Frank E. Adcock

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Frank E. Adcock in 1926

Frank Ezra Adcock OBE FBA (born April 15, 1886 in Desford , † February 22, 1968 in Cambridge ) was a British ancient historian .

Frank Adcock studied from 1905 Classical Studies at King's College of Cambridge University . He received the Craven Scholarship in 1908, the Chancellor's Medal in 1909 and the Craven Studentship in 1910. From 1910 to 1911 he continued his studies at the universities of Berlin and Munich . He was particularly influenced by Nathaniel Wedd and Walter Headlam as well as the German ancient scholars Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Eduard Meyer . In 1911 he became a fellow and lecturer at Cambridge. In 1912 and 1914 he published two major articles on the sources of Solon . Because of his special knowledge of German, he translated Thucydides into German. Since the war he has been one of the three editors of the Cambridge Ancient History . After JB Bury's death in 1927, he became the main person responsible for the work. In 1925 he became a professor of ancient history. In 1936 he became a member of the British Academy . Adcock was one of the editors of Historia magazine and president of the Classical Association in 1947/48 . In 1951 he retired. During his career he took the Martin Classical Lectures at Oberlin College , the Sather Classical Lectures at the University of California, Berkeley , and the Jerome Lectures at the University of Michigan .

Adcock received numerous awards. In 1954 he was knighted. Volume 66 of the Journal of Roman Studies is dedicated to him. Adcock received honorary doctorates from Durham , Dublin , Manchester and Leicester Universities .

Adcock worked mainly on the central fields of Greek and Roman antiquity. He wrote works on Gaius Iulius Caesar , Thucydides, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Augustus . Unlike Ronald Syme , for example , he did not classify the latter in the Roman Revolution ("Roman Revolution"), but saw in Augustus a conservative who wanted to preserve the institutions of the Roman Republic .

Because of his knowledge of German, he was also active in the military. During the First World War , he worked for the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty , in Room 40 , from 1915 to 1919 , and was involved in deciphering German codes. In 1917 he received the Order of the British Empire for this . He also invented the Adcock antenna , a device for radio direction finding , in the military . Also during the Second World War he worked as a " codebreaker " in Bletchley Park .

Fonts (selection)

  • The Roman art of war under the republic (= Martin Classical Lectures. Volume 8, ISSN  0076-471X ). Harvard University Press et al., Cambridge MA et al. 1940.
  • Caesar as a man of letters. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1956.
    • German: Caesar as a writer (= Kleine Vandenhoeck series. Volume 45, ZDB -ID 2558452 ). Translation from English. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1955.
  • The Greek and Macedonian art of war (= Sather Classical Lectures. Volume 30, ZDB -ID 420164-4 ). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1957.
  • Roman political ideas and practice. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1959.
    • German: Roman statecraft. Idea and reality in Roman politics (= Kleine Vandenhoeck series. Volume 122/123). Authorized translation from English by Helmut Schlueter. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1961.
  • Thucydides and his history. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1963.
  • with Derek J. Mosley: Diplomacy in ancient Greece. Thames & Hudson, London 1975, ISBN 0-500-40026-1 .

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personal data
SURNAME Adcock, Frank E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adcock, Frank Ezra; Adcock, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British ancient historian
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Desford
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1968
Place of death Cambridge