Barbara Mary Levick (21 June 1931 – 6 December 2023) was a British historian and epigrapher, focusing particularly on the Late

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

and Early Empire. She was recognised within her field as one of the leading Roman historians of her generation.

Early life and education

Barbara Mary Levick was born in London on 21 June 1931, the daughter of Frank Thomas and Mary (née Smart) Levick. She was educated at Brighton and Hove High School and

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

. Her DPhil, on the subject of Roman colonies in South Asia Minor was undertaken in the mid-1950s and supervised by Ronald Syme. For this research she made two solo trips to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, placing herself in a tradition at this time of largely Scottish and male epigraphers travelling in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. She focused, however, on Pisidia, a region that lay away from the routes explored by a group of her male contemporaries, although she was the only one to publish a book as a result of research from these expeditions.

Career

In 1959, Levick was appointed a university

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and tutor for Roman History at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and in 1967 published her first

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

, drawing on material from her doctoral thesis, which forty years after its publication was described as a "resilient classic of Roman history". The importance of this work came from both its focus on the Roman impact on Asia Minor, and the drawing together of both epigraphic and numismatic evidence. In this work she used the discoveries she made at Yalvaç in Turkey, and considered again material that had been neglected since the 1920s. Levick was an influential editor of inscriptions who shaped the format of the ''Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua'' series, directing two volumes of its publication. Her biographies of Roman emperors and Imperial women are widely known and receive largely positive reviews from their critics. Her portrait was painted for St Hilda's College by Jane Cursham.

Death

Levick died on 6 December 2023, at the age of 92.

Selected publications

A fuller bibliography of her works up to 2007 can be found in the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, No. 100, VITA VIGILIA EST: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF BARBARA LEVICK (2007).

Books

* ''Roman colonies in southern Asia Minor'' (Oxford: the Clarendon Press, 1967) * ''Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) *''Julia Domna, Syrian Empress'' (London: Routledge, 2007) *''The Government of the Roman Empire. A Sourcebook'' (London: Routledge, 1985) *''

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

'' (1990); this biography was translated into French in 2002 by historian Isabelle Cogitore. *''The Year of the Four Emperors'' (2000) *''

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

'' (1999) *''Tiberius the Politician.'' London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. Reprint, London: Croom Helm, 1988. . *''Augustus: Image and Substance.'' London: Longman, 2010. . *''Catiline.'' London: Bloomsbury, 2015. .

Articles

*''Two Pisidian Colonial Families''. In: ''The Journal of Roman Studies'', Vol. 48, No. 1/2 (1958), pp. 74–78 *''Acerbissima Lex Servilia''. In: ''The Classical Review'', New Series, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Dec., 1967), pp. 256–258 *''A Cry from the Heart from Tiberius Caesar?''. In: ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', Vol. 27, No. 1 (1st Qtr., 1978), pp. 95–101 *''Poena Legis Maiestatis''. In: ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', Vol. 28, No. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1979), pp. 358–379 *''Claudius Speaks: Two Imperial Contretemps''. In: ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', Vol. 38, No. 1 (1st Qtr., 1989), pp. 112–116 *''Abdication and Agrippa Postumus''. In: ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', Vol. 21, No. 4 (4th Qtr., 1972), pp. 674–697 *''The Beginning of Tiberius' Career''. In: ''The Classical Quarterly'', New Series, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Nov., 1971), pp. 478–486 *''Cicero, Brutus 43. 159 ff., and the Foundation of Narbo Martius''. In: ''The Classical Quarterly'', New Series, Vol. 21, No. 1 (May, 1971), pp. 170–179

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levick, Barbara 1931 births 2023 deaths English biographers British historians Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Fellows of St Hilda's College, Oxford British women historians British women biographers Historians of ancient Rome Writers from London