Ian G. Kidd

Ian Gray Kidd FBA (born March 6, 1922 in Chandernagor , French India , † March 20, 2011 in Dundee ) was a British classical philologist and historian of philosophy .

Kidd's father, who was from Dundee, was in the jute trade and was secretary to the Angus Jute Company in Chandernagore when Kidd was born. Kidd therefore grew up partially with his grandparents in Dundee until his parents returned there in 1933. After attending Dundee High School, Kidd studied classics at the University of St Andrews from 1940 until he was called up in 1942 to serve as a lieutenant in North Africa and Italy. Among other things, he was involved in the translation of the Allies from Sicily to mainland Italy in September 1943. In 1944 he was captured by German troops in Italy and held in various German camps for the remainder of the war. After his liberation in April 1945 and demobilization in September 1945, he resumed his studies in St Andrews, which he completed in 1947 as the best of his year. He then continued his studies from 1947 to 1949 at The Queen's College Oxford, where he completed the Greats course. In 1949 Kidd was appointed assistant lecturer in Greek studies at the University of St Andrews, in 1965 senior lecturer until he received a personal chair as Professor of Ancient Philosophy in 1973 and the full chair in Greek studies in 1976, succeeding Kenneth Dover . In 1987 he retired. In the academic year 1965–1966 he was Visiting Professor in Classics at the University of Texas at Austin and 1971–1972 and 1979–1980 Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton . In 1993 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Kidd was also active in the academic administration of the University of St Andrews: he was Provost of St Leonard's College (1978-1983), Chancellor's Assessor (1989-1998), and Vice President of the University Court (1997-98). In 2001 his university awarded him an honorary doctorate (honorary D.Litt.) For his activities in this context.

In 1949 Kidd married Sheila Dow, an economics student with whom he had three sons.

The Greek stoic and polyhistor Poseidonios of Apamea was a lifelong subject of Kidd's studies . In doing so , at the invitation of Harold Cherniss , the literary administrator of Edelstein's estate , he was able to complete the collection of fragments that Ludwig Edelstein had created but not yet completed and to hand them over from the estate. The commentary on the testimonies and fragments and the translation of the fragments are entirely Kidd's work, which is considered epoch-making. In addition, Kidd had an interest in Plato and Plutarch throughout his life . Posts he also supplied to Theophrastus project of William W. Fortenbaugh and the founder of Stoicism , Zeno of Kition .

Fonts (selection)

• Posidonius , volume 1: The Fragments. Edited by Ludwig Edelstein and Ian Gray Kidd (= Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, 13). Cambridge University, Cambridge 1972, revised edition 1989.
• Posidonius , volume 2: The Commentary. (i) Testimonia and Fragments 1-149 ; (ii) Fragments 150-293 (= Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, 14 A and B). Cambridge University, Cambridge 1988.
• Posidonius , volume 3: The Translation of the Fragments (= Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, 36). Cambridge University, Cambridge 1999.
• (Ed.), Robin Waterfield (transl.): Plutarch, Essays. Translated by Robin Waterfield, introduced and annotated by Ian Kidd. Penguin Books, London 1992.

items

• The relation of Stoic intermediates to the summum bonum, with reference to change in the Stoa , in: Classical Quarterly 49, 1955, pp. 181-94, reprinted in: Anthony A. Long (Ed.), Problems in Stoicism. London 1971, pp. 150-72.
• Socratic Questions , in: Socratic Questions. Edited by BS Gower and MC Stokes. London 1992, pp. 82-92.
• Theophrastus' Meteorology, Aristotle and Posidonius , in: William W. Fortenbaugh, Dimitri Gutas (Eds.), Theophrastus, his Psychological, Doxographical and Scientific Writings. New Brunswick, NJ, 1992, pp. 294-306.
• Some philosophical demons , in: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 40, 1995, pp. 217-24.
• Theophrastus Fr. 184FHS & G: some thoughts on his arguments , in: Keimpe Algra , David T. Runia (Ed.), Polyhistor (Leiden, 1996), Ss. 135-44.
• Plutarch and his Stoic contradictions , in: Walter Burkert et al. (Ed.), Collections of fragments of philosophical texts from antiquity. Göttingen 1998, p. 288-302.
• Zeno's oral teaching and the stimulating uncertainty of his doctrines, in: T. Scaltsas, AS Mason (ed.), The Philosophy of Zeno. Larnaca 2002, pp. 351-65

literature

• Lewis Ayres (Ed.): The Passionate Intellect. Essays on the Transformation of Classical Traditions presented to Professor IG Kidd (= Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, vol. 7). Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, London 1995, Google preview
• Peter Steinmetz : The Stoa . In: Outline of the History of Philosophy . Founded by Friedrich Ueberweg . Completely revised edition. The philosophy of antiquity . Volume 4: The Hellenistic Philosophy . Edited by Hellmut Flashar . Schwabe, Basel 1994, part 2, pp. 680-681.

Web links

• Anthony A. Long: Ian Gray Kidd 1922–2011 , in: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, XIV, 2015, 263–278 (detailed obituary with photograph)
• Obituary: Professor Ian Kidd, academic , in: The Scotsman, Friday, April 8, 2011
• Institute for Advanced Study: Personal entry