John Victor Luce (21 May 1920 – 11 February 2011) was an Irish classicist, professor and

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 ...

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. He was also the College's Public Orator between 1971 and 2005. Luce entered Trinity in 1938 to read Classics, and was elected a Scholar in his first year, a highly unusual achievement. He took a double Moderatorship in Classics and

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and was awarded Gold Medals for both subjects. He was Auditor of the College Classical Society in 1942–43. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1948 and served as Erasmus Smith's Professor of Oratory until 1989. John Luce was the son of Arthur Aston Luce, the longest serving fellow of TCD. He was also the nephew of Gordon Hannington Luce, the noted scholar of Burmese and Asian History and Bloomsbury group member, and first cousin of Rex Warner, classicist and author of novels such as ''The Aerodrome''. An avid sportsman in his youth represented Ireland in Hockey in the 1940s, and also played Squash and Cricket. He was a keen Chess player and played for Rathmines Chess Club in the Leinster Leagues.

Partial bibliography

* '' The End of Atlantis: New Light on an Old Legend'', London 1969 * '' The Quest for Ulysses'' (with

William Bedell Stanford William Bedell Stanford (16 January 1910 – 30 December 1984) was an Irish classical scholar and senator. He was Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College Dublin from 1940 to 1980, and served as chancellor of the University of Dublin from ...

), London 1974 * '' Homer and the Heroic Age'', London 1975 * ''Trinity College Dublin: The First 400 Years'', Dublin 1991 * ''An Introduction to Greek Philosophy'', London 1992 * '' Orationes Dublinienses Selectae (1971-1990)'', Dublin 1991 * ''Celebrating Homer's Landscapes: Troy and Ithaca Revisited'', New Haven 1999 * ''Orationes Dublinienses Selectae II (1990-2002)'', Dublin 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luce, John Victor 1920 births 2011 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Classical scholars of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Irish classical scholars 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians Public orators Scholars of ancient Greek literature Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Runciman Award winners