Michael Grant

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Michael Grant CBE (born November 21, 1914 in London ; † October 4, 2004 ibid) was an English classical philologist and ancient historian .

Live and act

The son of a British officer of the Boer War studied ancient languages ​​and history at Trinity College in Cambridge from 1933 , where he got his first position in 1938. With the beginning of the Second World War he volunteered for the military, where he u. a. embarked on an officer career together with David Niven .

Towards the end of the war he took up a position as a lecturer at the University of Ankara , but soon returned to Cambridge. Shortly afterwards he was appointed professor of Latin philology at the University of Edinburgh . In 1956 Grant moved from Scotland to Sudan , where he was Vice Chancellor at the University of Khartoum for two years . The next station in his career took him to the University of Belfast, also in the role of Vice Chancellor. But even Ireland could not hold it for long. In 1966 Grant and his family moved to Italy. From 1963 to 1966 he was also President of the Virgil Society and from 1978 to 1979 President of the Classical Association .

Although Grant - a proven numismatist and classical philologist - was primarily active as an ancient historian, he reached a wide audience primarily through his popular science books, which became bestsellers with high circulation. His goal was always to present the ancient world in such a simplified way that even readers without knowledge of Latin and Greek could easily follow the events. He dealt with overview representations ( The Roman Emperors ) as well as biographies (e.g. of Caesar and Nero ) and also with subjects and people from the Roman-Greek antiquity as with Israel and the Orient or the early Middle Ages. His book about the gladiators was reprinted with great success over thirty years after it was first published due to the movie Gladiator by Ridley Scott .

From the point of view of most scholars, Grant's works, which often uncritically retell the sources, are not just in line with the state of research from today's perspective - Grant has no longer understood key methodological developments in the subject since the 1970s and 1980s, so that the Value especially since his late scientific work is often viewed very skeptically today. This applies even more to his popular scientific presentations, which were often no longer up-to-date even when it came to factual issues.

In 1994 Michael Grant's autobiography was published under the title My first eighty years . For his services to science and teaching, he was appointed OBE in 1946 and CBE in 1958 .

Fonts (selection)

  • as translator: Tacitus : The Annals of Imperial Rome (= The Penguin Classics. L 60, ZDB -ID 418223-6 ). New Translation with an Introduction. Penguin Books Harmondsworth 1956, (translation of the Annales ).
  • Myths of the Greeks and Romans. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1962, (In German: Myths of the Greeks and Romans. Kindler, Zurich 1964).
  • Gladiators. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1967, (In German: Die Gladiatoren. Klett, Stuttgart 1970).
  • The Climax of Rome. The Final Achievements of the Ancient World AD 161-337. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1968, (In German: The Roman Empire at the turning point. The time from Mark Aurel to Constantine. Beck, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-406-02507-2 ).
  • Julius Caesar. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1969, ISBN 0-297-76719-4 (In German: Caesar. Genie, Dictator, Gentleman. Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1970).
  • Nero. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1970, ISBN 0-297-00101-9 (In German: Nero. Despot, Tyrann, Künstler (= Heyne-Bücher. 12, Heyne-Biographien. 53). Heyne, Munich 1978, ISBN 3- 453-55053-6 ).
  • Cities of Vesuvius: Pompeii and Herculaneum. Photographs by Werner Forman . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1971, (In German: Pompeji Herculaneum. Fall and Resurrection of the Cities on Vesuvius. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1978, ISBN 3-7857-0219-1 ).
  • Herod the Great. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1971, ISBN 0-297-00393-3 (In German: Herodes der Grosse (= Bastei Lübbe. Vol. 61067, Biographie. ). Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-404-61067-9 ).
  • Cleopatra. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1972, ISBN 0-297-99502-2 (In German: Cleopatra. Eine Biographie. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1977, ISBN 3-7857-0204-3 ).
  • The Jews in the Roman World. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1973, ISBN 0-297-76523-X .
  • with John Hazel: Who's Who in Classical Mythology. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1973, ISBN 0-297-76600-7 (In German: Lexicon of ancient myths and shapes. List, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-471-77623-0 (numerous editions)).
  • The Army of the Caesars. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1974, ISBN 0-297-76711-9 .
  • The Twelve Caesars. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1975, ISBN 0-297-76922-7 (In German: Roms Caesars. From Julius Caesar to Domitian. Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-04501-4 ).
  • Saint Paul. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1976, ISBN 0-297-77082-9 (In German: Paulus. Apostel der Völker. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1978, ISBN 3-7857-0210-8 ).
  • The Fall of the Roman Empire. A reappraisal. Annenberg School Press, Radnor PA 1976, ISBN 0-17-149077-0 (In German: The fall of the Roman Empire. Foreword by Golo Mann . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1977, ISBN 3-7857-0196-9 ).
  • Jesus. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1977, ISBN 0-297-77134-5 (In German: The Holy Land. History of Ancient Israel. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1979, ISBN 3-7857-0243-4 ).
  • History of Rome. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1978, ISBN 0-297-77461-1 (In German: The history of Rome. From the Etruscans to the fall of the Roman Empire. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1986, ISBN 3-7857-0429-1 ).
  • The Etruscans. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1980, ISBN 0-297-77748-3 (In German: Enigmatic Etruscans. Portrait of a sunken culture. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1981, ISBN 3-7857-0299-X ).
  • Dawn of the Middle Ages. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1981, ISBN 0-297-78026-3 (In German: Morning of the Middle Ages. Peoples and Riches in the Late Antique World. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-7857-0318-X ).
  • From Alexander to Cleopatra. The Hellenistic World . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1982, ISBN 0-297-78141-3 (In German: From Alexander to Cleopatra. The Hellenistic World. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1984, ISBN 3-7857-0365-1 ).
  • The History of Ancient Israel. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1984, ISBN 0-297-78366-1 (In German: Das Heilige Land. History of Old Israel. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1985, ISBN 3-7857-0393-7 ).
  • The Roman Emperors. A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome 31 BC – AD 476. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1985, ISBN 0-297-78555-9 (In German: The Roman Emperors. From Augustus to the End of the Empire. A Chronicle. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-7857-0553-0 ).
  • The Emperor Constantine. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-82138-5 (Also as: Constantine the Great. The Man and His Times. 1st United States edition. Scribner et al., New York NY 1994, ISBN 0-684-19520-8 ).
  • My First Eighty Years. A. Ellis, Henley-on-Thames 1994, ISBN 0-85628-257-X (autobiography).
  • Saint Peter. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1994, ISBN 0-297-81442-7 .
  • The Antonines. The Roman Empire in Transition. Routledge, London et al. 1994, ISBN 0-415-10754-7 .
  • The Severans. The changed Roman Empire. Routledge, London et al. 1996, ISBN 0-415-12772-6 .
  • The Collapse and Recovery of the Roman Empire. Routledge, London et al. 1999, ISBN 0-415-17323-X .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grant, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English classical philologist and ancient historian
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH 4th October 2004
Place of death London