Campbell Bonner

Campbell Bonner (born January 30, 1876 in Nashville , Tennessee , † July 12, 1954 in Ann Arbor , Michigan ) was an American classical philologist and papyrologist who worked from 1907 to 1946 at the University of Michigan .

Life

Campbell Bonner, the son of judge Jesse Willis Bonner and Frances Campbell Bonner, studied Classical Philology at Vanderbilt University in his hometown of Nashville , where he received his bachelor's degree in 1896 and his master's degree in 1987 . He then continued his studies at Harvard University , where he earned another master’s degree in 1898 and was awarded a Ph. D. in 1900 with a study of the Danaids . Because of his achievements, he received a Harris grant that same year, which enabled him to undertake extensive research and educational trips in Europe. From 1900 to 1902 he attended lectures at Berlin University and toured Italy and Greece (1901–1902).

After his return to the USA, Bonner was hired in 1902 as Professor of Greek at the Peabody College for Teachers . In 1907 he moved to the University of Michigan (as the successor to Arthur Fairbanks ), where he remained until the end of his life, first as Junior Professor of Greek, from 1912 as Professor of Greek Language and Literature, from 1946 as Emeritus . He interrupted his activity at the university for only one year when he was visiting professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1927/28 . Bonner was also a long-time member of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (President 1918/19) and the American Philological Association (President 1933). In 1933 he was accepted as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He was also a member of the Archaeological Institute of America , the American Oriental Society , the American Philosophical Society, and the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters. In 1942 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the British Academy .

Bonner dealt intensively with Greek mythology and its connections with the cult. Due to the considerable papyrus collections of the University of Michigan, he extended his studies to the Egyptian magic papyri and dealt with religious customs of different epochs, with particular attention to the gnostic and syncretistic customs of late antiquity . His studies have appeared in numerous articles and some monographs. His book on the Greek-Egyptian magic amulets (1950) is considered a standard work. The importance of this work can also be seen in the fact that a database for the magic amulets was named after him: The Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database has been expanded by the Szépművészeti Múzeum in Budapest with international cooperation since 2010 .

Bonner was an academic teacher at the University of Michigan for almost 40 years. During this time he expanded the archaeological holdings of the university library and strengthened the archaeological department and the focus there on Byzantine archeology . He raised funds for the Kelsey Museum of Archeology and managed to have its building acquired by the university in 1937. Bonner worked intensively with the papyrologist Herbert C. Youtie . Together, for example, they edited the Greek fragments of the Book of Enoch (1937).

Fonts (selection)

• with Charles Forster Smith : Xenophon's Anabasis. The First Four Books . New York 1905
• A Papyrus Codex of the Shepherd of Hermas . Ann Arbor 1934
• with Herbert C. Youtie: The Last Chapters of Enoch in Greek . London 1937
• The Homily on the Passion by Melito, Bishop of Sardis . London / Philadelphia 1940
• Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian . Ann Arbor 1950

literature

• Morton Smith: Bonner, Campbell . In: Ward W. Briggs , Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists , Westport, CT / London: Greenwood Press 1994, ISBN 978-0-313245-60-2 . Pp. 53-55.

Web links

• Entry on Campbell Bonner in the Database of Classical Scholars, written by Morton Smith (English)
• Information about Campbell Bonner in Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 7, 2020 .