Garth Lowther Fowden, FBA (born 14 January 1953) is a historian. He was Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

from 2013 to 2020.

Career

Born on 14 January 1953, Garth Fowden was educated at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...

; he graduated in 1974 and completed a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

there in 1979, under the title "Pagan philosophers in late antique society: with special reference to Iamblichus and his followers". Fowden was a research fellow at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, from 1978 to 1982 and then at

Darwin College, Cambridge Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of th ...

, until he took up a lectureship at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

from 1983. In 1985 he moved to a research position at the National Research Foundation in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, and remained there until being appointed Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths at the

in 2013. He supervised only one Ph.D. student during his career. His former Ph.D. student, Valentina A. Grasso, is now a professor at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York. According to his British Academy profile, Fowden's research focuses on "intellectual currents and imperial horizons in the first millennium CE, from Augustus to Avicenna, Central Asia to the Atlantic" as well as "emergent Islam in its late antique context"."Professor Garth Fowden"
''British Academy''. Retrieved 30 June 2018.

Awards and honours

In 2015, Fowden was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

, the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the hum ...

for the humanities and social sciences.

Selected publications

* ''The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind'' (Cambridge University Press, 1986). * ''Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity'' (Princeton University Press, 1993). * ''Quṣayr 'Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria'' (University of California Press, 2004). * ''Before and after Muḥammad: The First Millennium Refocused'' (Princeton University Press, 2014). * ''Abraham or Aristotle? First Millennium Empires and Exegetical Traditions. An Inaugural Lecture by the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths Given in the University of Cambridge, 4 December 2013'' (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2015).

References

External links

Profile at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge

Landscapes and monuments: Iran to Spain
Fowden's photographic archive that he developed while conducting his research. Digitised in

Cambridge Digital Library The Cambridge Digital Library is a project operated by the Cambridge University Library designed to make items from the unique and distinctive collections of Cambridge University Library available online. The project was initially funded by a donat ...

.
Landscapes and monuments: Iran to Spain. An essay by Garth Fowden (2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowden, Garth 1953 births Living people Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge Fellows of Darwin College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy