Paul Anthony Cartledge (born 24 March 1947)
["CARTLEDGE, Prof. Paul Anthony", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010]
online edition
/ref> is a British ancient historian and academic. From 2008 to 2014 he was the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at 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 ...
. He had previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.
Early life
Cartledge was educated at St Paul's School 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 ...
, where, with his contemporaries Robin Lane Fox and Terence Irwin
Terence Henry Irwin Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (; born 21 April 1947), usually cited as T. H. Irwin, is a scholar and philosopher specializing in ancient Greek philosophy and the history of ethics (i.e., the history of Western moral philo ...
, he was a student of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, later promoted to MA (Oxon) by seniority, in 1969. He remained at the University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...
to undertake postgraduate studies, completing a Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
(DPhil) under the supervision of Professor Sir John Boardman. His thesis focused on Spartan archaeology.
Academic career
Cartledge lectured at the New University of Ulster
Ulster University (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially a ...
in 1972–73, at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1973 to 1978, and at the University of Warwick
The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
in 1978–79. In October 1979 he moved to Cambridge University where he is 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 ...
of Clare College.
In 2008, Cartledge was elected to the newly established A. G. Leventis Professorship of Greek Culture at Cambridge University
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 ...
, a position from which he retired at the end of September 2014.
Cartledge holds a visiting Global Distinguished Professorship at New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, funded by the Greek Parliament, and sits on the European Advisory Board of Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
.
Cartledge is also a holder of the Gold Cross of the Order of Honour of Greece and an Honorary Citizen of (modern) Sparta.
He is Vice-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.
Field of study
Cartledge's field of study is Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
and Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
in the Classical Age; he has been described as a Laconophile.
He was chief historical consultant for the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
TV series ''The Greeks'' and the Channel 4 series ''The Spartans'', presented by Bettany Hughes.
Cartledge has appeared several times over his career on the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio program '' In Our Time'' on episodes that discuss the ancient world.
Personal life
Cartledge is married to Judith Portrait, a solicitor who acts as trustee of part of the Sainsbury family shareholding in Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...
in blind trust.
In August 2014, Cartledge was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
Publications
* '' Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta'' (1987), The Johns Hopkins University Press.
* ''Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
and His Theatre of the Absurd'' (1989), Duckworth.
* '' Nomos : Essays in Athenian
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
Law, Politics and Society'' (1991), Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
.
* ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece'' (1997), Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
.
* ''The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization'' (TV Books, L.L.C., 2000; BBC Worldwide, 2001; 2nd ed. Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2002)
* ''Spartan Reflections'', a collection of essays new and revised (Duckworth, 2001),
* ''Sparta and Lakonia'' (2nd edn., Routledge and Kegan Paul, 2002).
* ''Hellenistic
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
and Roman Sparta'' (rev. edn., Routledge, 2002), (with A. Spawforth).
* ''The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others'' (2nd edn, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2002), the product of research into Greek self-definition.
* ''Kosmos: Essays in Order, Conflict and Community in Classical Athens'' (coauthor Paul Millett; (2002), Cambridge University Press.
* ''The Spartans: An Epic History'' (2nd edition, Pan Books
Pan Books is a British publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany.
History
Pan Books began as an indepe ...
, 2003). Published in the U.S. by The Overlook Press/Peter Mayer Publishers as ''The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse'' (2003) .
* ''Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
: The Hunt for a New Past'' ( Macmillan, 2004).
* ''Helots
The helots (; , ''heílotes'') were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their exact characteristic ...
and Their Masters in Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...
and Messenia: Histories, Ideologies, Structures'' ( Center for Hellenic Studies, 2004).
* ''Thermopylae
Thermopylae (; ; Ancient: , Katharevousa: ; ; "hot gates") is a narrow pass and modern town in Lamia (city), Lamia, Phthiotis, Greece. It derives its name from its Mineral spring, hot sulphur springs."Thermopylae" in: S. Hornblower & A. Spaw ...
: The Battle That Changed the World'' ( The Overlook Press, 2006).
* ''Ancient Greek Political Thought in Practice'' (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
* ''Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities,'' (Oxford University Press, 2009).
* ''Democracy: A Life'' (Oxford University Press, 2016). (translated into French by Simon Duran in 2023 as ''Demokratia: Une histoire de la démocratie'': )
* ''Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece'' ( Picador, 2020).
References
External links
* Interview with Paul Cartledge.
'Forever Young: why Cambridge has a Professorship of Greek Culture'
An inaugural lecture by Professor Paul Cartledge to mark the establishment of the A G Leventis Professorship of Greek Culture, Monday 16 February 2009 at Mill Lane Lecture Theatre, Cambridge
The myths of 'ancient Greece' dispelled
as explained by Paul Cartledge
*
''Forward To The Past! Hello To Democracy, Sparta, And All That''
A valedictory lecture by The AG Leventis Professor Of Greek Culture, Professor Paul Cartledge, Thursday 20 February 2014 at Mill Lane Lecture Theatre, Cambridge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartledge, Paul
1947 births
People educated at St Paul's School, London
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge
Scholars of ancient Greek history
English historians
Living people
Academics of Ulster University
Classical scholars of Trinity College Dublin
Academics of the University of Warwick
Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics
English male non-fiction writers
English classical scholars
Professors of the University of Cambridge
Contributors to the Oxford Classical Dictionary