John Robert Morgan (born 11 July 1950) is a British academic working at Swansea University in Wales. He is primarily known for writing books on

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 ...

, and for contributing to a number of journals, often with colourful views.

Career

Morgan attended

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, the ...

, from 1968 to 1975, where he achieved both M.A. and

D.Phil 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 ...

qualifications. Towards the beginning of his career, Morgan represented Lincoln College of The University of Oxford in the popular British student quiz show, '' University Challenge'' on ITV eventually reaching the semi-finals. Morgan's research interests include ancient narrative literature, in particular the Greek and

Roman novel 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 ...

. He has published many articles, chapters and books on the Classics. He is perhaps best known as being the co-editor of ''Greek Fiction'' in 1994, alongside

Richard Stoneman Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

, used at numerous universities. Morgan was also a contributor to the 3rd edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, published 1996. He is preparing a

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

translation of

Heliodorus Heliodorus is a Greek name meaning "Gift of the Sun". Several persons named Heliodorus are known to us from ancient times, the best known of which are: *Heliodorus (minister) a minister of Seleucus IV Philopator c. 175 BC * Heliodorus of Athen ...

' Aethiopica. Morgan is believed to have coined the terms "

stethophone The stethoscope is a medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, and one or two tubes connected to two earpieces. ...

", " misatelist", " eulexia" and " misoxenist". " Intertextuality" is a word frequently used by Morgan in his lectures, as well as " metaliterary", a new fan favourite among his students.

Personal life

Aside from the Greek and Roman

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, Morgan's other literary interests are to be found within the genre of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

Books

* ''Greek Fiction: The Greek novel in context'', ed. J. R. Morgan and R. Stoneman (London & New York, 1994). * ''Heliodorus, Ethiopian story''. Translated by

Sir Walter Lamb Sir Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb KCVO (5 January 1882 – 27 March 1961) was a British classical lecturer, author and translator. He was Secretary of the Royal Academy from 1913 to 1951. He was born in Adelaide, Australia. He was appointed a Com ...

, edited with new introduction and notes by J. R. Morgan (London, 1997). *''Longus: Daphnis and Chloe'', with an introduction, translation and notes by J. R. Morgan (Aris & Phillips Classical Texts, 2004)

External links

J. R. Morgan home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, J.R. 1950 births Living people British classical scholars Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Academics of Swansea University Contestants on University Challenge