C. Bradford Welles (August 9, 1901 – October 8, 1969) was an American Classicist and ancient

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. His academic career was at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He received a B.A. in 1924, a Ph.D. in 1928, became an instructor in 1927, an assistant professor in 1931, an associate professor in 1939 and professor in 1940. At his death he was professor of ancient history and curator of the Yale Collection of Papyri. He was profoundly influenced by the great ancient historian Michael I. Rostovtzeff, who arrived at Yale in 1925. In 1934 he published his first book, ''Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period'', a collection of inscriptions with commentary still widely cited today. His major academic interests lay in Greek

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, papyrology, and the history and archaeology of the Near East and Egypt in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. He was the editor of a series of volumes on the archaeological excavations at Dura-Europos and published the papyri found there. He was a founder and the first president of the American Society of Papyrologists, from which he received a Festschrift in 1966. During

World War II 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 opposin ...

, he served as an Army officer, stationed in Cairo from October 1944 until August 1946; there he headed the Office of Strategic Services, Counter Espionage Section, Middle East. He had technical control of all X-2 operations in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Lebanon, the Levant States, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. For this work,

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

appointed him an Honorary Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. He was a colonel in the Office of G-2 in the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. On October 23, 1927, he married Eleanor Bogert, the daughter of George Henry Bogert, an American landscape painter, and they had two sons.

References

*http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20913FC345F127A93CBA9178BD95F4D8685F9 *http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01466.html?a=1&g=m&n=welles&ia=-at&ib=-bib&d=10&ss=1&q=5

External links

*
Database of Classical Scholars
*http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=A415E9A0E1570F7EBAB649DDC7576439.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=3694220 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110713143017/http://www.kelmscottbookshop.com/store/11856.htm *http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3974704
Register of the Michael Ivanovitch Rostovtzeff Papers
Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welles, C. Bradford 1901 births 1969 deaths Yale University alumni People from Old Saybrook, Connecticut United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army colonels Honorary Officers of the Order of the British Empire