Richard Martin Berthold (born 1946) is an American classical historian, an associate professor emeritus at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25, ...

. He is the author of two books on classical history, and is also known for his controversial positions on politics and religion.

Books

Berthold is the author of the book ''Rhodes in the Hellenistic Age'' (Cornell University Press, 1984) and of the self-published ''Dare to Struggle: The History and Society of Greece'' (2009).

Education and career

Berthold graduated from Stanford University in 1967. He did his graduate studies at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, earning a M.A. in 1969 with the thesis ''The Battle at Marathon'' and completing his Ph.D. in 1971 with the dissertation ''Rhodian Foreign Affairs 205-164 B.C.''. After a year as a part-time lecturer at Cornell, he joined the faculty of the University of New Mexico in 1972 as an assistant professor. He retired from the University of New Mexico in 2002, but was recalled to teaching in 2006.

Controversies

On the day of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks Berthold told two large freshman classes that "Anybody who blows up

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...

gets my vote." After a university investigation, Berthold received an official reprimand and was removed from teaching first-year classes. The semester after the official reprimand and teaching sanctions took effect, Berthold took early retirement after being charged with sexual harassment. In 2005 he was barred from a local religious conference center after presenting archaeological research contradicting the biblical story of

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely E ...

. He drew renewed media attention in 2018 for using

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

insignia to protest the policies of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

References

External links

Berthold's defense of his 2001 statementsqqduckus
Berthold's blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Berthold, Richard 1946 births Living people Stanford University alumni Cornell University alumni University of New Mexico faculty Scholars of ancient Greek history