Robert W. Thomson
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Robert William Thomson (24 March 1934,
Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to t ...
,
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 ...
UK – 20 November 2018,
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
) was Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...
. Thomson graduated from 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 ...
with a degree in
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 ...
, then studied at the
Halki seminary The Halki seminary, formally the Theological School of Halki ( and ), was founded on 1 October 1844 on the island of Halki ( Turkish: Heybeliada), the second-largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. It was the main school of theo ...
in Turkey. Thomson received his PhD from Cambridge after defending his doctoral dissertation on
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
and Syriac versions of Athanasius of Alexandria's works. When an Armenian Studies Professorship was established in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the
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 ...
in 1969, Thomson was appointed to the chair which was subsequently named in honor of Armenian saint and scholar Mesrob Mashtots. Thomson held this position until 1992, when he accepted the Gulbenkian Chair in Armenian Studies at Oxford University in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. He retired in 2001. In 1984–1989 he was the Director of the
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and gardens of wealthy U.S. diplomat Rober ...
."Oral History Project: Robert W. Thomson"
Dumbarton Oaks Archives.
In 1995, he was elected a fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...
. Among other distinctions, he received the Saint Sahak and Saint Mesrop Medal from
Vazgen I Vazgen I also Vazken I of Bucharest (), born Levon Garabed Baljian (; September 20, 1908 – August 18, 1994) was the Catholicos of All Armenians between 1955 and 1994, for a total of 39 years, the 4th longest reign in the history of the Armenian ...
,
Catholicos of All Armenians The Catholicos of All Armenians () is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Armenian diaspora. The Armenian Catholicos (plural Catholicoi) is also known as the Armenian ...
for his contributions to Armenian studies. Thomson translated into English several
Classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, , ; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and most Armenian literature fro ...
, Syriac and
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 ...
texts as well as having written two textbooks on the
Armenian language Armenian (endonym: , , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the Armenians, Armenian people and the official language of ...
, one of which is the sole English-language textbook on Classical Armenian. Angeliki E. Laiou, Henry Maguire. ''Byzantium, a World Civilization''. Dumbarton Oaks, 1992. , , p. 9 Thomson died in 2018.Obituary by Theo van Lint
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Books


Studies

*''Studies in Armenian Literature and Christianity'' (Variorum, 1994) *''Rewriting Caucasian History: The Mediaeval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles. The Original Georgian Texts and The Armenian Adaptation'' (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996)


Language textbooks

* ''An Introduction to Classical Armenian'' (Caravan Books, 1975) * ''A Textbook of Modern Western Armenian'' (with Kevork B. Bardakjian) (Caravan Books, 1977)


Translations

* The Historical Compilation of Vardan Arewelc'i, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 43 (1989), p. 125-226. * The Armenian Adaptation of the Ecclesiastical History of
Socrates Scholasticus Socrates of Constantinople ( 380 – after 439), also known as Socrates Scholasticus (), was a 5th-century Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret. He is the author of a ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' ("Church Hi ...
ebrew University Armenian Texts and Studies, 3 Translation of the Armenian with comparative study of the original and revised versions. Peeters Publishers, Leuven, 2001, Pp. xxii, 254. * The Teaching of
Saint Gregory Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...
(from
Agathangelos Agathangelos (in , in Greek "bearer of good news", 5th century AD) is the pseudonym of the author of a life of the first apostle of Armenia, Gregory the Illuminator, who died about 332. The history attributed to Agathangelos is the main sou ...
's ''History of Armenia''). New and revised edition of the 1970
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...
edition, New Rochelle, New York, 2001, Pp. viii, 267. * Hamam, Commentary on the Book of Proverbs ebrew University Armenian Texts and Studies, 5 Armenian text and English translation, with Introduction and extensive commentary, Peeters, Leuven 2005, Pp. vi, 307. * Moses Khorenatsi, History of the Armenians. New and revised edition of the 1978 Harvard University Press edition, Caravan Books, Ann Arbor, 2006, Pp. xxi, 420. * Nerses of Lambron, Commentary on the Book of Revelation ebrew University Armenian texts and Studies, 9 English translation, with Introduction and commentary. Peeters Publishers, Leuven, 2007, Pp. xi, 225.


Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Robert W. Armenian studies scholars Harvard University faculty Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford 1934 births 2018 deaths People from Cheam