Prof Dame Mary Beard - Whiteness 

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.

I could listen to Mary beard all day. I never listened to lectures until I found hers online

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!

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. 😊🥀🥀

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

Mary Beard don't be shy name drop the academic who said ur living proof of the death of british academics

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.

Thank you for the BRIEF introduction - I appreciate 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.

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.

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.

PROFESSOR DAME DAMN. The idea that some internet trolls think they can undermine or debunk her because of their insecurities.

Alexandr Solzhenitzn: “To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.”

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.

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.

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.

8:07 Yes! 👍🏼⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️🌹 I love her wisdom, eloquence, erudition, confidence and courage!

Non-Roman Citizen soldiers were separated into the Auxila, that is until the reign of Caracalla.

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

Love this woman! Says it how it is!

Thank you. Always a pleasure to listen to Mary

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.

Per Michelangelo's David - maybe not "painted" but gilded on tree trunk and waist. Also see Antico's work

She is Awesome! Thank you for posting this!

Thanks! Excellent!

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.

Would love to see Mary Beard do a Documentary about Spartacus

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.

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.

Septimus Severus was born in North Africa of Latin , Punic and Berber origins

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).

... wow... still relevant right now!

People like this are pushing me further and further to the right and I'm not the only one.

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.

This is hilarious. Please do more! 😄

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.

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.

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?

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.

The main question id why are they choosing the most unlikly color to show as normal..

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. ❤️

colours of the time would not have been as harsh as the paint shown on these sculptures, they had only natural pigments

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. I wonder what the old boot thinks of Bridgerton.

I dont get this lecutre we needed it pointed out that Rome had more than white people in it?

I can't work put who is more obsessed with race, Beard or the alt right.

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.

don't invoke the woke.

So...she admits that the Roman family in the cartoon was not typical, and then calls people alt right for saying the same thing.

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

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.

To talk on skin color which comes with birth and make it an identity is the racism of the 21st century.

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.

Thought provoking.

Name calling hurts your argument

very good the Professor Dame Mary Beard is very honest

Ancient History for Dummies ( part 1 ).

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.

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).

Speaking of "Whiteness", what colour are jews? Anyone, feel free.

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!

Damning the Cambridge Latin Course..... Guess when it Was puttogether.

I don't think anyone who is criticizing Beard actually watched the video.

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?

Oh my God, the nuclear family. What a horrible thing, Mary!

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.

I love it! Mary Beard gives an amazing smackdown in this enlightening lecture!

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.

She said "erection," ...!!! Holy Phallus Maximus...!!!😁😂🤣

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 think some people hates her own color skin hahaha.

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.

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.

white madness ...

Nothing to learn in whole presentation

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 🤣

british dna is closest to that of spain portugal both mediterrean countries and ireland....either this women is misinformed or does a lazy job

This lecture is one of the most pathetic in its political correctness I have ever listened to.

I can't trust anyone who laughs at there own "jokes". She constantly laughs at her own "jokes".

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.

What an awful woman. I feel ill for being in the same world as such a vulgar hypocrite.

marvelous. the white fragility in the comments tells you everything you need to know 🤣🤌