The wonderful Mary Beard has been sucked into another Twitter row – where she faced, in her words, “unnecessary insult, misogyny and language of war”. And yet, as Prof Beard has pointed out, of course it is perfectly possible, even pretty likely, that such families existed in Roman Britain, and an entirely reasonable thing for the BBC cartoon to have posited. Mary Beard abused on Twitter over Roman Britain's ethnic diversity Read moreThe Roman empire encompassed large tracts of north Africa, and even though it did not extend to sub-Saharan Africa, its borders were porous and its sphere of influence vast. “Romans” could be from anywhere from Carlisle to Cairo, and beyond. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mary Beard has faced ‘unnecessary insult, misogyny and language of war’ for defending the BBC cartoon.

Source: The Guardian August 07, 2017 14:15 UTC