Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 – 8 April 1979) was an Irish classical scholar. He was Regius Professor of Greek at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1936 to 1960.

Early life and education

Dodds was born in Banbridge,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, the son of schoolteachers. His father Robert was from a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

family and died of alcoholism when Dodds was seven. His mother Anne was of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

ancestry. When Dodds was ten, he moved with his mother to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, and he was educated at St Andrew's College (where his mother taught) and at Campbell College in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. He was expelled from the latter for "gross, studied, and sustained insolence". In 1912, Dodds won a scholarship at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

to read

classics 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 ...

, or '' Literae Humaniores'' (a two-part four-year degree program consisting of five terms' study of Latin and Greek texts followed by seven terms' study of ancient history and ancient philosophy). Friends at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

included Aldous Huxley and

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

. In 1916, he was asked to leave Oxford due to his support for the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

, but he returned the following year to take his final examinations in '' Literae Humaniores'', and was awarded a first-class degree to match the first-class awarded him in 1914 in Honour Moderations, the preliminary stage of his degree. His first tutor at Oxford was

A. B. Poynton Arthur Blackburne Poynton (28 June 1867 – 8 October 1944) was an English classical scholar. He was a Fellow and later Master (college), Master of University College, Oxford, University College, University of Oxford, Oxford.Bickerton, Fred, ''Fre ...

. After graduation, Dodds returned to Dublin and met

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and AE (

George William Russell George William Russell (10 April 1867 – 17 July 1935), who wrote with the pseudonym Æ (often written AE or A.E.), was an Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, painter and Irish nationalist. He was also a writer on mysticism, and a centra ...

). He taught briefly at Kilkenny College and in 1919 was appointed as a lecturer in classics at the University of Reading, where in 1923 he married a lecturer in English, Annie Edwards Powell (1886–1973). They had no children.

Academic career

In 1924, Dodds was appointed Professor of Greek at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

, and came to know W. H. Auden (whose father

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

, Professor of Public Medicine and an amateur classicist, was a colleague). Dodds was also responsible for

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet and playwright, and a member of the Auden Group, which also included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis. MacNeice's body of work was widely a ...

's appointment as a lecturer at Birmingham in 1930. He assisted MacNeice with his translation of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

, ''Agamemnon'' (1936), and later became the poet's

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed wo ...

. Dodds published one volume of his own poems, ''Thirty-Two Poems, with a Note on Unprofessional Poetry'' (1929). In 1936, Dodds became Regius Professor of Greek at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, succeeding Gilbert Murray. Murray had decisively recommended Dodds to Prime Minister

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

(the chair was in the gift of the Crown) and it was not a popular appointment – he was chosen over two prominent Oxford dons (

Maurice Bowra Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, (; 8 April 1898 – 4 July 1971) was an English classical scholar, literary critic and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Univer ...

of Wadham College and John Dewar Denniston of Hertford College). His lack of service in the First World War (he had worked briefly in an army hospital in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

but later invoked the exemption from military service granted Irish residents) and his support for

Irish republicanism Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

and socialism in addition to his scholarship on the non-standard field of

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...

, also did not make him initially popular with colleagues. He was treated particularly harshly by

Denys Page Sir Denys Lionel Page (11 May 19086 July 1978) was a British classicist and textual critic who served as the 34th Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge and the 35th Master of Jesus College, Cambridge. He is best known for h ...

at whose college ( Christ Church) the Regius Chair of Greek was based. Dodds had a lifelong interest in

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

and psychic research, being a member of the council of the Society for Psychical Research from 1927 and its president from 1961 to 1963. On his retirement in 1960, Dodds we made an Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford, until his death in 1979. He died in the village of

Old Marston Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

, northeast of

Work

Among his works are ''The Greeks and the Irrational'' (1951), which charts the influence of irrational forces in Greek culture up to the time of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, and ''Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety'', a study of religious life in the period between

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

and

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

. For a bibliography of Dodds' publications see ''Quaderni di Storia'' no. 48 (1998) 175-94 (with addenda in the same journal, no. 61, 2005), and for general information on him and studies of some of his works see the bibliography to the entry for him in ''The Dictionary of British Classicists'' (2004), vol. 1, 247–51. Add the articles on his work on Neoplatonism in ''Dionysius'' 23 (2005) 139-60 and ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 103 (2007) 499–542. He was also editor of three major classical texts for the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, ''

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers ...

