Mary Beard brings More Secret Histories of Ancient Rome to Exeter
One of Britain's best known ancient historians, Professor Mary Beard is set to embark on a new tour across the UK in 2026, following her sold out dates in 2025, which includes a stop in Exeter.
More Secret Histories of Ancient Rome will see Mary explore how we uncover the truth about the ancient world and what those discoveries can tell us about the way we understand the present day.
Drawing on decades of research, Mary explains how historians have stitched together a picture of the past from fragments of archaeological and sometimes surprising written evidence. Things we have long believed about ancient Rome can turn out not to be true (the men didn’t all wear togas!) And historical fact is never very far from from historical interpretation.
In particular, Mary has a look at some real graffiti left by the ancient Romans in order to recover the voices of ordinary people. It’s a unique and amazing insight into everyday Roman life. Rather than relying solely on official records and elite literary accounts, Mary explores how these personal traces can help build a richer and more complicated picture of life 2000 years ago. You’ll discover that you can have fun making sense of these Roman scrawls even if you know no Latin at all!
The show not only explores the lives of people who have often been overlooked in the historical record but also tackles some curious ancient mysteries and unsolved questions (these include at least one puzzling murder case). Along the way, Mary considers what survives in the historical record, what has been lost, and why uncertainty is an important part of understanding the past.
Audiences will also be able to test their own knowledge of the ancient world in an interactive quiz before the evening concludes with a live audience Q&A covering everything from Rome's greatest achievements to its darkest chapters.
Mary Beard is Professor Emerita of Classics at the University of Cambridge, Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and co-host of the podcast Instant Classics alongside Charlotte Higgins. Her books include the Wolfson Prize winning Pompeii, SPQR, Women & Power, Emperor of Rome and earlier this year Talking Classics (about why it is still worth finding out about deep history). Her work has been translated into more than 35 languages.
Mary Beard will be performing at The Great Hall in Exeter on 28th October 2026. Click here for tickets.
