Cynthia Ellen Murray Damon (born 1957) is a Professor of Classical Studies at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and has written extensively on

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

and

Roman historiography Roman historiography stretches back to at least the 3rd century BC and was indebted to earlier Greek historiography. The Romans relied on previous models in the Greek tradition such as the works of Herodotus (c. 484 – 425 BC) and Thucydides (c. ...

, having published translations and commentaries on authors such as

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

and

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. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

Career

Cynthia Damon received her

B.A. 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 ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

from Stanford University in 1979,

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Classics from Boston College in 1984 and

Ph.D. 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 ...

from Stanford University in 1990, as well as an honorary A.M. from Amherst College in 2004. Damon taught at

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

as Assistant Professor from 1990-1995, at Amherst College as Assistant Professor and Professor 1995-2007, and moved to the

as Professor of Classical Studies in 2007. In 2015 Damon was awarded the College of Liberal and Professional Studies Distinguished Teaching Award for Standing Faculty. Damon was the editor of ''

Transactions of the American Philological Association ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' (TAPA) is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1869 and the official publication of the American Philological Association. It covers the history, culture, and language of ancient ...

'' from 2001 to 2005 and member of the Board of Directors of the American Philological Association from 2007 to 2010. Damon is part of '' Bryn Mawr Classical Review'''s editorial board. In 1997 Damon published ''The Mask of the Parasite: A Pathology of Roman Patronage'' based on her doctoral thesis. Since 1997 Damon has focused on the translation of and commentaries on key classical texts including works by

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, Nepos,

, and

. Damon was awarded a Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship in 2013/14 to work on a new translation of

Caesar's Civil War Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was one of the last politico-military conflicts of the Roman Republic before its reorganization into the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations between Gaius Julius Caesar and ...

, which was published in 2016 replacing the 1914 version by A. G. Peskett. She is currently focusing on Pliny's ''Natural History'' and its reception and delivered a keynote address ''Plinian layers: On editing the reception of Pliny’s planetary theory'' in 2016 at the conference ''The Arts of Editing: Past, Present and Future'' (17–19 August 2016) at Stockholm University. Damon has been praised for her meticulous approach to texts. For example, Antonio Moreno Hernández commented on ''Studies on the Text of Caesar's Bellum civile'':

This excellent edition makes serious contributions to the reconstruction of the text, and its careful and deep reading of the text of BC and the close study of its textural tradition is accompanied by an insightful commentary on troublesome passages that brings to light the enormous complexity of a text that has been transmitted in such a deficient way, offering suggestive new proposals that will encourage reflection on the reading and interpretation of the work of Caesar.

In 2016/17 Damon was awarded the

Andrew W. Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), sometimes A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...

Fellowship in the Price Lab for Digital Humanities to work on the ''Bellum Alexandrinum'' project. This project is a pilot to test the new ''Digital Latin Library'' editing platform and has included input from high school to graduate students to serve as a precedent for collaborative editions of classical texts and an example of how one might include text editing in classicists' training.

Selected works

* ''Caesar, Civil War'' (edition and translation, Loeb Classical Library, 2016) * ''C. Iuli Caesaris Commentariorum libri III de bello civili'' (Oxford Classical Texts, 2015). * ''Studies on the Text of Caesar's Bellum Civile'' (Oxford, 2015) * ''Tacitus, Annals'' (Penguin Classics, 2012) *with Brian Breed and Andreola Rossi ''Citizens of Discord: Rome and its Civil Wars'' (Oxford University Press, 2010) * with William Batstone ''Caesar's Civil War'' (Oxford Approaches to Classical Literature, 2006) * ''Tacitus, Histories, Book I'' (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, 2003) *''The Mask of the Parasite: A Pathology of Roman Patronage'' (University of Michigan Press, 1997)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damon, Cynthia 1957 births Living people American classical scholars Stanford University alumni Women scholars and academics Place of birth missing (living people) Women classical scholars University of Pennsylvania faculty