Jasper Griffin
Jasper Griffin (born May 29, 1937 - November 22, 2019 ) was a British classical scholar .
Life
Griffin attended Christ's Hospital , an independent school in Horsham , West Sussex , and studied Classics ( Literae humaniores ) at Balliol College , Oxford from 1956 to 1960 , with a First Class BA from 1960 to 1961, he was a Jackson Fellow at the Harvard University and did research on ancient Latin poets. From 1961 to 1963 he was a Dyson Junior Research Fellow at Balliol College, from 1963 to 2004 a Tutorial Fellow in Classics, and from 2000 to 2004 a Senior Fellow. From 1992 to 2004 he was also a Public Orator and Professor of Classical Literature at the University of Oxford .
Griffin is said to have suggested the term agostic to the organometallic chemist Malcolm LH Green , a colleague at Balliol College, to describe the intramolecular interaction of CHM bonds. The term is said to be derived from an allegedly Greek verb ἀγοστῶ, which, however, cannot be proven.
Griffin has also published two books on snobbery across disciplines .
In 1986 Griffin was elected a Fellow of the British Academy .
Griffin was married to the classical scholar Miriam Griffin , née Dressler (1935-2018) for over fifty years . They have three daughters (Julia, Miranda and Tamara).
Research priorities
Griffin worked in particular on the ancient epic ( Homer , Virgil ) and Latin poetry.
Fonts (selection)
Monographs
- Homer. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1980; second edition, Bristol Classical Press, London 2001.
- Homer on life and death. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1980. - Review by Colin MacLeod , in: London Review of Books Vol. 14, August 6, 1981, pp. 20-21, (online)
- Snobs. Compiled by Jasper Griffin. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York 1982.
- Latin poets and Roman life. Duckworth, London 1985; second edition, Bristol Classical Press, 1994.
- Virgil. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1986; second edition, Bristol Classical Press, London 2001.
- The mirror of myth. Classical themes and variations. Faber and Faber, London 1986.
- The art of snobbery. Robinson, London 1998.
Text editions and translations
- Homer: Iliad, Book nine. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995.
- Homer: The Odyssey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987, second edition 2004.
Editorships
- (Ed.): Sophocles revisited. Essays presented to Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999.
- with John Boardman and Oswyn Murray (Eds.): The Oxford history of the classical world. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1986. The same two volumes:
- The Oxford history of Greece and the Hellenistic world. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, second edition 2001.
- The Oxford history of the Roman world. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, second edition 2001.
items
- Horace in England. In: Helmut Krasser , Ernst A. Schmidt (ed.), Contemporary Horace: the poet and his readers for two millennia. Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1996, pp. 182–206, (online)
literature
- MJ Clarke, BGF Currie, ROAM Lyne (Eds.): Epic Interactions. Perspectives on Homer, Virgil, and the Epic Tradition presented to Jasper Griffin by former pupils. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006. - Review by Simon Goldhill , in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007-06-17 .
Web links
- British Academy: entry .
- Balliol College: The end of an era , in: Floreat Domus: Balliol College News Issue 10, March 2004.
- Balliol College: A remarkable day for Balliol in the Sheldonian , in: Floreat Domus: Balliol College News Issue 10, March 2004. - (Examples of Griffin's work as a public orator at Oxford University, with photography).
- Ved Mehda: A Lasting Impression , in: The New Yorker , November 11, 1991 (abstract).
- Florida State University, Langford: Langford Photograph 2008 .
- Biblical Archeology Society: Photography .
- Karl Maurer, University of Dallas: Why Study Classics? , No. 14: Jasper Griffin (quotations from: Ved Mehta, Up at Oxford. New York 1992).
- philpapers: index of Griffin's essays
Individual evidence
- ^ For example, H. Kim, Princeton Organic Chemistry Supergroup: Agostic Interactions , 22-Jun-2005.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Griffin, Jasper |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British classical philologist |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 29, 1937 |
DATE OF DEATH | 22nd November 2019 |