Clark Hopkins (

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 16 September 1895 – 1976) was an American

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. During the 1930s he led the joint French-American excavations at

Dura Europos Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in present-day Syria. Dura-Europos was founded around 300 ...

. In later years he was professor of art and archeology at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Biography

Clark Hopkins was a son of

Edward Washburn Hopkins Edward Washburn Hopkins, Ph.D., LL.D. (September 8, 1857 July 16, 1932), an American Sanskrit scholar, was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. He graduated at Columbia College in 1878, studied at Leipzig, where he received the degree of Ph.D. ...

, who was a Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at Yale University. Hopkins studied at Yale (A.B., 1917), Oxford (Rhodes Scholar, 1919-1921; A.B., 1921 and A.M., 1926) and the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D., 1924). In 1926 Clark Hopkins married the archaeologist Susan M. Hopkins and they moved New Haven, CT. In the summer of 1928 both Susan and Clark Hopkins attended the summer schools of the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

and the

American School of Classical Studies at Athens The American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA; ) is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece. It is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). CAORC is a private not-for-profit federat ...

, and afterwards joined an excavation at

Olynthus Olynthus ( ''Olynthos'') is an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice, Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of Torone, near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene, Cha ...

. He taught at Rice Institute, Yale and the University of Michigan. He studied at Athens in 1927-1928, and in 1928-1929 was an Assistant Director of Yale's excavations at

Dura-Europos Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian Empire, Parthian, and Ancient Rome, Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Al-Salihiyah, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, S ...

. In 1931-1935 he was Field Director of excavations there. Hopkins was also a reserve officer of the U. S. Army; he served in the World War I as a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry, and in the World War II as a Major in the Sixth Service Command's Training Division. Later he was a Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Michigan. Clark Hopkins is best known for his work at Doura Europos, where he was excavation director in 1932-1933 when the Franco-American mission made the extraordinary discovery of the

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

. He left the detailed account of this discovery that would revolutionize the conceptions of Jewish and Christian art in several articles and in a posthumous work, ''The Discovery of Dura-Europos'', published in 1979:

It was like a dream! In the endless space of the clear blue sky and the empty gray desert, a miracle occurred, an oasis of paintings arose from the monotonous earth.Joseph Gutmann (éd.), ''The Dura-Europos synagogue, A Reevaluation'' (1932-1972), 1973, p. 16.

Hopkins co-authored the preliminary excavation report, the final report was published in 1956 by

Carl Herman Kraeling Carl Hermann Kraeling (1897–1966), an American theologian, historian, and archaeologist; born in Brooklyn on March 10, 1897, and died in New Haven on November 14, 1966; he is known for his publications on the synagogue and the Christian chapel ...

. Clark Hopkins also led the last excavation campaign in

Seleucia Seleucia (; ), also known as or or Seleucia ad Tigrim, was a major Mesopotamian city, located on the west bank of the Tigris River within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. It was founded around 305 BC by Seleucus I Nicator as th ...

, Iraq on behalf of the University of Michigan.

Bibliography

* ''Christian Church at Dura-Europos'', New Haven, 1934. * ''The Excavations at Dura-Europos. Preliminary Reports. Sixth Season, 1932–1933''. Codirigé avec M. I. Rostovtzeff, A. R. Bellinger, and C. B. Wells. New Haven, 1936. * ''Introduction to Classical Archaeology: Crete and Greece''. Ann Arbor, 1950. * ''Topography and Architecture of Seleucia on the Tigris''. Ann Arbor, 1972. * ''The Discovery of Dura-Europos''. New Haven, 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Clark 1895 births 1976 deaths University of Michigan faculty 20th-century American archaeologists Dura-Europos