Robin Lane Fox FRSL
Robin Lane Fox at Financial Times 125th Anniversary Party, London, in June 2013
Born	Robin James Lane Fox (1946-10-05)5 October 1946 (age 79)
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford
Occupation(s)	Educator, author
Known for	Historian of classical antiquity
Children	Martha Henry

Robin James Lane Fox,FRSL (born 5 October 1946)^[1] is an Englishclassicist,ancient historian, and gardening writer known for his works onAlexander the Great.^[2] Lane Fox is an Emeritus Fellow ofNew College, Oxford, andReader in Ancient History,University of Oxford. Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College from 1977 to 2014, he serves as Garden Master and as Extraordinary Lecturer in Ancient History for both New College andExeter College. He has also taughtGreek andLatin literature and earlyIslamic history.^[3][4]

His major publications, for which he has won literary prizes including theJames Tait Black Award,^[5] theDuff Cooper Prize,^[6] theHeinemann Award^[7] and theRunciman Award,^[8] include studies ofAlexander the Great andAncient Macedon,Late Antiquity,Christianity and Paganism,the Bible and history, and theGreek Dark Ages. In addition, he is the gardening correspondent of theFinancial Times.

Lane Fox was educated atEton College, an all-boyspublic school nearWindsor, Berkshire. He studiedLiterae Humaniores (Classics) atMagdalen College, Oxford.^[1] Like his fellow ancient historiansPaul Cartledge andAlan Cameron, and philosophersTerence Irwin andJohn McDowell,^[9] he was an undergraduate student ofG. E. M. de Ste. Croix.^[1][2]

Lane Fox was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, between 1970 and 1973. Between 1974 and 1976, he was alecturer atWorcester College, Oxford. From 1976 to 1977, he was aresearch fellow in classical and Islamic history at Worcester.^[1] In 1977, he was elected a fellow of New College, Oxford, in succession to G. E. M. de Ste. Croix.^[1][2] In 1990, he was appointedReader in Ancient History within theFaculty of Classics.^[10] In 2012, he retired and was appointed anEmeritus Fellow of New College.^[11] Important influences on his contributions to the study of ancient history includeLouis Robert,^[12]Peter Brown,^[13]E. R. Dodds,^[13]Timothy Barnes,^[13] E. J. Bickerman,^[14]Martin Litchfield West,^[15]Walter Burkert,^[15] and his long-standing New College colleagueW. G. (George) Forrest.^[16]

His 1973 bookAlexander the Great was awarded theDuff Cooper Prize and theJames Tait Black Memorial Prize. Due to the success of the book, Lane Fox was historical advisor to the film directorOliver Stone for the epicAlexander. His appearance as an extra in cavalry manoeuvres, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicised at the time of the film's release.^[17][18][19] He wrote and presentedGreek Myths: Tales of Travelling Heroes, which was first broadcast onBBC Four in November 2010.^[20]

While primarily focused on ancient Greece, Fox has written three books dealing with the history of Christianity,Pagans and Christians,The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, and a biography of Saint Augustine,Augustine: Conversions and Confessions,^[21] which was awarded theWolfson History Prize. In the second book, Fox professes himself to be a non-believer, although in the last book he expresses much admiration for St. Augustine.

He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974.^[22]

Wikiquote has quotations related toRobin Lane Fox.

Lane Fox, an atheist, is the father ofMartha Lane Fox and Henry Lane Fox. Martha is an entrepreneur andcrossbenchlife peer who co-foundedLastminute.com. Henry is CEO of a website,The Browser.^[23][24]

As gardening correspondent of theFinancial Times, Lane Fox was involved in a controversy around the banning ofgarden gnomes and other items ofkitsch from theChelsea Garden Show;^[25] Fox madewordplay over the term 'fairy' which can denote amythical creature or be aslang reference to gay men, saying "there are several very distinguished, great garden designers who are solely male-orientated".

• Alexander the Great, Allen Lane, 1973.ISBN 978-0-71390-500-7; US title:The Search for Alexander, Little, Brown & Co., 1980.ISBN 978-0-31629-108-8 (reprinted by theFolio Society with revisions & corrections, 1997)
• Variations on a Garden, Macmillan, 1974.ISBN 978-0-33317-099-1 (reprinted by R. & L., 1986)ISBN 978-0-95113-920-2
• Better Gardening, R. & L., 1982.ISBN 978-0-70991-629-1
• V. Sackville-West. The Illustrated Garden Book: A New Anthology, Michael Joseph, 1986.ISBN 978-0-71812-660-5
• Pagans and Christians, Viking, 1986.ISBN 978-0-67080-848-9 (reprinted by the Folio Society in 3 vols., 2010)
• The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Viking, 1991.ISBN 978-0-67082-412-0
• The Long March: Xenophon and the Ten Thousand, Yale University Press, 2004.ISBN 978-0-30010-403-5 (editor)
• The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian, Allen Lane, 2005.ISBN 978-0-71399-853-5 (reprinted by the Folio Society)
• Travelling Heroes: Greeks and Their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer, Allen Lane, 2008.ISBN 978-0-71399-980-8
• Thoughtful Gardening: Great Plants, Great Gardens, Great Gardeners, Particular Books, 2010.ISBN 978-1-84614-289-5
• Brill's Companion to Ancient Macedon: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Macedon, 650 BC-300 AD, Brill, 2011.ISBN 978-9-00420-650-2 (editor)
• Augustine: Conversions and Confessions, Allen Lane, 2015.ISBN 978-1-84614-400-4
• The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates, Basic Books, 2020.ISBN 978-0-46509-344-1
• Homer and his Iliad, Allen Lane, 2023.ISBN 978-0-24152-451-0

• 1946 births
• 20th-century English historians
• 21st-century English historians
• 21st-century English writers
• Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
• BBC television presenters
• English atheists
• English classical scholars
• English garden writers
• Fellows of New College, Oxford
• Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients
• Lane Fox family
• Living people
• People educated at Eton College
• Scholars of ancient Greek history
• Wolfson History Prize winners
• Financial Times people

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