H1 Ancient Wonders with Bettany Hughes and Lloyd Llewellyn Jones

Explore the ancient world with historians Bettany Hughes (The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) – who tells its story through its seven greatest monuments – and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (The Cleopatras) – who tells it through seven extraordinary women, the powerful goddess-queens of ancient Egypt. They talk to Dr Mai Musié about bringing their research to life in their books and ask why we wonder, why we create, why we choose to remember the wonder of others.

Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. She is the author of HELEN OF TROY: GODDESS, PRINCESS, WHORE; THE HEMLOCK CUP: SOCRATES, ATHENS AND THE SEARCH FOR THE GOOD LIFE and the Sunday Times bestseller ISTANBUL: A TALE OF THREE CITIES. Hughes has made a number of factual films and documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, The History Channel and ABC, and is a co-founder of the internationally focussed production house SandStone Global. She is a Research Fellow of King’s College London and has been honoured with numerous awards including the Norton Medlicott Medal for History.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University. He has spent extensive time in Egypt, the Middle East and Iran and is a specialist in the histories and cultures of Near Eastern and Hellenistic antiquity and champions a global approach to the study of the ancient world and its reception. Lloyd has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4, in The Times and other media outlets and in many popular podcasts. He has worked closely with the British Museum on major exhibitions. His previous books include Persians: the Age of the Great Kings, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther, The Hellenistic Court, Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period, Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Women of Ancient Greece, and Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World. He is currently writing a book on the ancient mega-city of Babylon. Born in Cefn Cribwr, Lloyd lives in Taffs Well, Wales.

Dr Mai Musié is an ancient historian and a public engagement professional. She is currently the ECR Fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, and works with Swansea University and University of Oxford on impact and engagement activities and projects.

Mai’s research explores race and ethnicity in the ancient world, investigating how the ‘other’ is represented in ancient Greek and Roman literary sources. She is passionate about exploring the interconnectivity between the ancient Mediterranean world and northeast Africa. She has organised and consulted on history and heritage projects that foster co-curation, co-production, and building equitable relationships between communities and researchers.

Mai is well known for her public engagement and outreach work and was awarded the 2019 Classical Association Prize, given each year to the individual who has done the most to raise the profile of Classics in the public eye. She enjoys communicating the stories of the ancient world for modern audiences through tv, radio, podcasts, and interviewing writers and actors.

Mai is a trustee of: Classics for All, the Roman Society, and Actors of Dionysus.