6. Love in the Borderlands
On Hadrian鈥檚 Wall a slave girl from Hertfordshire and a lonely traveller from Syria meet and marry. Their story inspires poets and artists, but is this true love or exploitation?
At the very edge of Empire, inscribed on a beautifully carved tombstone, there鈥檚 a story of love across the tracks. On Hadrian鈥檚 Wall a slave girl from Hertfordshire and a lonely traveller from Syria meet and marry. The story of Regina and Barates has inspired poets and writers eager for a simple love story to illuminate a dark and dangerous world. But how true might this be? What brought this couple together across cultures and thousands of miles? Was their alliance true love or forced marriage?
Mary Beard tracks our couple from Palmyra to South Shields, revealing the cultural mix of the Empire and the power dynamics of slave and master with the help of Syrian poet, Nouri Al-Jarrah.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Expert Contributors: Greg Woolf, University of California Los Angeles and Frances McIntosh, English Heritage
Cast: John Collingwood Bruce played by Josh Bryant-Jones and reading of The Stone Serpent by Tyler Cameron
Translation of The Stone Serpent: Catherine Cobham
Arabic Translation: Samira Kawar
Special thanks to Alex Croom and Tyne and Wear Museums
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- Wed 13 Dec 2023 11:30成人快手 Radio 4
- Mon 22 Jul 2024 00:15成人快手 Radio 4 FM
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