Bettany Hughes

Bettany Hughes is a British historian, author, and broadcaster, known for her work in bringing history and ancient cultures to a wider audience. Here's a bit more about her:

  • Biography: Bettany Hughes is a prominent scholar and presenter who specializes in ancient history, particularly the civilizations of the Mediterranean and ancient Greece. She is best known for her engaging and accessible style of presenting historical topics, often through documentaries and books.

  • Publications: Hughes has written several books, including:

    • "The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life": A biography of the philosopher Socrates, exploring his life and the city of Athens that shaped his thinking.

    • "Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities": This book traces the history of Istanbul, exploring its evolution through the ages, from Byzantium to the present.

  • Broadcasting Career: Bettany Hughes has presented a variety of historical documentaries on BBC and other networks, bringing topics like ancient history, archaeology, and philosophy to a mainstream audience. Her work includes documentaries on ancient Greek philosophy, the history of the Middle East, and the significance of cities such as Istanbul.

  • Historical Focus: Hughes is particularly known for her expertise in ancient Greece, ancient philosophy, and classical studies. She often explores the connections between historical events, philosophical thought, and cultural developments.

  • Recognition: Hughes is well-regarded for her ability to make complex historical topics accessible and engaging. She has been recognized for her contributions to public history and education.

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Articles by the author

Venus, ancient goddess of love and beauty, is an apparently irrelevant, invented deity of the long dead. But Venus merits scrutiny. Chart her life story across 5,000 years and you chart the evolution of our conflicted relationship with sex and with the female body.

Bettany Hughes

Forgiveness gives you a chance to be fulfilled rather than be eaten up with anger.

Bettany Hughes

We've lived in our Victorian house for 20 years and the kitchen is the centre of family life - we don't just eat here, we live here.

Bettany Hughes

I love the Bronze Age - the age of the Trojan Wars and Helen of Troy. Contrary to what people think, Troy was a very sophisticated society and they used ostrich eggs - which have surprisingly tough shells - to store perfumed oils.

Bettany Hughes

Cricket's in the blood - my dad loves it and my brother Simon played for Middlesex before becoming a radio and TV cricket commentator.

Bettany Hughes

When you look at Istanbul, from Byzantium to the present day, it's striking how it has always been a city of the people, with a political voice, right from its early classical history.

Bettany Hughes

I wrote my first history book when I was four. I still have it so I can prove it.

Bettany Hughes

A number of politicians have failed to recognise the consistent truth of history: that we're both an emotional and a rational species, and that we make decisions very emotionally.

Bettany Hughes

The presence of industrial quantities of Byzantine pottery dating from the sixth century AD on the headland at Tintagel, Chinese silk in the tombs around Mecca and 'Arabic' numerals in the 13th-century beams of Salisbury Cathedral tell us we have been interdependent not for decades but across millennia.

Bettany Hughes

My guilty pleasure at the end of the day is an old thesaurus. I know that can lead to overwriting, but if words such as lambent, pyretic and boscy exist, how sad they should stay recondite.

Bettany Hughes

The occasional motivational speech gig tends to pay better than the books and television.

Bettany Hughes

I do think that history lived, and a life lived, is as much to do with the birdsong you heard that morning as any great event.

Bettany Hughes

It's become this sort of strange competition about who's in the coolest place, who's in the coolest street. Suddenly we're having to engage with all those social pressures. It's helpful, I find, as a mother and a teacher, to say you've always got a choice.

Bettany Hughes

I think it's ironic when Plato makes the learned woman Aspasia Socrates' teacher, but I think women crop up more in the Platonic dialogues than they do normally in texts of the period, and in an un-hysterical way.

Bettany Hughes

I travel all over the world, but I'm never happier than when I'm walking up the hill to pick up my children from school.

Bettany Hughes

Europe's leaders need to sit down with Socrates for a night; a life unexamined is not worth living. We have to remember that, as he says, the pursuit of wealth should never be at the expense of wisdom.

Bettany Hughes

Hapy, the ancient god of the Nile, depicted at Dendera with Cleopatra, is typically shown with breasts - symbolism that demonstrated how the life-giving gifts of Egypt's river artery come only when the power of both female and male was combined.

Bettany Hughes