# Mary Beard on the weaponisation of classics Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exchange-long-form-interviews-from-the-new-statesman-7519113/mary-beard-on-the-weaponisation-of-classics Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exchange-long-form-interviews-from-the-new-statesman-7519113/mary-beard-on-the-weaponisation-of-classics.md Podcast: [The Exchange | Long-form interviews from the New Statesman](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exchange-long-form-interviews-from-the-new-statesman-7519113) Published: 2026-05-06T08:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/the-new-statesman-interview/episodes/mary-beard-on-the-weaponisation-of-classics Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68de580c52ddd4d4572281cb/e/69fa0949a6ade25592014f17/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-exchange-long-form-interviews-from-the-new-statesman-7519113/episodes/mary-beard-on-the-weaponisation-of-classics Duration seconds: 2421 ## Resource Rather than a relic of the past, Mary Beard sees the classical world as a powerful tool for understanding the present. It's an idea she has explored in over twenty books on ancient history and numerous documentaries on the BBC and elsewhere, all of which have made her Britain’s best known classicist. She joins culture editor Tanjil Rashid in the studio. - Mary Beard's new book Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old is available now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-exchange-long-form-interviews-from-the-new-statesman-7519113/episodes/mary-beard-on-the-weaponisation-of-classics/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exchange-long-form-interviews-from-the-new-statesman-7519113/mary-beard-on-the-weaponisation-of-classics.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.