my slow evolving ‘academic’ sampling.
This lecture shows just how important the conflict within study is (in and of itself).
I love it! Mary Beard gives an amazing smackdown in this enlightening lecture!
Andro mache Roman has vassals in Africa and some of those men joined the army and went around the Roman world. Including Rome. The Roman grave monuments to Africans in africa are proof.
@Andro mache Why do you think that? Could it be the mixing of ethnicities and because of the Roman Empire? You need to think a little deeper before you comment.
Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. I wonder what the old boot thinks of Bridgerton.
Thought provoking.
Achilles might have not existed, but the Greeks who fought at Troy did exist, and they were not black. Had they been black, there would be black Greeks today as they are black Nigerians.
There are black greeks - there are also jewish greeks and gay greeks
I think some people hates her own color skin hahaha.
Many of the Alt right experience anxiety over issues such as immigration, white identity etc. to mock them without addressing those issues and those anxiety’s is rather cheap. It makes me uncomfortable watching a learned professor of Cambridge dissing the educational achievements of the mass of the working class for we can not all be so privileged. Having said that , I enjoyed Dr. Beards presentation and found it interesting and informative.
Alan Blight I love how liberally the word “anxiety” gets thrown around by these pansies. It has almost lost its definition. Everyone has anxiety these days.
Yeah I think that Mary Beard is right to point out the historical cases (which there obviously were quite a few of) of racial mixing in ancient Rome as befitting her role as a professor. I think it's always interesting, albeit often uncomfortable, learning about how wrong the popular conception is when compared to actual historical evidence. That being said, I also agree that this attitude that Beard and people of her class, profession, and influence have regarding the attitudes of the "common" people's toward mass immigration and clashing of cultures comes off as dismissive at best and elitist and arrogant at worst. There's been a complete and utter failure of the left to address the concerns of these common people up until maybe the last 4 years, and even then it's only been a very select few leftists. The rest see fit to just call them "right wing" and scoff at their "unenlightened" attitudes.
Arnaldo Momigliano's parents died in Auschwitz. He never wrote about it. Some internet trolls called Mary Beard ugly. She's talked and written about it for years. I hope she's making a lot of money with wokeness. I would forgive her if that's the reason. She used to be a good academic. Pity.
I had no idea how woke that Mary is.
I really enjoyed her documentaries about Rome, but she turned out just to be another woke member of academia!
What do you mean by this 'woke' phrase?
And more importantly, why does the possibility of a dark skinned person being in ancient Britain bother you so much? Is it just the fact you dont like the idea of a black person in a position of authority?
Literally everyone in academia is woke mate, thats where wokeness came from.
Imagine a Japanese or Chinese historian suggesting they incorporate more European perspectives into the field in order to appeal to a more diverse group of people. You can't. Only in the Judaized West are the indigenous peoples villainized, even in the study of their OWN CULTURE. I can't wait for the black actress portraying Anne Frank and the English actors portraying key figures in documentaries about the Han Dynasty. Mary is afflicted by the same sickness as most Boomer "intellectuals". She'd flee real diversity if it ever arrived on her doorstep. Her "privilege" lies in never having to encounter that which she believes benefits the hoi polloi.
Same here. We have a white English woman obsessed with the works of Greeks and Romans, which she is not. What's it to her if she slanders the history of the Italians and Greeks?
Everyone in academia is like this. All of them. Bar none.
She said "erection," ...!!!
Holy Phallus Maximus...!!!😁😂🤣
That's the proper term for putting up a structure. Are you an adolescent?
Speaking of "Whiteness", what colour are jews? Anyone, feel free.
From Ebony to Ivory and all shades in between. 😊
@@ThePayola123 Right. Yet why do so many want to find themselves categorized as "WHITE", but only if its convenient?
🙄 Because “white” is stupid way of categorizing people anyway.
Damning the Cambridge Latin Course..... Guess when it Was puttogether.
Oh my God, the nuclear family. What a horrible thing, Mary!
You're being facetious, I assume, my good sir...not that I wouldn't share your outlook, if you were.
Not horrible, but also not really traditional.
I don't think anyone who is criticizing Beard actually watched the video.
Dr. Dame Beard
@@triskut prof Dame beard
@@ur4913 Prof Dame Beardy Beard
This lecture is one of the most pathetic in its political correctness I have ever listened to.
Yes you prefer your lectures given by men in brown uniforms shouting slogans and giving salutes. Lots of flags too.
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt What a pathetic comment. Are you a man at all.
@@juusohamalainen7507 But an accurate one eh! Political correctness - tired old war cry of the hard right
She is just debunking some of the myths that we have about ancient Romans. The 'alt-right as Beard puts it is only the main instigator of this myth
@@societyofjesus5943 No, it's common sense that the cartoon was ridiculous.
What an awful woman.
I feel ill for being in the same world as such a vulgar hypocrite.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
But before you go, why do you and your friends bother to go around posting remarks about her lectures? If you don't like them, and don't have anything concrete to say to counter them (calling her names doesn't count), just don't click on them. And you might learn something if you hear some of it accidentally -- why take the risk?
How is she vulgar? For hurting your precious feelings with historical analysis? OH THE HORROR.
@@floraposteschild4184 maybe you should take your own advice. Lol.
Well leave it then ... problem solved! 🤣
white madness ...
Nothing to learn in whole presentation
I learned that I need to look at the Roman statues. And then I'll know she's full of crap.
