Henry T. Rowell

Henry Thompson Rowell (born March 12, 1904 in Stamford , Connecticut , † February 4, 1974 in Baltimore ) was an American classical philologist and ancient historian .

Life

Henry T. Rowell studied Classics , Archeology, and History at Yale University . A formative academic teacher was he archaeologist Michael Rostovtzeff . After completing his bachelor's degree (1926), Rowell went to the American Academy in Rome for a year , where he received great stimulation for his scientific work and with which he remained connected throughout his life. From 1929 to 1931 he took part as a senior assistant in the excavations in Dura Europos , which were operated since 1925 by Yale University under the leadership of Rostovtzeff.

Rowell returned to the United States in 1931. He lectured at Yale University, entered the American Philological Association , and earned a Ph.D. in 1933. PhD . In 1935 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Latin. During these years Rowell solidified his international relations in classical studies: He led the summer courses of the American Academy in Rome (1937-1939, 1947-1948, 1950-1951), wrote an article for the Real Encyclopedia of Classical Antiquities (RE) and prepared one English translation of Jérome Carcopino's book on everyday life in Rome.

In 1940 Rowell was appointed Professor of Latin at Johns Hopkins University (succeeding Tenney Frank ), where he worked for over 30 years until he retired in 1971. During the Second World War he served as an officer, advisor and language teacher with the American military government in Italy. In 1945 he received the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy for his services .

After being appointed to Johns Hopkins University, Rowell took on many new academic assignments. In 1946 he took over the editing of the American Journal of Philology , whose managing editor he remained until 1971. From 1953 to 1956 Rowell was President of the Archaeological Institute of America , from 1961 to 1963 Professor-in-Charge of the School of Classical Studies, from 1972 to 1973 President of the American Academy in Rome. He taught as visiting professor at the University of Cincinnati (Louise Taft Semple Lecturer 1964), Oberlin College ( Martin Lecturer 1964/1965) and at the University of Pittsburgh (Visiting Mellon Professor of Classics 1972). In 1958 the University of the South made him an honorary doctorate (Litt.D.).

Rowell was a versatile academic teacher, researcher, and organizer who combined approaches from philology, archeology, and history in his academic work. From the beginning his research focus was the military history of late antiquity . His dissertation was already devoted to the Roman numerals , as was his basic RE article (1937). In addition, he dealt with the imperial Rome, especially with the Augustan period , and published studies on the authors Gnaeus Naevius , Virgil and Horace .

Fonts

• The Oriental 'Numbers' of the Roman Army . 1933 (dissertation)
• Number. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVII, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 1327-1341; 2537-2554.
• The Honesta Missio from the Numeri of the Roman Imperial Army . In: Yale Classical Studies . Volume 6 (1939), pp. 71-108
• Rome in the Augustan Age . Norman (Oklahoma) 1962
• Ammianus Marcellinus, Soldier-Historian of the Late Roman Empire . In: Semple Lectures, First Series . Cincinnati 1964, pp. 261-313

Editing

• Jérome Carcopino: Daily Life in Ancient Rome. The People and the City at the Height of the Empire . New Haven 1940 / London 1941 (translation from the French by EO Lorimer), numerous reprints

literature

• Herbert W. Benario : Rowell, Henry Thompson . In: Ward W. Briggs (editor): Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists . Westport, CT / London: Greenwood Press 1994, ISBN 978-0-313245-60-2 , pp. 547f.

Web links

• Entry on Henry T. Rowell in the Database of Classical Scholars (English)