Historian, Author and Broadcaster
Bettany Hughes 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 medieval history and culture. A scholar at Oxford University, she has taught at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and lectured at Cornell, Bristol, University College London, Maastricht, Utrecht and Manchester. She is a tutor for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education and a research fellow of King's College London. She has recently joined the New College of the Humanities in London as visiting professor.
Her first book, “Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore,” has been translated into 10 languages. Her second, “The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life,” was a New York Times best seller and was shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild Award. Her most recent book, “Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess,” was published in 2019.
Professor Hughes has written and presented over 50 TV and radio documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, Discovery, PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic, BBC World and ITV. Her programs have now been seen by over 250 million worldwide.