Richard Seaford 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 ...
. He is
professor emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of classics and
ancient history
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...
at the
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...
. His work focuses on
ancient Greek culture
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...
, especially that of
ancient Athens
Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC, and its cultural achieve ...
.
Career
Seaford has published widely on Greek literature and religion, from
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a 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. Homer is considered one of the ...
to the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
, and especially on the god
Dionysos
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
. His book ''Money and the Early Greek Mind. Homer, Tragedy, Philosophy'' (2004) explores the role of
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
on ancient Greek culture, which he argues was the first culture to become pervasively monetised. He argues that the introduction of coinage, which occurred around the end of the 7th century BCE, provided a crucial stimulus for the advent of
Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empir ...
, in which a universal substance is (like money) transformed from and into everything else.
In 2005–2008 he was awarded a
Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for a study 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 ...
. For 2013-4 he was awarded an
AHRC Fellowship for a comparative historical study of early Indian with early Greek thought.
Political views
Seaford accepted the Palestinian request to support the international
academic boycott of Israel
The current campaign for an academic boycott of Israel was launched in April 2004 by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign cal ...
and has declined an invitation to review a book for the Israeli journal ''Scripta Classica Israelica''. In a report carried by the ''European Jewish Press'' he cited "the brutal and
illegal expansionism and the
slow-motion ethnic cleansing" by the state of Israel. The report quoted him further: "I am aware of the honest arguments for and against a boycott, and that even some Israeli academics support the boycott and many do not. Whatever your views, I hope you will understand that my view is based on a widely shared moral outrage."
"The emergence of a silent academic boycott of Israel"
''European Jewish Press'', 28 May 2006.
Selected publications
* ''Pompeii'' (Summerfield Press ; New York : distributed by Thames & Hudson, 1978)
* ''Euripides Cyclops with Introduction and Commentary'' (Oxford xfordshire: Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1984)
* ''Reciprocity and Ritual: Homer and Tragedy in the Developing City-state'' (Oxford ngland: Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1994)
* ''Euripides Bacchae'' (Aris and Phillips, 1996)
* ''Reciprocity in Ancient Greece'' (co-editor with C. Gill and N. Postlethwaite) (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1998)
* ''Money and the early Greek Mind: Homer, Tragedy, and Philosophy'' (Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004)
* ''Dionysos'' (London ; New York : Routledge, 2006)
* ''Cosmology and the Polis: the Social Construction of Space and Time in the Tragedies of Aeschylus'' (Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2012)
* ''Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece. Selected Essays'' (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
* ''The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India. A Historical Comparison'' (Cambridge University Press, 2019) -2
References
External links
Professor Richard Seaford's homepage at the University of Exeter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaford, Richard
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Classical scholars of the University of Exeter
British classical scholars
Scholars of ancient Greek literature
Labour Party (UK) people
Academics of the University of Exeter
Presidents of the Classical Association