Martin Scorsese and the Godfather of Athens

Martin Scorsese and the Godfather of Athens

From Ancient Lives with Mary Beard by BBC Radio 4

July 28, 2026 · 28 min

About this episode

The episode explores the life of Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Athenian mobster, and his tumultuous relationship with the Roman Empire, featuring insights from Martin Scorsese.

Controlling the 2nd century city of Athens with their enormous wealth and intimate connections to the most powerful families in Rome were a local mobster, Herodes Atticus and his young Roman wife, Regilla. They spent their riches on lavish display, building theatres and athletic stadiums, sponsoring the Olympic Games and endowing temples where she was installed as the priestess of the gods. But this carefully curated world of influence came crashing down with accusations of corruption, deceit and murder. It’s a story that’s fascinated the film director Martin Scorsese for many years and he joins Mary to analyse Herodes- a man caught between two worlds as a proud Greek profiting from his relationship with the empire that’s conquered his country. He married when he was in his 40s, choosing a bride from a powerful Roman family who was only 14. Herodes had shown signs of a violent temper from an early age- even daring to get in a fist fight with a future Roman emperor. His reputation was sealed when Regilla, eight months pregnant, was killed by the blows of one of his lackeys. A Greek man had apparently ordered the murder of a Roman woman from a family intimately connected to the…

People in this episode

Host: Mary Beard

Guest: Martin Scorsese

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4

Books & works: Godfather of Athens

Places: Athens

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