: Elements of Theology'',

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

' ''Bacchae'' and

's ''Gorgias'', all published with extensive commentaries, and a translation in the case of the first. His autobiography, ''Missing Persons'', was published in 1977. He edited

's unfinished autobiography ''The Strings are False'' (1965) and MacNeice's ''Collected Poems'' (1966).

Cultural references

The

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

punk band

The Mr. T Experience The Mr. T Experience (sometimes abbreviated MTX) is an American punk rock band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California, United States. They have released eleven full-length albums along with numerous EPs and singles and have toured international ...

recorded a song for their 1988 album, ''

Night Shift at the Thrill Factory ''Night Shift at the Thrill Factory'' is the second album by the Berkeley, California punk rock band The Mr. T Experience, released in 1988 by Rough Trade Records. Lookout! Records re-released the album in 1996 with a number of bonus tracks. The ...

'', entitled "The History of the Concept of the Soul", which is a two-minute, musical version of lead singer

Frank Portman Frank Portman (born September 21, 1964), better known by the pseudonym Dr. Frank, is an American musician, singer, guitarist, and author. He is the singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the Berkeley, California punk rock band The Mr. T Ex ...

's (also known as Dr. Frank) master's thesis. Dodds' ''The Greeks and the Irrational'' is specifically referenced at the end of the song as "footnotes" (including an Ibid) sung by Portman.

Publications

Books

*''Select Passages Illustrative of Neoplatonism'' (London: S. P. C. K., 1924) (Texts for Students, 36) *''Thirty-Two Poems: With a Note On Unprofessional Poetry'' (London: Constable, 1929) *''Humanism and Technique in Greek Studies: A Lecture'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936) *''Minds in the Making'' (London: Macmillan & Co., 1941) (Macmillan War Pamphlets, 14)
''The Greeks and the Irrational''
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951) (

Sather Classical Lectures The Jane K. Sather Professorship of Classical Literature is an endowed chair for the study of classics at the University of California, Berkeley. Established in 1914 after a donation by Jane K. Sather, widow of the Norwegian-American banker Peder ...

, 25) *

, ''Gorgias'', with "revised text with introduction and commentary, by E. R. Dodds". (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959) *

, ''Bacchae'', 2nd edition, "edited with introduction and commentary, by E. R. Dodds". (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960) *''Morals and Politics in the Oresteia'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Philological Society, 1960) *''Classical Teaching in an Altered Climate'' (London: John Murray, 1964) *
Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety
' (Cambridge University Press, 1965) (The Wiles LecturesThe Wiles Lectures
cambridge.org. Retrieved 30 May 2022. Given At The Queen's University, Belfast, 1963) *

, ''The Elements of Theology'', "a revised text with translation, by E. R. Dodds". (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964) *
The Ancient Concept of Progress and Other Essays on Greek Literature and Belief
' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973) *''Missing Persons: An Autobiography'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977)

Articles

"Why I Do Not Believe in Survival"
(London: Society for Psychical Research, 1934) (Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, part 135, pp. 147-172) * "Maenadism in the ''Bacchae''". ''

Harvard Theological Review The ''Harvard Theological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1908 and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School. It covers a wide spectrum of fields in theological and rel ...

'', 1940, 33, 115-76 * "Three notes on the ''Medea''" (''Humanitas'', 1952, 4, 13-18) * "Gilbert Murray" (''

Gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the ol ...

'', 1957, 29, 476-9) * "On misunderstanding the ''Oedipus Rex''" ('' Greece and Rome'', 1966, 13, 37-49) * "Supernormal Phenomena in Classical Antiquity" (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1971) (Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. 55, p. 203)

Other

* "Memoir", in Dodds, E. R., ed.,
Journals and Letters of Stephen MacKenna
', London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1936 (Other People's Letters), pp. 1–89.

References

External links

* * Donald Russell
Dodds, Eric Robertson, 1893-1979
at

The British Academy The British Academy 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 same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodds, E. R. 1893 births 1979 deaths People from Banbridge People educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin People educated at Campbell College Alumni of University College, Oxford Irish classical scholars Scholars of Greek mythology and religion Parapsychologists Irish autobiographers Classical scholars of the University of Reading Classical scholars of the University of Birmingham Regius Professors of Greek (University of Oxford) Presidents of the Classical Association