Glen W. Bowersock | Biography

Born 12 January 1936

Harvard University, A. B. summa cum laude 1957

Oxford University, B.A., First Class Hons., Literae Humaniores, 1959; M.A., D.Phil., 1962

University of Strasbourg (Sciences Humaines), Docteur honoris causa, 1990

Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris), Docteur honoris causa, 1999

University of Athens, Doctor honoris causa, 2005

Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, 2004

Lecturer in Ancient History, Balliol, Magdalen, and New College, Oxford, 1960-62

Professor of Classics and History, Harvard University, 1962-80 (full Professor from 1969)

Chairman, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 1972-77

Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, 1977-80

Professor of Ancient History, Institute for Advanced Study, 1980-2006

Professor Emeritus of Ancient History, Institute for Advanced Study, 2006-

Visiting Appointments and Lectures

Visiting Professor, Oxford University, 1966

Visiting Professor, Australian National University, 1972

Visiting Professor (4 lectures and medal), Collège de France, 1997

Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures, University of Michigan and American Academy in Rome, 1989

Sather Lectures, University of California at Berkeley, 1991-92

Ena H. Thompson Lecturer, Pomona College, 1993

Wiles Lectures, Queen's University, Belfast, 1993

Distinguished Visitor, American Academy in Berlin, 2007

Stern Lectures, Historical Society of Israel, Jerusalem, 2011

Other invited lectures in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, and the U.S.A.

Honors, Elected Memberships, and Positions Held Currently

Member, American Philosophical Society

Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Foreign Member, Russian Academy of Sciences

Membre de l'Institut de France (Associé étranger, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres)

Associé étranger, Royal Academy of Belgium

Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres

Socio Straniero, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

Korrespondierendes Mitglied, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

Fellow, American Numismatic Society

Senior Fellow, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University

Rhodes Scholar, Balliol College, Oxford, 1957-60

James H. Breasted Prize (American Historical Association), 1992

Prix Albert Bernard (Académie des sciences d’outre-mer, Paris), 2015

Honorary Associate, Eliot House, Harvard University, since 1980

Honorary American Secretary, Roman Society (London)

General Editor, Revealing Antiquity series, Harvard University Press

Editorial Board, Berytus Archaeological Studies (American University of Beirut)

Comité de lecture: Syria (French Institute [IFPO], Damascus)

Board of Advisors, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy (Niebuhr Institute, Copenhagen)

Advisory Board, Ancient Civilizations: Scythia to Siberia (Russian Academy of Sciences)

Editorial Board, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Lettere e Filosofia

Comitato Scientifico di Consulenza della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (Lettere e Filosofia)

Presidente del Consiglio Scientifico, Istituto di Studi Umanistici, Florence

Fellow, Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, Columbia University

Also member of Phi Beta Kappa, The Johnsonians, Leschetizky Association, Knickerbocker Club (New York City), Century Association (New York City), and the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera

Positions Held Formerly

Senior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, D.C., 1976-89

Senior Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington, D.C., 1984-93 (Chairman, 1991-93)

Acting Senior Fellow, Society of Fellows, Harvard, 1979-80

Syndic, Harvard University Press, 1977-81

Executive Board, Modern Greek Studies Association, 1978-84 (Vice-President 1982-84)

Trustee, American Schools of Oriental Research, 1984-90

Corresponding Member of the Editorial Board, Phoenix, 1979-90

Editorial Board, The American Scholar, 1981-93

Editorial Board, American Journal of Philology, 1987-95

Chair, Social Sciences/Humanities Panel, European Research Council, 2006-12

Professor Bowersock is the author of more than 400 articles and books on Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern history, as well as the classical tradition in western literature. His principal books are:

Augustus and the Greek World (Oxford, 1965)

Pseudo-Xenophon: Constitution of the Athenians (Loeb Library, 1968)

Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969)

Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, ed. with trans. by C.P. Jones (Penguin, 1970)

Approaches to the Second Sophistic, ed. (Amer. Philol. Assn., 1974)

Edward Gibbon and the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. with J.L. Clive and S.R. Graubard (Harvard, 1977)

Julian the Apostate (London and Harvard, 1978) Japanese trans. 1986, French trans. 2008, Romanian trans. 2009

Roman Arabia (Harvard, 1983) Arabic trans. 2007, Swedish trans. 2013

Hellenism in Late Antiquity, Jerome Lectures (Michigan and Cambridge U.P., 1990) Italian trans. 1992; Greek trans. 1996

Le Martyre de Pionios, par Louis Robert, mis au point et complété par G.W. Bowersock et C.P. Jones (Dumbarton Oaks, 1994)

A.D. Momigliano: Studies on Modern Scholarship, ed. with T.J. Cornell (University of California Press, 1994)

Fiction as History, from Nero to Julian, Sather Classical Lectures (University of California Press, 1994) Italian trans. 2000; French trans. 2007.

Studies on the Eastern Roman Empire (Bibliotheca Eruditorum, Keip Verlag, 1994)

Martyrdom and Rome, Wiles Lectures (Cambridge University Press, 1995) French trans. 2002

Late Antiquity. A guide to the Postclassical World, ed. with P. Brown and O. Grabar (Harvard, 1999)

Selected Papers on Late Antiquity (Edipuglia, 2000)

Mosaics as History. The Near East from Late Antiquity to Islam (Harvard, 2006)

Lorenzo Valla On the Donation of Constantine, I Tatti Renaissance Library (Harvard, 2007). Paper edition - translation only 2008

Saggi sulla tradizione classica dal Settecento al Novecento (Einaudi, 2007)

From Gibbon to Auden. Essays on the Classical Tradition (Oxford, 2009).

Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity. The Menahem Stern Jerusalem Lectures (Hanover, NH, 2012).

The Throne of Adulis. Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Oxford, 2013). French trans. 2014.

The Crucible of Islam (Harvard, 2017), French and German translations in preparation