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Peter Green | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1924-12-22)22 December 1924 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 16 September 2024(2024-09-16) (aged 99) Iowa City, Iowa, United States |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Spouse | Carin (died 2015) |
| Children | Sarah and 2 others |
Peter Morris Green (22 December 1924 – 16 September 2024) was an Englishclassical scholar and novelist noted for his works on the Greco-Persian Wars,Alexander the Great and theHellenistic Age of ancient history, generally regarded as spanning the era from the death of Alexander in 323 BC up to either the date of theBattle of Actium or the death ofAugustus in 14 AD.[1]
Green's most famous books areAlexander of Macedon, a historical biography first issued in 1970, then in a revised and expanded edition in 1974, which was first published in the United States in 1991; hisAlexander to Actium, a general account of theHellenistic Age, and other works. He was the author of a translation of theSatires of the Roman poetJuvenal, now in its third edition. He also contributed poems to many journals, including toArion and theSouthern Humanities Review.[1] He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1956.[2]
Green was born inLondon on 22 December 1924.[3] He went to school atCharterhouse. DuringWorld War II, he served with theRoyal Air Force inBurma. In Firpo's Bar inCalcutta, he met and became friendly with future novelist,Paul Scott, who later used elements of Green's character for the figure of Sergeant Guy Perron inThe Raj Quartet.[4]
After the war, Green attendedTrinity College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Double First in Classics, winning the Craven Scholarship and Studentship in 1950. He subsequently wrotehistorical novels and worked as ajournalist, in the capacity of fiction critic for theDaily Telegraph (1953–63), book columnist for theYorkshire Post (1961–62), television critic forThe Listener (1962–1963), film critic forJohn O'London's (1961–1963), as well as contributing to other journals.[3]
In 1963, he and his family moved to theGreek island ofLesbos, where he was atranslator and independent scholar. In 1966 he moved to Athens, where he was recruited to teach classics forCollege Year in Athens, and publishedArmada from Athens, a study of theSicilian Expedition of 415–3 BC (1970), andThe Year of Salamis, a history of the Greco-Persian Wars (1971).In 1971, Green was invited to teach at theUniversity of Texas at Austin, where he became Dougherty Centennial Professor of Classics in 1982, emeritus from 1997.[1] In 1986, he held the Mellon Chair of Humanities atTulane University inNew Orleans. He was last an adjunct professor at theUniversity of Iowa and also has held visiting appointments atPrinceton University and atEast Carolina University inGreenville,North Carolina.
Bob Dylan used Green's translations ofOvid, found inThe Erotic Poems (1982) andThe Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters (1994) as song lyrics on the albumsLove and Theft (2001) andModern Times (2006).[5][6][7][8][9]
Green was a regular contributor to theNew York Review of Books.[10]
At the time of his death, Green was working withGlenn Storey on a new translation of the works ofHerodotus with full commentaries. That work is expected to be published in 2025.
In 1954, Green married Lalage Isobel Pulvertaft, a novelist and Egyptologist. They had three children, includingSarah Green.
Green's second marriage was to classicist and ancient historian Carin M. C. Green, who died in 2015.[11]
Peter Green died inIowa City on 16 September 2024, at the age of 99.[12]
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| Year | Review article | Work(s) reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "The Women and the Gods".The New York Review of Books.54 (11):32–35. 28 June 2007. | Connelly, Joan Breton (2007).Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. |
