Denis C. Feeney FBA (born 1955) is a New Zealand classicist and academic who is Professor of Classics and Giger Professor of Latin at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He was born in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and educated at

St Peter's College, Auckland St Peter's College () is a Catholic church, Catholic secondary school single-sex education, for boys in the Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice tradition, and dedicated to St Peter. It is located in the Auckland CBD, central Auckland area of Graft ...

and

Auckland Grammar School Auckland Grammar School (often simplified to Auckland Grammar, or Grammar), established in 1869, is a State school, state, Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding secondary school for Single-sex education, boys in Auckland, New Zealand. ...

. He received his B.A. (1974), MA in Latin (1975) and MA in Greek (1976) from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

and a D.Phil. from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1982. He has also been a

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 ...

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. Professor Feeney is especially known for his highly influential book ''The Gods in Epic'' on the interaction between Roman literature and religion, and his recent book ''Caesar's Calendar: Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History'' (University of California Press, 2008). In 2016 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Books

* ''The Gods in Epic: Poets and Critics of the Classical Tradition''. Oxford UP. (1991) * ''Literature and religion at Rome: Cultures, contexts, and beliefs''. Cambridge UP. (1998) * ''Traditions and Contexts in the Poetry of Horace''. Cambridge UP. (2002) * ''Caesar's Calendar: Ancient Time and the Beginnings of History''. California UP. (2008) * ''Beyond Greek: The Beginnings of Latin Literature''. Harvard UP. (2016) * ''How Literatures Begin''. (Ed.) Princeton UP. (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeney, Denis American classical scholars Living people New Zealand classical scholars New Zealand people of Irish descent Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of New College, Oxford Classical scholars of Princeton University University of Auckland alumni People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland People educated at Auckland Grammar School 1955 births Scholars of Latin literature Corresponding fellows of the British Academy