Ramsay Lectures
Venus and Aphrodite: A Biography of Desire
An exclusive lecture by Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
In the first Ramsay Lecture for 2022, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us on a journey piecing together the story of Venus and Aphrodite throughout the ages.
In this exclusive lecture, the fourth in the series delivered by Professor Hughes for the Ramsay Centre, Bettany draws upon research from her 2019 book, Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess, to demonstrate why Venus matters today and her enormous appeal as a pagan deity who survived the advent of Christianity and was even transposed into Marian imagery.
Professor Hughes analyses the central role of Venus, whose gender-fluid representation as a goddess of desire, war and cities, encompassed a wide range of possibilities in human relations, reminding us of the powerful nature of love as an act of symbiosis.
Through her archaeological revelations and philosophical deliberations, Bettany reveals Venus/Aphrodite as a persona who is as relevant now as she was in ancient Rome and Greece.
Please join us on this incredible journey.
Socrates and his Athens
An exclusive lecture by Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
In the eighth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us back to Golden Age Athens, as seen through the eyes of Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher and arguably the true father of western thought.
In her exclusive lecture Professor Hughes draws on her comprehensive research on Socrates, as he left no written record. Through archaeological discoveries and research into the accounts of people who lived alongside him, Bettany pieces together Socrates’ life experiences – his youth, his time as a soldier, his search for the ‘good life’ and his death, and how these all laid the foundation for his philosophy, still relevant and being taught across the world today.
Please join us on this incredible journey.
Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium – the Queen of Cities
An exclusive lecture by Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
In the sixth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us on ‘dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations of one of the world’s greatest cities’ – Istanbul.
In her lecture, Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium – the Queen of Cities, Professor Hughes draws upon her in-depth research, shares new archaeological discoveries, ancient stories and geographic insights to illuminate Istanbul’s past as the cradle of civilisation formerly known as both Constantinople and Byzantium. Bettany discusses the various cultures, religions, and peoples that have inhabited and blended the city over time. She examines the introduction of Christianity and the Ottoman take-over whilst delving deeply into the city’s proud history of asylum and its record on social justice. Please join us on this journey through a city that is known as the gateway between the East and the West.
The Odyssey
Odysseus’ Journey and His Women
Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, Award Winning Historian, Author and Broadcaster
In early 2020 – 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.
Including what we can learn from Odysseus’ women….
Famous world-over for her vibrant communication of the past, Bettany Hughes delivers this extraordinary exclusive presentation for the Ramsay Centre.
Professor Bettany Hughes OBE
Professor Bettany Hughes OBE is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, who has devoted the last 25 years to the vibrant communication of the past. Her speciality is ancient and mediaeval history and culture. A Scholar at Oxford University she has taught at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and lectured at Cornell, Bristol, UCL, Maastricht, Utrecht, Manchester and Swansea. She is a Tutor for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education, a Research Fellow of King’s College London and recently joined the New College of the Humanities as Professor of History.
Her first book 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 a New York Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Writer’s Guild Award. Her latest book Istanbul – A Tale of Three Cities was shortlisted for the Runciman Award and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Istanbul – A Tale of Three Cities has already been translated into twelve languages. She has written and presented over 50 TV and radio documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, Netflix, Discovery, PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic, BBC World and ITV. Her programmes have now been seen by over 250 million worldwide.