Exploring Mary Beard’s “Talking Classics”

Wine comes in at the mouth, and love comes in at the eye. This line from Yeats’ poem “A Drinking Song” captures a sentiment that resonates with Mary Beard, a renowned scholar of classics. Her new book, Talking Classics, explores themes from her childhood to her career in classics.

As a child in the 1960s, Beard’s first visit to London with her mother sparked her curiosity at The British Museum. While observing ancient artifacts, a kind curator let young Beard hold a 4,000-year-old piece of bread. She describes this as a moment of thauma, a Greek term for ‘wonder.’ This experience seemed to define her journey into unlocking the mysteries of the past.

Much of the book comprises lectures Beard delivered at the University of Chicago in 2023. Despite the format, her engaging style stands out. Beard often uses modern language, calling Medea’s husband a “slime-bag” and urging a relaxed approach to the ancient world. She critiques those who idolize classical structures or use them to exert authority, challenging ‘the column crowd’ and their conservative stands.

Beard asks hard questions about classical architecture and its use by groups like Mussolini’s regime or today’s far-right. She argues that classics have radical potential, citing figures like Karl Marx and Nelson Mandela as having roots in classical studies.

The central question in her work concerns experiencing the ancient world: “What on earth was it like to be there?” This question fuels contemporary re-imaginings of classics, exemplified by works like Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Circe, or Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film The Odyssey.

Beard also highlights how foreign ancient ideas on identity and society can feel. Most people in antiquity, she notes, never saw a clear reflection of themselves, leading to jokes about mistaken identity.

The real value, Beard notes, of studying classics—or humanities—is learning ‘to read difficult things.’

In today’s world of misinformation, these skills are vital. Like the ancient bread that fascinated her as a child, Talking Classics offers readers much to contemplate.