Lydia Baumbach (1924 – 9 February 1991) was a South African classical scholar, known particularly for her work in the field of Mycenaean studies.

Early life

Lydia Baumbach was born in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, in 1924, to a German missionary family associated with the Rhenish Mission.

Education

Baumbach attended the Stellenbosch

Rhenish Girls' High School Rhenish Girls' High School is a public English medium high school for girls situated in Stellenbosch in the province of Western Cape in South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, so ...

until 1942. She then studied at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

, achieving two M.A.s with distinction, one in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and one in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

; for each of these she was awarded an Abe Bailey Scholarship. From 1955 to 1957 she attended the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

as an Affiliated Student at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

; during this period she studied the

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

script under the supervision of

John Chadwick John Chadwick, (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar who was most notable for the decipherment, with Michael Ventris, of Linear B. Early life, education and wartime service John Chadwick was born at ...

, which she would continue to focus on in her research throughout her later career.

Career

In 1947, Baumbach began working at the University of Stellenbosch as a Junior Lecturer; after her studies in Cambridge, she took up a position as lecturer at

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

, where she was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1959. She moved briefly to the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

and then became a Senior Lecturer in the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

in 1965, where she was appointed as Chair of Classics in 1976; she remained in this position until her retirement in 1988. She taught both Latin and Greek languages and literature, and was a popular public speaker, delivering summer school lectures and tours of Greek sites for Swan Hellenic Tours; she was also active in the Classical Association of South Africa, which she chaired in 1983–1984, becoming the first woman to do so. Baumbach's research focused mainly on the

Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC). The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first atteste ...

language and the

writing system; her most important contributions to this field include compiling a vocabulary of Mycenaean Greek (with

) in 1963 and publishing the supplement to this work as a sole author (in 1971), as well as being responsible for the compilation of two volumes of the ''Studies in Mycenaean Inscriptions and Dialect'' bibliography, published in 1968 and 1986. She also published studies focusing in detail on individual Linear B tablets or series of tablets, as well as a series of articles on the

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

s in the Linear B texts, focusing on what the proportions of Greek or non-Greek names found amongst different groups of people showed about Mycenaean society.

Selected publications

* ''Petroniana.'' In: Acta Classica 2, 1959, 70-71
PDF
. * with

: ''The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary''. In: ''Glotta'' 41, 1963, 157–271. *''The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary II.'' In: ''Glotta'' 49, 1971, 151–190. *''The Mycenaean Contribution to Greek Etymology.'' In: ''Acta Classica'' 7, 1964, 1-8
PDF
. *''Studies in Mycenaean inscriptions and dialect. A Complete Bibliography and Index, I: 1953–1964; II: 1965–1978.'' Rom 1968-1986 *''The Dilemma of the Horns – An Analysis of the Knossos Mc Tablets.'' In: ''Acta Classica'' 14, 1971, 1-16
PDF
). *''Further thoughts on PY Vn 46.'' In: ''Minos. Revista de Filología Egea'' 12, 1972, 383–397. *''The "Coming of Age" of Mycenology – the First Twenty-one Years.'' In: ''Acta Classica'' 16, 1973, 1-14
PDF
. *''A Doric Fifth Column?'' In: ''Acta Classica'' 23, 1980, 1-12
PDF
). *''Shakespeare and the Classics.'' In: ''Acta Classica'' 28, 1985, 77–86. *''The Personal Names on the Knossos Ap Tablets.'' In: Annemarie Etter (Hrsg.): ''o-o-pe-ro-si. Festschrift für Ernst Risch zum 75. Geburtstag.'' De Gruyter, Berlin – New York 1986, 273-278
Google Books
. *''Names of Shepherds at Knossos.'' In: ''Acta Classica'' 30, 1987, 5-10
PDF
). *''An examination of the personal names in the Knossos tablets as evidence for the social structure of Crete in the Late Minoan II period.'' In: Olga Krzyszkowska, Lydia Nixon (eds.): ''Minoan Society. Proceedings of the Cambridge colloquium 1981.'' Bristol Classical Press, Bristol 1988, 3–10.

References

External links

Obituary in ''Acta Classica'' (1991)

'Lydia Baumbach's Contribution to Mycenaean Studies'
, by

(1991) * Obituary in ''Akroterion'' (1991) {{DEFAULTSORT:Baumbach, Lydia Academic staff of Rhodes University Stellenbosch University alumni Academic staff of Stellenbosch University Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge South African people of German descent Classics educators South African classical scholars Women classical scholars South African women academics 1924 births 1991 deaths South African expatriates in the United Kingdom