Bettany Hughes OBE (born 14 May 1967)^[1] is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in classical history.

Hughes was born and brought up in west London.^[2] She is the daughter of actor Peter Hughes and the sister of cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes. Hughes is married to Adrian Evans who, in 2012, was the Pageant Master for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The couple have two children.^[3]

Hughes won a bursary to attend Notting Hill and Ealing High School in Ealing. She was awarded an entrance scholarship to St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she earned a degree with second-class honours in ancient and modern history.^[4]

She is currently a visiting research fellow at King's College London, a tutor for Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education,^[5] an honorary fellow at Cardiff University, and the holder of an honorary doctorate from the University of York.^[6]

Hughes has written two books on Ancient Greek subjects. Her first, Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore, has been translated into ten languages. Her second, The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life, was Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4^[7] and was especially well received. Hughes was nominated as a finalist for the Writer's Guild Award^[8] and made The New York Times Bestseller List for The Hemlock Cup. It was also chosen as Book of the Year in several publications.^[9][10]

Hughes has written and presented documentary films and series on both ancient and modern subjects for National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel, PBS, The History Channel, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Hughes has received numerous accolades for her broadcasting work. In 2009, she was awarded the Naomi Sargant Special Award for excellence in educational broadcasting,^[11] and in 2010 was specially awarded for services to Hellenic culture and heritage by the Greek Department of Culture. She has also been awarded the 2012 Norton Medlicott Award for services to history by the Historical Association, of which she is an honorary fellow.^[12]

Hughes has been invited to universities in the US, Australia, Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands to speak on subjects such as Helen of Troy, the origins of female "Sophia" and concepts of time in the Islamic world. In 2010 she gave the Hellenic Institute's Tenth Annual lecture "Ta Erotika: The Things of Love",^[13] and in 2011 was invited to give the Royal Television Society's Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture, in which she argued that history on television is thriving and enjoying a new golden age.^[14] She was also asked to chair the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction,^[15] the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by women.^[16]

Hughes is a long-standing patron and supporter of educational and campaigning charity the Iris Project, which has been promoting and teaching Latin and Greek in state schools since 2006.^[17] She is an honorary patron of Classics For All, a national campaign to get classical languages and the study of ancient civilisations back into state schools in the UK launched in 2010.^[18] She is also an advisor to the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation which aims to foster large-scale collaborative projects between East and West.^[19]

Hughes sits on the tutor panel of Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education. In 2014, she was made a Distinguished Friend of the University of Oxford.^[20] In 2016, Hughes delivered the British Humanist Association's annual Voltaire Lecture,^[21] which took place in London. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to history.^[22]