Francis Stephen Halliwell, (born 1953), known as Stephen Halliwell, is a British

classicist 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 ...

and academic. From 1995 he was Professor of Greek at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

and Wardlaw Professor of Classics from 2014; having retired in October 2020, he is now

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

. He has been elected President of the Classical Association for 2024-25.

Early life and education

Halliwell was born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, Lancashire, England. He was educated at St Francis Xavier's College, an all-boys

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

in Liverpool. He studied '' Literae humaniores'' (i.e.

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 ...

) at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree, first class, in 1976. He remained at Oxford to undertake 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) degree, which he was awarded in 1981. 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: D ...

, supervised by Sir Kenneth Dover, was titled "Personal jokes in Aristophanes".

Academic career

Halliwell taught at the universities of Oxford, London, Cambridge (where he was a Fellow of Corpus Christi College), and Birmingham. He has also held visiting positions at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, the Center for Ideas and Society (

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

Roma Tre University Roma Tre University () is an Italian public research university in Rome, Italy. All its offices and departments are located in the Ostiense district area. Founded in 1992 by the Ministry of Public Education, under the request of several prof ...

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

(H. L. Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor), the

Université catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

(Chaire Cardinal Mercier), and

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 ...

(Townsend Visiting Professor, Department of Classics). He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(FRSE) in 2011, and a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters 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 t ...

(FBA) in 2014. Although his publications cover many topics in ancient Greek literature and philosophy, from

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

, Halliwell has worked most extensively on

Ancient Greek comedy Ancient Greek comedy () was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece; the others being tragedy and the satyr play. Greek comedy was distinguished from tragedy by its happy endings and use of comically ex ...

, especially

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 Greek philosophical

poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

, especially in the writings of

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

. Halliwell's characteristic style of tackling large issues of cultural significance through the fine-grained interpretation of texts led David Konstan, in reviewing ''Between Ecstasy and Truth'', to call him ‘the ideal close reader’, whose arguments are ‘detailed, learned, and nuanced’. Two of his books have won international prizes: ''The Aesthetics of Mimesis'', described in ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' as 'formidable' and 'an outstanding example of taking ideas seriously', won the Premio Europeo di Estetica 2008; and ''Greek Laughter'', which one reviewer called 'monumental' and 'an extraordinary resource', won the Criticos Prize (since renamed the London Hellenic Prize) 2008. Halliwell has given two hundred invited research papers in eighteen countries. He has also made a number of appearances in broadcast media, including 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 programme '' In Our Time''. His work has been translated into nine languages.University of St Andrews website
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Personal life

In 1978, Halliwell married Helen Ruth Gainford. Together they had two sons. They divorced in 2010.

Selected works

* ''Aristotle's Poetics'', London and North Carolina, 1986/1998. * ''The Poetics of Aristotle: Translation and Commentary'', London and North Carolina, 1987. * ''Plato Republic 10: with Translation and Commentary'', Warminster, 1988. * ''Plato Republic 5: with Translation and Commentary'', Warminster, 1993. * ''Aristotle Poetics, Longinus On the Sublime, Demetrius on Style'', Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge Mass., 1995. alliwell's contribution is Aristotle's Poetics* ''Aristophanes: Birds, Lysistrata, Assembly-Women, Wealth. A New Verse Translation with Introduction and Notes'', Oxford, 1997. * ''Aristophanes: Birds and Other Plays'', Oxford World's Classics, Oxford, 1998. paperback of preceding item* ''The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems'', Princeton, 2002. * ''Greek Laughter: A Study of Cultural Psychology from Homer to Early Christianity'', Cambridge, 2008. * ''Between Ecstasy and Truth: Interpretations of Greek Poetics from Homer to Longinus'', Oxford, 2011. , 978-0198707011 (pbk) * ''Aristophanes: Clouds, Women at the Thesmophoria, Frogs. A Verse Translation with Introduction and Notes'', Oxford, 2015. * ''Aristophanes: Frogs and Other Plays'', Oxford World's Classics, Oxford, 2016. paperback of preceding item* ''Sul sublime'', Milan, 2021. * ''Aristophanes: Acharnians, Knights, Wasps, Peace'', Oxford, 2022. * ''Pseudo-Longinus: On the Sublime'', Oxford, 2022. * ''Scholarship and Controversy: Centenary Essays on the Life and Work of Sir Kenneth Dover'', London, 2023. Edited by Stephen Halliwell and Christopher Stray. * ''Aristophanes: Wasps and Other Plays'', Oxford World's Classics, Oxford, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliwell, Stephen 1953 births Living people Scholars of ancient Greek literature Scholars of Ancient Greek British classical scholars Classical scholars of the University of St Andrews Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Wigan