Why are you a historian of the Bronze Age? 

It was a beautiful and a brutal time that privileged the power of pure aesthetics and mass conquest.

What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?

That memory matters.

Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?

Norman Cohn’s The Pursuit of the Millennium.

What book in your field should everyone read?

Aphrodite’s Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. 

Which moment would you most like to go back to?

Early fifth century BC, to meet the Spartan women. I’d ask them if they felt more empowered than their counterparts in the rest of the Greek world.

Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?

Robin Lane Fox.

Which person in history would you most like to have met? 

Theodora the Empress of Byzantium. She started at the bottom of the pile and worked her way to the pinnacle.

How many languages do you have?

Latin and Greek and shamefully small snippets of Turkish, Arabic, Albanian, Azeri.

What historical topic have you changed your mind on?

I thought the sacrifice of young women in the Bronze Age was a myth. It wasn’t.

What is the most common misconception about your field?

That it is elitist. 

Who is the most underrated person in history…

Wu Zetian (in the West).

…and the most overrated?

William Gladstone – the way he writes about women annoys me. 

What’s the most exciting field in history today?

The validation of local history.

Is there an important historical text you have not read?

Mein Kampf.

What’s your favourite archive?

The imperial archives that languish in regional town councils in the Balkans, often with the title ‘Old Ottoman Documents’. 

What’s the best museum?

The William Morris Gallery.  

What technology has changed the world the most?

Paper.

Recommend us a historical novel...

Anything by Mary Renault. 

... and a historical drama?

Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker.

What will future generations judge us most harshly for?

For losing respect for Gaia. First given voice by the Greeks 2,600 years ago, she told us she wanted to ‘rid herself of the burden of humanity’. We knew we were messing up then; why haven’t we done anything about it?

Bettany Hughes is an author, broadcaster and historian. Exploring India’s Treasures with Bettany Hughes airs on Channel 4 in July.