Mary Beard and Charlotte Higgins on how antiquity shapes the modern world (Part Two)

The classical world provides a persistent framework for interpreting contemporary politics, human nature, and power dynamics. Rather than obsessing over the literal veracity of historical anecdotes—such as Nero playing the lyre while Rome burned or Elagabalus smothering guests with rose petals—these narratives function as symbolic tools for evaluating modern leadership and the inherent risks of autocracy. Greek myths offer a similar structure for processing extreme human experiences, from grief to catastrophe, by stripping away the mundane to confront fundamental truths. While the historical gulf is vast, the continuous circulation of these stories in literature suggests that modern identity is deeply shaped by these ancient templates. Looking toward the future, the aspiration for gender equality emerges as a rare, genuinely transformative development that may define how future generations perceive the 21st century.