Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, (15 November 1907 – 24 March 2001) was a British historian, geographer, classicist and an operative for the British

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE) in occupied Greece during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Hammond is seen as the leading expert on the history of ancient Macedonia. He has been recognized for his meticulous research on the

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

, historical topography and history of ancient Macedonia and

ancient Epirus Epirus (; Epirote Greek: , ; Attic Greek: , ) was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bordered by ...

Life and writings

Hammond studied classics at

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

. In 1929, while he was still a student, Hammond began his personal exploration of all the ancient sites in

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...

. He excelled in his exams and also spent vacations exploring Greece on foot, acquiring knowledge of the topography and terrain. He also spent some time in

southern Albania Southern Albania ( sq, Shqipëria jugore) is one of the three NUTS-2 Regions of Albania. This ethnographical territory is sometimes referred to as ''Toskeria'' ( sq, Toskëria). It consists of five counties: Berat, Fier, Gjirokastër, Korç ...

(

Northern Epirus sq, Epiri i Veriut rup, Epiru di Nsusu , type = Part of the wider historic region of Epirus , image_blank_emblem = , blank_emblem_type = , image_map = Epirus across Greece Albania4.svg , map_caption ...

) where he learnt the

Albanian language Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...

. These abilities led him to be recruited by the

during World War II in 1940. His activities included many dangerous sabotage missions in Greece (especially on the Greek island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

). As an officer, in 1944 he was in command of the Allied military mission to the Greek resistance in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

and Macedonia. There he came to know those regions thoroughly. He published a memoir of his war service entitled ''Venture into Greece'' in 1983; he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

and the Greek Order of the Phoenix. In the postwar period, Hammond returned to academia as senior tutor at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...

. In 1954, he became headmaster of

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

, Bristol and in 1962 was appointed Henry Overton Wills Professor of Greek at Bristol University, a post which he held until his retirement in 1973. He was elected a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

in 1968 and an honorary member of the ''Centre des Nouvelles études de l'histoire, de la philosophie et des problèmes sociaux à Clermont-Ferrand'' in 1988. His scholarship focused on the history of ancient Macedonia and

, and he was considered the leading expert on Macedonia. He was also editor and contributor to various volumes of the ''

Cambridge Ancient History ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' is a multi-volume work of ancient history from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, published by Cambridge University Press. The first series, consisting of 12 volumes, was planned in 1919 by Irish historian J. B. Bur ...

'' and the second edition of the ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. He was known for his works about

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

and for suggesting the relationship of

Vergina Vergina ( el, Βεργίνα, ''Vergína'' ) is a small town in northern Greece, part of Veria municipality in Imathia, Central Macedonia. Vergina was established in 1922 in the aftermath of the population exchanges after the Treaty of Laus ...

with Aegae, the ancient Macedonian royal city, before the archaeological discoveries. In later years, Hammond backed Greece during the Macedonia name dispute.

Personal life

Hammond was the father of two sons (both educated at Clifton College) and three daughters including

Caroline Bammel Caroline Penrose Bammel, (''née'' Hammond; 6 July 1940 – 31 October 1995), also known as Caroline Hammond Bammel, was an English ecclesiastical historian, classicist, and academic, who specialised in the history of early Christianity. She wa ...

, a noted historian of the early church.

Selected works

#''A History of Greece to 322 B.C.'' (1959) #''Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas'' (1967) #''Migrations and invasions in Greece and Adjacent Areas'' (1976) #ed. ''Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity'' (1981) #''Philip of Macedon'' (1994) #''The Genius of Alexander the Great'' (1997) #''The Classical Age of Greece'' (1999) # ''Poetics of Aristotle: Rearranged, Abridged and Translated for Better Understanding by the General Reader'' (2001) # ''A History of Macedonia'' Volume I: Historical Geography and Prehistory (1972) # ''A History of Macedonia'' Volume II: 550-336 B.C. (1979) # ''A History of Macedonia'' Volume III: 336-167 B.C. (1988) #''Alexander the Great. King, Commander, and Statesman'' #''History of Macedonia'' #''

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

'' (1970) (second edition) #''The end of Mycenaean Civilization and Dark Age: the literary tradition'' (1962)

Notes

References

* Clogg, Richard. bituarybr>''The Guardian'', 5 April 2001
* Snodgrass, Anthony. "Professor N.G.L. Hammond: Obituary", ''The Independent'', 28 March 2001.

External links