Richard J. A. Talbert | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1947-04-26)26 April 1947 (age 78) |
| Alma mater | Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Ancient historian, classicist |
| Known for | Roman Senate,Tabula Peutingeriana,Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World |
Richard John Alexander Talbert (born 26 April 1947) is aBritish-American contemporary ancienthistorian andclassicist on the faculty of theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of History (1988-2020) and then Research Professor in charge of the Ancient World Mapping Center until his retirement in 2024.[1] Talbert is a scholar of ancient geography and ideas of space in the ancientMediterranean world.
Talbert received his education atThe King's School, Canterbury andCorpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he gained Double First Class Honours in Classics (1968), followed by a PhD (1972) directed byF.H. Sandbach andM.I. Finley.[2]
Talbert was on the faculty of theQueen’s University, Belfast (assistant to senior lecturer) from 1970 to 1985. After publishingTimoleon and the Revival of Greek Sicily (1974), he extended his research into Roman history and producedThe Senate of Imperial Rome (1984). By examining the workings of the institution for the first time, this book revises the longstanding assumption that the senate during the Principate barely retained a meaningful role. The book won theAmerican Philological Association’sGoodwin Award of Merit (1987). In 1978-79 Talbert was Herodotus Fellow at theInstitute for Advanced Study, Princeton. In 1985 he became professor of history atMcMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. A basicAtlas of Classical History edited by him appeared in 1985 (revised edition 2023), followed by a Penguin ClassicPlutarch on Sparta in 1988 (expanded 2005).
In 1988 Talbert moved to theUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and accepted a commission from theAmerican Philological Association to produce the first major classical atlas since the 1870s. The planning and progress of this international collaborative effort are a key theme in his bookChallenges of Mapping the Classical World (2019). The resultingBarrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World andMap-by-Map Directory were published in 2000. Around 200 scholars were involved, and over $4.5 million in funding was raised. Talbert then established and created an endowment for, the Ancient World Mapping Center at UNC Chapel Hill.[3] It has continued to take the lead in exploiting digital technology to launch a wide range of initiatives, in particular the Pleiades gazetteer.[4]
A monograph by Talbert (2010), accompanied by extensive web materials, offers fresh thinking about the design and purpose of theTabula Peutingeriana, the one surviving large Roman map (in a medieval copy). Worldview is again the focus of his further monograph (2017) on a neglected type of portable sundial, one incorporating a list of cities and regions with their latitude figures (in Greek or Latin). The collectionWorld and Hour in Roman Minds (2023) assembles many of Talbert’s shorter contributions in this field. In addition, he has (co-)edited numerous volumes relating to space, travel, and communication not only in classical antiquity but also in other cultures worldwide at different periods. His translation (with Brian Turner, 2022)Pliny the Elder’s World spans theNatural History’s description of the universe and the Earth.[5]
For students at the survey level, Talbert collaborated withMary Boatwright and Daniel Gargola (and later Noel Lenski) onThe Romans: From Village to Empire (2004, revised 2012), and on its abridgmentA Brief History of the Romans (2006, revised 2014). For college faculty, Talbert co-directed (with Michael Maas) severalNational Endowment for the Humanities summer Institutes and Seminars at both UNC Chapel Hill and the American Academy in Rome. As visiting professor, Talbert taught at theUniversity of Alabama, Huntsville (1993), atPrinceton University (1997), and atWhitman College, WA (2021); also in Paris at theEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (2011) andEcole Normale Supérieure (2019), and at the Université de Reims (2013). He has been a resident professor at theAmerican Academy in Rome (1991). He organized the 2007 Nebenzahl Lectures at theNewberry Library, Chicago, was 2017 Eitner lecturer (Stanford University), and lecturer for the Guangqi International Center, Shanghai, China (2018).
Talbert was the leading co-editor of theUniversity of North Carolina Press series Studies in the History of Greece and Rome (1995-2017). AsAmerican Journal of Philology’s associate editor for ancient history, he co-edited two special issues:Classical Courts and Courtiers (2011), andMoses Finley in America (2014). He co-presented the virtual exhibitionLate Ottoman Turkey in Princeton’s Forgotten Maps, 1883-1923 (2022-2023).
Talbert has served on the Council of the Classical Association of Canada, as president of theAssociation of Ancient Historians (1999-2002), and as chair of theAmerican Academy in Rome’s School of Classical Studies Advisory Council (2006-2012). He has held aGuggenheim Fellowship,[6]American Council of Learned Societies Senior Fellowship, Harley Research Fellowship, and Goheen Fellowship at the National Humanities Center. He was awarded the American Philological Association’s Medal for Distinguished Service in 1999. Cambridge conferred on him its Doctorate of Letters (2003), and he is a Corresponding Member of theGerman Archaeological Institute (2005). A Festschrift was presented to him in 2014.[7]
Talbert has trained many ancient historians during his tenure at the University of North Carolina.
