Mary Beard (classicist)

Dame Mary Beard DBE FSA FBA FRSL
Beard in 2017
Born	Winifred Mary Beard (1955-01-01) 1 January 1955 (age 69) Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England
Spouse	Robin Cormack ​ (m. 1985)​
Awards	Wolfson History Prize (2009) Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2018) Princess of Asturias Awards (2016) Bodley Medal (2016)
Academic background
Education	Newnham College, Cambridge (MA, PhD)
Thesis	The state religion in the late Roman Republic: a study based on the works of Cicero (1982)
Doctoral advisor	John Crook
Academic work
Discipline	Classics
Sub-discipline	Ancient Rome Roman art Classical archaeology
Institutions	King's College London University of Cambridge University of California, Berkeley
Notable works	The Roman Triumph SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

Dame Winifred Mary Beard, DBE, FSA, FBA, FRSL (born 1 January 1955)^[1] is an English classicist specialising in Ancient Rome. She is a trustee of the British Museum and formerly held a personal professorship of classics at the University of Cambridge.^[2] She is a fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, and Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature.

Beard is the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, where she also writes a regular blog, "A Don's Life".^[3][4] Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".^[5] In 2014, The New Yorker characterised her as "learned but accessible".^[6]