A biography for Bettany Hugheshasn’t been written yet.
“I travel all over the world, but I'm never happier than when I'm walking up the hill to pick up my children from school.”
“Socrates was tried in a religious court. He was condemned for disregarding Athens' gods. If you look at the way he speaks at his trial, according to Plato, there seems to be a moment when he realizes this isn't just a game.”
“The massive grassroots success of movies such as Zack Snyder's Spartan gore-fest '300' demonstrates there is a vast appetite among 15-25 year olds to share in the experience of the long-dead.”
“Of all the human figurines discovered so far from 30,000-3,000BC, 92% are of the female form. This is not to say there was any kind of matriarchy or worship of a mother goddess - far from it - but women are conspicuous by their presence.”
“You're a good presenter if you know your subject and you can communicate it with passion. Period. That's all that matters on telly.”
“Well Socrates is 70 when he dies. He's been allowed to philosophise freely in the city for almost 50 years. He clearly was - genius is an overused word - but he clearly did have something of the genius about him.”
“I'm a Benedictine Nun in outlook; I divide my time evenly so one third is spent in academe, another third on writing and the final third on television and radio.”
“The 'Middle Ages/Dark Ages' were of course no such thing. Achievement in the Arabian crescent was sensational then.”
“Name the 10 most influential men in history and the debate can rage for hours; when it comes to women, after number six or seven many start to grope around for inspiration.”
“Economic, political and military intervention following the first world war is frequently blamed for current friction between east and west.”
“As soon as men began to write, they made Helen of Troy their subject; for close on three thousand years she has been both the embodiment of absolute female beauty and a reminder of the terrible power that beauty can wield... But who was she?”
“History was invented as a tool, an engineered road down which human society could advance.”
“A number of politicians have failed to recognise the consistent truth of history: that we're both an emotional and a rational species, and that we make decisions very emotionally.”
“If I had my way there would be a philosopher sitting round the table on every committee and in every boardroom.”
“When she stepped out of that spumy sea Aphrodite was said to have brought fertility, flowers, life, light to a barren world. For centuries women and men went to her sanctuaries to seek her pity and protection. Her domain was originally not just lust, but lust for life.”
“I do think that history lived, and a life lived, is as much to do with the birdsong you heard that morning as any great event.”
“We've lived in our Victorian house for 20 years and the kitchen is the centre of family life - we don't just eat here, we live here.”
“At the birth of society and civilisation I find a religious landscape littered with feisty female deities who make wisdom their business.”
“Rumour, gossip, slander - single drops of poison can pollute an entire system.”
“Venus, ancient goddess of love and beauty, is an apparently irrelevant, invented deity of the long dead. But Venus merits scrutiny. Chart her life story across 5,000 years and you chart the evolution of our conflicted relationship with sex and with the female body.”