Roland Ralph Redfern "Bert" Smith, (born 30 January 1954) is a British

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, archaeologist, and academic, specialising in the art and visual cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Since 1995, he has been

Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art The Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art is a chair at the University of Oxford, England. It is associated with Lincoln College, Oxford. Holders of the Chair * William Mitchell Ramsay (1885 to 1886); first incumbent * Percy Gardn ...

at the

University of Oxford 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 world's second-oldest university in contin ...

Early life and education

Smith was born on 30 January 1954, and was educated at

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

, an independent school in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. He studied '' Literae humaniores'' ( classics) at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named aft ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1977. Remaining at Pembroke, he studied for a

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

(MPhil) degree in

classical archaeology Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth-century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about ...

, which he completed in 1979. He then moved to Magdalen College, Oxford to continue his studies in classical archaeology, and graduated with a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(DPhil) degree in 1983. His

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

was titled "Sculptured portraits of Hellenistic kings c. 330-30 B.C".

Academic career

From 1981 to 1986, Smith was a Fellow by Examination in ancient history at Magdalen College, Oxford. He additionally held a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several coun ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

between 1983 and 1985. In 1986, he moved to the United States where he had been appointed an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and gene ...

in classical archaeology at the

Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philos ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. He taught

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium i ...

and Roman archaeology, and

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

at the university. He was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the '' North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is ...

in 1990, and was an

Alexander von Humboldt Fellow The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Rese ...

at the ''Institut für Klassische Archäologie'' (Institute of Classical Archaeology) in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany for the 1991/92 academic year. In 1995, Smith returned to the United Kingdom, having been appointed

at the

and elected a Fellow of

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, t ...

. He is a member of both the

Faculty of Classics A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

and of the School of Archaeology. He is additionally

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the Cast Gallery of the Ashmolean Museum.

Honours

In 2010, Smith was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the hum ...

for the humanities and social sciences.

Selected publications

*''Hellenistic Royal Portraits'' (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1988) *''Hellenistic Sculpture'' (Thames & Hudson, London 1991) *''The Monument of C.Julius Zoilos: Aphrodisias I'' (Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1994) *''Sculptured for Eternity: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum'' (with Ahmet Ertuğ, Istanbul 2002) *''Roman Portrait Statuary from Aphrodisias: Aphrodisias II'' (Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 2006) *''Aphrodisias: City and Sculpture in Roman Asia'' (with Ahmet Ertug, Istanbul 2009) *''The Cast Gallery of the Ashmolean Museum: Catalogue of plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculpture'' (with R. Frederiksen, Oxford 2011) *''The Gods of Nemrud: The Royal Sanctuary of Antiochos I and the Kingdom of Commagene'' (with Ahmet Ertuğ, Istanbul 2012) *''The marble reliefs from the Julio-Claudian Sebasteion: Aphrodisias VI'' (Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt, 2013) *''Ancient Theaters of Anatolia'' (with Ahmet Ertug, Istanbul 2014) *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, R. R. R. 1954 births Living people British classical scholars Classical archaeologists British art historians Lincoln Professors of Classical Archaeology and Art Fellows of the British Academy People educated at Fettes College Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Harkness Fellows New York University Institute of Fine Arts faculty Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford People associated with the Ashmolean Museum