The Ancient World

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Bettany Hughes won a bursary to attend Notting Hill and Ealing High School in Ealing. She was awarded an entrance scholarship to St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she earned a degree with second-class honours in ancient and modern history.
She is currently a research fellow at King's College London, a tutor for Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education, an honorary fellow at Cardiff University, and the recipient of an honorary doctorate at the University of York.
Hughes has written two books on Ancient Greek subjects. Her first, Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore, has been translated into ten languages. Her second, The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life, was Book of the Week on BBC Radio and was especially well received. Hughes was nominated as a finalist for the Writer's Guild Award and made The New York Times Bestseller List for The Hemlock Cup. It was also chosen as Book of the Year in several publications. Her latest book :Istanbul explores a city which stands as a gateway between the east and west, the greatest city in the world.

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Award-winning historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes presents an epic new biography of Istanbul, the city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul, the gateway between the East and the West, and between the North and the South which served as the capital of the Late Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman Empires. Investigating what it takes to make a city, Bettany explores this city ‘the world’s desire’ that is racing up the modern political agenda. Based on meticulous research gathered over a decade and brand new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate and scholarly narrative history at its finest. Using the very latest techniques and finds – including Neolithic footprints preserved in the deep mud of the Bosphorus – Bettany walks the streets of the city and brings back to life the story of its inhabitants across

Award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes presents a Ramsay Lecture titled ‘The Odyssey – Odysseus’ Journey and Odysseus’ Women’. A few months ago – in the ‘time before Covid’ Bettany followed in the footsteps of the ancient Greek warrior and hero – wily Odysseus. Or rather, she followed his watery trail across the Eastern Mediterranean – emulating his fateful voyage home from the Battlefields of Troy, to his own island of Ithaka in Western Greece. In recalling her own odyssey by boat and sailboat, she shares both the bigger truths we can learn from ancient stories and adventures, as well as the day-to-day truths – the quotidian clues to real life at the beginning of civilisation over 3000 years ago - to see how in so many ways that ancient world still has relevance to our own.

Dr. Michael Scott, 'Where Eagles Meet: Highs and Lows at the Centre of the Ancient World.'
SPHS Lecture, 9th June 2012, Senate Room, Senate House London.
Introduction by Prof. Chris Carey, SPHS President

Gah-Kai Leung talks to Michael Scott, Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick, on teaching and learning from the past.

Once the biggest and most influential city on the planet, founded by Alexander the Great and home to Cleopatra, Archimedes and the largest library in the world. How did this shining beacon for civilisation and knowledge meet its classical demise? Featuring stunning visualisations from the major movie Agora, acclaimed historian Bettany Hughes looks at Alexandria past and present, unearthing archaeological gems and following in the footsteps of Hypatia, the city’s last great female philosopher and guardian of great Library of Alexandria - whose murder would bring down the curtain not just on an era but on the ancient world as a whole.

The site of the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi managed to survive as the centre of the ancient world for more than 1,000 years, developing a reputation as a gateway into the supernatural and a hotbed of political conflict.

"Michael Scott of Cambridge University uncovers the secrets of the most famous oracle in the ancient world. A vital force in ancient history for a thousand years, it is now one of Greece's most beautiful tourist sites, but in its time it has been a gateway into the supernatural, a cockpit of political conflict, and a beacon for internationalism. And at its heart was the famous inscription which still inspires visitors today - 'Know Thyself'.

With the back drop of war, instability and chaos the greeks loose their democracy to be ruled by kings. This episode is about the dramatic decline of Athens and the remarkable triumph and transformation of theatre.