Terence Bruce Mitford

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Terence Bruce Mitford , occasionally Bruce Mitford (born May 11, 1905 in Yokohama , † November 8, 1978 ) was a Scottish epigraphist and archaeologist . He taught Latin all his life at the Scottish University of St Andrews and concentrated his scientific work on Cyprus and southwestern Anatolia , where several excavations led him. During the Second World War he belonged to the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service and organized the resistance against the German advance in Crete and Aleppo .

life and work

Mitford was born in Yokohama, Japan, the son of the journalist and author CE Bruce Mitford, his brother was the archaeologist Rupert Bruce-Mitford . He attended Dulwich College in London and then studied Literae Humaniores at Jesus College , Oxford. He spent all of his academic time at the University of St Andrews, where he taught Latin. He also became a Warden at St Salvator College.

In the 1930s he conducted archaeological digs in Cyprus , where he found some inscriptions and made them available to the public. His obituary, reprinted in The Times , said Mitford contributed more than anyone to our understanding of Cypriot literacy and language. His area of ​​interest ranged from the Bronze Age to the Roman era . In 1936 he became a lecturer . In the same year he married Margaret Herring, daughter of the local professor PT Herring, who taught physiology .

Shortly after the start of the Second World War , on October 15, 1939, he became a second lieutenant in the Dorset Regiment. In view of his knowledge of Greek, he was commissioned from June 1940 to organize the resistance against the German invasion in Crete , where he also took part in the defense of the Rethymno airfield . After retreating, he went to Aleppo , where he recruited Kurds and Armenians to stop the expected German advance from the Caucasus. He also took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, then fought in the Aegean Sea, where he was involved in the liberation of the island of Patmos . Back in Crete he fought against the German occupiers. For this he was awarded a medal by the Greek king.

After the war he returned to Scotland and soon resumed his research in Cyprus and Turkey, where his knowledge of Turkish came in handy. Mitford became a Reader in Classical Archeology and retired in 1973. In the same year he received the Doctor of Letters from Oxford University. He also became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1974 . He was also a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

In his final years he studied migratory bird movements and became an adviser to the Jordanian government on bird conservation.

Fonts

  • An unpublished act of amnesty from Ptolemaic Cyprus , in: Actes du 5e congrès de papyrologie , Oxford 1937, pp. 291–299.
  • Nikokles King of Paphos , in: Anatolian Studies presented to William Hepburn Buckler , Manchester 1939, pp. 197-200.
  • Religious Documents from Roman Cyprus , in: Journal of Hellenic Studies 66 (1946) 24-42.
  • An Epitaph from Karpasia , in: Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus 1937-1939 , Nicosia 1950, 169, 202 f.
  • Some new inscriptions from early Christian Cyprus , in: Byzantion 20 (1950) 105-175.
  • The Status of Cypriot Epigraphy. In: Actes du deuxième congrès international d'épigraphie grecque e latine. Paris 1952, pp. 173-175.
  • The character of Ptolemaic Rule in Cyprus , in: Aegyptus 33 (1953) 80-90.
  • The Kouklia Expedition , in: The Alumnus Chronicle 45 (1956). (Report on archaeological work in the southwest of Cyprus from June to July 1950)
  • The Tsepis Stele and some others , in: Minos 6 (1958) 37-54.
  • Helenos, Governor of Cyprus , in: Journal of Hellenic Studies 79 (1959) 94-131.
  • Akestor, King of Paphos , in: Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin 10 (1963) 27-30.
  • The Inscriptions of Kourion , American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1971.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Mitford, Prof. Terence Bruce. In: Who Was Who. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007.
  2. ^ Henry BM Best: Margaret and Charley. The Personal Story of Dr. Charles Best, the co-discoverer of insulin. Dundurn Press, 2003, p. 180.
  3. ^ Prof Terence Mitford - Classical archaeologist and explorer. In: The Times. November 25, 1978, p. 14.
personal data
SURNAME Mitford, Terence Bruce
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bruce-Mitford, Terence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish epigrapher and archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Yokohama
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 1978