What prof. Beard says about the governor in the cartoon boils down to saying that: There's no info of the guy's skin color, so it's reasonable that he was black. Is that science?
Wow... that's not even close to the argument. Did you pay attention at all? The man was from Africa, the only question is how deep into sub-Saharan Africa his roots go, so it's unbelievably reasonable that he was black, and was at least darker than the average human in Britain.
@@Cubroncs03 Of course he was darker that a Brit. He was as dark as a modern Moroccan. The probability that a sun-Saharan man got to be a governor is slim.
@@partialintegral Er why and what stops a black family from living in Morocco or North Africa?
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt Living in a given country and being a governor in a given country are too different things, which have nothing do to with skin color, but have a lot to do with one's origin, culture and connections. Furthermore, getting form Mauritania to Morocco in those time was a lot harder than now. There are black people in China or Japan, but there are no black province governors in China or Japan.
If you have a north African live in Britain for a year, there skin get's much lighter pretty quickly. I know some North Africans and they could easily pass as French, Spanish, Italian or Greek. This woman couldn't figure that out?
I suppose she has to put this political statement out to show the BBC that although she's white, she's onboard with their extreme left views and would still like to work for them 🤣
And skin colour defines your politics eh. Do you like Ted think she is a "crypto jew"
I think this gnaws at some of the British since back then the indigenous people to the British isles were primitive, living in wooden shacks, with little culture, while the Greeks and Romans had already built such incredible culture, art and architectural achievements centuries before. What ancient books does she have to glean through? Nothing her ancestors wrote. My advice is to go appropriate your own culture lady, focus on English history, and not provoke those of Greek or Roman descent by claiming their nations were swarming with Africans just to overcompensate for the pathetic state of your people back then. Oh and while we're at it, return the Elgin marbles back to the Greeks who your people stole them from. I understand it's sad that your people back then did nothing but stack up some stones at Stonehenge, but that's the best you got.
In the History and prehistory of humanity 2 or 3 or 10 thousand years proves nothing, it all happened like the movement of fluids, it happened when it happened, region, weather, sea close by...Nobody did anything by its absolute self.
british dna is closest to that of spain portugal both mediterrean countries and ireland....either this women is misinformed or does a lazy job
Portugal mediterranean, she must be insane!
P.S. Oh sorry, you wrote 'mediterrean' which is very different ofcourse from mediterranean.
@@fukpoeslaw3613 i wrote it wrong i mean mediterranean
@@ojberrettaberretta5314Don't you realise what evil influence you can and will have on non Anglophones learning English by comment section? now say you are sorry and you will not do it again!
@@fukpoeslaw3613 i will not apologize
@@ojberrettaberretta5314 if you don't apologise I will call you a 'poopyhead' before this year is dead! And don't you think I won't do it!!!
Please lady. A real white supremacist is as rare in this country as a yellow bellied snog.
And if anyone does own the classics you can be sure it isn't anyone east or south of the Mediterranean.
And what is a "real white supremacist"? Are "false white supremacists" better?
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt A real white supremacist is a old story long dead. Joe Biden was a card carrying dixicrat who made many speeches against integration of schools. I suppose he if anyone would have been a real white supremacist but even he gave that all up. So there are no white supracists Really. It's just a bogeyman for dumb people who'll believe anything they hear.
@@robertalpy9422 If you want white supremacists, (like the memorial in St Pauls to to Christopher Wren), "look about you", they are everywhere. You can spot them when they use the same rhetoric as the old race warriors - merely substituting words like Liberal or Woke etc. The same tropes are used - " nxxxx and jews" are involved in secret evil conspiracies etc. Look at the stupid hysterical fuss made over black actors playing Achilles or Anne Boleyn.
@@SimonOBrien-be8qt you're taking that a bit far. What would happen if a red headed Scott played Shaka Zulu? It's pretty important to respect people's cultures by not muddying history by confusing it. Achilles was a Greek not an African. Anne Boelyn was Anglo Saxon not African. You seem to think all culture related to Caucasian or indo European bloodlines are white supremacist by default. Next you'll be saying the hitites were white supremacists.
This theory of yours is ridiculous. You are either a clown or just plain stupid. Whichever is worse I'll leave for you to decide. Clowns are pretty harmless though so I'd go with clown were I you.
@@robertalpy9422 And you are an idiotic bigot. You object to seeing the jew Sir Anthony Sher playing Falstaff? Though we know for sure there no jews in England at this time? No jews for Anne |Boleyn either apparently You don't care about skill and talent, merely race and skin colour?
And no I wouldn't mind if the actor was capable. Saw RIII played by someone in a wheelchair once, saw the King Oedipus set in a Ghanaian village, saw a woman play Odysseus, saw Ben Kinglsey play a jew in Schindler's List - brilliant productions all. But then I require talent, not skin tones and racial purity.
And get this we don't know what Anne Boleyn looked like, like most people of this period her portraits are not realistic depictions. Attempts to decide acting roles simply on whether the actor has a vague resemblance to the character is beyond stupid. Ian McEwan looked like Caesar?
As I say a bigot.
Oh and Achilles did not exist stick to Game of Thrones.
I can't trust anyone who laughs at there own "jokes". She constantly laughs at her own "jokes".
It's so sad that not even you think you're funny :(
marvelous. the white fragility in the comments tells you everything you need to know 🤣🤌