For some, it’s about fine wines, penthouses, exclusive clubs and designer clothes. For others, it can be as simple as settling down for the afternoon with a good book. Now a two-part BBC miniseries, presented by Cambridge University academic Dr Michael Scott, is to reveal how the ambiguous meaning of luxury is the very thing that has defined our often-troubled relationship with it throughout history – and thwarted multiple attempts to stamp it out.
Starting on Monday (June 27), as part of BBC Four’s Luxury season, Guilty Pleasures; Luxury In Ancient Greece And The Medieval World aims to trace the way in which human attitudes towards symbols of wealth, power and indulgence developed, from Ancient Athens to the time of the Black Death.
Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net