Richard F. Thomas (born September 26, 1950) is the George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His scholarship has focused on various critical approaches, metrics and prose stylistics (particularly

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

), genre studies, translation theory and practice, and the reception of Classical literature and culture, particularly with respect to

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

Career

Thomas was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, and brought up in New Zealand. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

, in 1972 and 1973 respectively, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1977. He has taught at Harvard as Assistant and Associate Professor, 1977–84; as associate professor at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

, 1984–86; as professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, 1986–87; as professor of Greek and Latin at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

from 1987–2010; as George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics since 2010. He was also visiting professor of Latin, University of Venice (Spring, 1991). In the Harvard Department of Classics, he has served as the director of undergraduate studies, director of graduate atudies, and department chair. He is co-chair of the seminar on "The Civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome," in Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center. He has served as director of the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA), is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the pree ...

and as trustee and director, and as president, of the Vergilian Society of America. Since 2001, he has been a trustee of the

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

, and is currently serving as editor of ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology''. In 2017 Thomas published ''Why Dylan Matters'', a study of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

's work in the context of

and

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Richard F. American classical scholars Harvard University faculty Harvard Extension School faculty 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers British historians University of Auckland alumni University of Michigan alumni English emigrants to New Zealand Writers from London 1950 births Living people Cornell University faculty American male non-fiction writers