Robert Browning (Byzantinist)

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Robert Browning FBA (born January 15, 1914 in Glasgow , † March 11, 1997 in London ) was a British Byzantinist and Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck College in London.

Life

Browning attended the Kelvinside Academy , a private school in Glasgow, and then studied classics and ancient history at the Humanities Department of the University of Glasgow (1931-1939), interrupted by a year as a Snell Exhibitioner at Balliol College (1935-1936). After seven years of military service during the Second World War , which took him to various countries in the Balkans and the Middle East as well as to Egypt , Browning was first Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College in Oxford (1946-1947), then Lecturer (1947-1955) and Reader (1955–1965) at University College London . In 1965 he was appointed Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck College, where he remained until his retirement in 1981. In 1978 he was accepted as a Fellow at the British Academy . After his retirement, Browning worked at Dumbarton Oaks , Harvard University's branch office for Byzantine Studies in Washington, DC , and advised on the establishment of the University of Cyprus .

Browning, like many of his contemporaries there, had been a Marxist since his student days at Oxford , was a member of the Communist Party Historians Group ( Eric Hobsbawm was a close friend) and was inducted into the editorial board of the historical journal Past & Present in 1965.

Browning also served as chairman of both the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies and served as editor of the review section of the Journal of Hellenic Studies and the bibliographical supplement of the Byzantine Journal . Initially and more formally, he was also involved in series of publications initiated by his colleague at Birkbeck College Giuseppe Giangrande ( Classical and Byzantine monographs , AM Hakkert, Amsterdam 1973ff., And Museum Philologum Londiniense, AM Hakkert, Amsterdam 1975–1987). Since 1981 he has been Vice President of the Association Internationale des Études Byzantines ( International Byzantine Association ).

In 1983, following Melina Mercouri's public request in London , Browning and filmmaker Eleni Cubitt founded the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM), which campaigns for the return of the so-called Elgin Marbles to Greece .

Browning had been married to the Bulgarian Galina Chichekova since 1946, with whom he had two daughters. In 1972 he married Ruth Gresh for the second time.

Research priorities

Browning started out as a classical philologist and ancient historian , but then worked in all areas of Greek studies and Greek history from Mycenae to modern Greece . As a Byzantinist, he has become known beyond specialist circles for his masterful books on Byzantine history and society, on the imperial couple Justinian I and Theodora I and on the emperor Julian , which have also been translated into German.

In addition, Browning was known for his stupendous language skills. As a student, he had already translated David Hume's essay Of Avarice into Latin as part of a competition at Oxford University. In addition to the common scientific languages, he mastered not only Slavic ( Russian and Bulgarian ), but also more remote Southeastern European languages ​​such as Albanian and Georgian , which he learned partly during his studies, partly during his military service and partly in self-study using the radio.

Honors

Browning was developed by the University of Birmingham made an honorary doctor of the city Athens to honor citizen . The Republic of Greece honored him by hosting the funeral.

Fonts (selection)

  • with Costas N. Constantinides: Dated Greek manuscripts from Cyprus to the year 1570 . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection and Cyprus Research Center, Washington DC 1993, ISBN 0-884-02210-2 (Dumbarton Oaks studies, Volume 30).
  • Contribution in: L'Uomo bizantino . A cura di Guglielmo Cavallo . Laterza, Rome 1992, ISBN 8-842-03979-9 .
  • History, language and literacy in the Byzantine world . Variorum Reprints, Northampton 1989, ISBN 0-860-78247-6 .
  • Contribution in: Christopher Hitchens : The Elgin marbles: should they be returned to Greece . With essays by Robert Browning and Graham Binns. Chatto & Windus, London 1987, ISBN 0-701-13163-2 , new edition. under the title: The Parthenon marbles: the case for reunification . Preface by Nadine Gordimer . With essays by Robert Browning and Charalambos Bouras. London: Verso 2008, ISBN 1-844-67252-2
  • as editor: The Greek world: Classical, Byzantine and Modern . Thames & Hudson, London 1985, reprinted 1999, ISBN 0-500-28162-9 .
  • Introductory , Poetry , Biography , History , Oratory and epistolography , Learning and the past , Minor figures . In: EJ Kenney (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Classical Literature. Volume II: Latin Literature. Part 5: The Later Principate . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, ISBN 0-521-27371-4 .
  • Church, state and learning in twelfth century Byzantium . Dr William's Trust, London 1981, ISBN 0-852-17042-4 .
  • The Byzantine Empire . Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1980, ISBN 0-297-77821-8 ; revised Catholic University of America Press, Washington, DC 1992, ISBN 0-813-20754-1 .
    • in German: Byzantium, Rome's golden daughter. The history of the Byzantine Empire . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-7857-0306-6 .
  • Studies on Byzantine history, literature and education . Variorum, London 1977, ISBN 0-860-78003-1 (facsimile reprint of 17 articles in English, French and Italian from 1952 to 1975).
  • Byzantium and Bulgaria. A comparative study across the early medieval frontier . Temple Smith, London 1975, ISBN 0-851-17064-1 .
  • Justinian and Theodora . Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1971, ISBN 0-297-00100-0 , revised. Ed. Thames and Hudson, London 1987, ISBN 0-500-25099-5 .
    • in German: Justinian and Theodora: splendor and greatness of the Byzantine imperial couple . German by Diether Eibach. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1981, ISBN 3-7857-0274-4 ; New edition under the title: Justinian and Theodora: Rulers in Byzantium . German by Dieter Eibach. Pawlak, Herrsching 1992, ISBN 3-88199-931-0 .
  • The Emperor Julian . Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1976, ISBN 0-297-77029-2 .
    • in German: Julian: The renegade emperor. Biography . German by Ulla Leippe. Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-485-00330-1 ; Licensed edition under the title: Kaiser Julian - The renegade Roman ruler . German by Ulla Leippe. Heyne, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-453-00821-9 .
  • Medieval and Modern Greek . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1969, 2nd ed. 1983, ISBN 0-521-23488-3 (Review by Hans-Peter Drögemüller , in: Gymnasium 93 (1986) 184ff.).
  • Notes on Byzantine prooimia . Böhlau in Komm., Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1966 (Vienna Byzantine Studies, Volume 1, Suppl.).
  • The Linear B Texts from Knossos . Transliterated and edited by Robert Browning. London 1955 (Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London, Supplementary Papers, No. 1).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Browning, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Byzantinist
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1997
Place of death London