Lionel Casson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lionel I. Cohen July 22, 1914 Brooklyn,New York City |
| Died | July 18, 2009 (2009-07-19) (aged 94) New York City |
| Occupation | classicist |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | New York University |
Lionel Casson (July 22, 1914 – July 18, 2009) was aclassical archaeologist, professor emeritus atNew York University,[1] and a specialist inmaritime history.[2] He earned his B.A. in 1934 at New York University, and in 1936 became an assistant professor. He later earned his Ph.D. there during 1939.[citation needed] In 2005 he was awarded theArchaeological Institute of AmericaGold Medal.[2][3]
He was bornLionel I. Cohen on July 22, 1914, inBrooklyn, and later changed his last name to "Casson". As a teenager he owned a sailboat that he would use onLong Island Sound. He attendedNew York University for all of his collegiate studies, earning a bachelor's degree there in 1934, a master's in 1936 and hisPh.D. in 1939 and was employed at NYU as an instructor. He served as an officer of theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II, responsible for the interrogation ofprisoners of war.[4]
After completing his military service, Casson returned to NYU, where he served as a professor of classics from 1961 to 1979. The author of 23 books on maritime history andclassic literature, Casson used ancient material ranging fromDemosthenes's speeches and works byThucydides to cargo manifests and archeological studies of ancient shipwrecks and the contents of theamphorae they carried to develop a framework for the development of shipbuilding, maritime trade routes and naval warfare in the ancient world.[4]
In a 2005 speech to theArchaeological Institute of America accepting its Gold Medal, Casson recalled a visit toSouthern France in 1953 when he had the opportunity to visitJacques-Yves Cousteau, who was performing an investigation of an ancient shipwreck. Once he visited the warehouse with the hundreds of amphorae that had been brought to the surface, Casson said that he immediately knew that he "was in on the beginning of a totally new source of information about ancient maritime matters and I determined then and there to exploit it" and integrate this new trove of data with the information he had been able to assemble from ancient writings.[5]
His 1959 bookThe Ancient Mariners: Seafarers and Sea Fighters of the Mediterranean in Ancient Times told how civilizations along theMediterranean Sea began by having their ships travel along the coast and then advanced to voyages across the sea, far from the sight of shore. Commerce and military ventures resulted in journeys to such remote locales asIndia with more specialized crafts designed that expanded the original flat-bottomed boats into vessels such as thetrireme propelled by hundreds of oarsmen to speeds of seven knots by its 170 oars.Illustrated History of Ships and Boats, published byDoubleday in 1964, provided a history of boats from ancient craft carved from wood or made from animal skins up to the day's most modernnuclear submarines.[4]
Yale University Press published Casson's 2001 bookLibraries in the Ancient World that uses references in ancient works and archeological evidence in the Middle East and theGreco-Roman world to follow the development of writing, the creation of the first books and the process of copying them by hand and assembling them into libraries.[6] In the book, Casson putsHomer at the top of a most-popular author list, "with theIliad favored over theOdyssey" on his best-seller list.[4] He documents the transitions from clay tablets, to papyrus and parchment scrolls, and the development of thecodex as the precursor of the modern book. Casson rejects the accepted wisdom that theLibrary of Alexandria was destroyed in 48 BC and argues that evidence shows that it continued in existence until 270 AD during the reign of Roman EmperorAurelian.[7]
He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club theTrap Door Spiders.[8]
Casson died ofpneumonia inManhattan at age 94 on July 18, 2009. He was survived by his wife, the former Julia Michelman, as well as two daughters and two grandchildren.[4]
Media related toLionel Casson at Wikimedia Commons
