Russell Meiggs

Russell Meiggs (20 October 1902 – 24 June 1989) was a British ancient historian. He did extensive research on the Roman port city of Ostia.

Early life and education

Meiggs was born at Balham, south London, son of William Herrick Meiggs (1866-1939), sometime self-styled "general merchant" declared bankrupt in 1916, and his wife Mary Gertrude (née May). William Meiggs was the son of railroad builder John Gilbert Meiggs (1827-1904), of Chelsea, formerly of New York, USA, younger brother of railroad builder Henry Meiggs; William's sister, Helen, married Sir James Rhoderic Duff McGrigor, 3rd Baronet. The former success of the Meiggs family was diminished by the time Russell Meiggs was born; his grandfather "died almost destitute" after political developments in Argentina ruined a business venture, and William Meiggs, being the fourth son, had to make his own way in the world. He had eloped with Mary to Argentina in 1897, their first child, Helen, being born at Buenos Aires in 1898. The family settled in London, but William left the family, subsequently going to Argentina and elsewhere, with Meiggs "as a child... led to believe his father was dead"; despite William surviving until 1939, "Russell felt no obligation toward him". Mary "brought up her children in poverty", a paternal aunt securing a place for Meiggs at Christ's Hospital; he subsequently went up to Keble College, Oxford, where he took an MA.

Career

Meiggs was Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History (and Prefect of the College 1945- 1969) at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1939 to 1970. He "mastered the entire field" of the study of classical antiquity, as opposed to the increasing popularity of specialism; he "taught both Greek and Roman history, lectured on epigraphy, and worked closely with archaeologists, although, in the old Oxford manner, he published almost nothing for decades". He was praefectus of Holywell Manor, an annexe ten minutes from Balliol, home to fifty undergraduates, where his wife was "a dashing hostess"; Meiggs's daily procession to the college was a popular subject of tourist photography.

Meiggs's early writings were closely related to his teaching; one a "masterly revision" of Bury's ''History of Greece'', another "a large collection of sources in the original tongues for the history of Greece" undertaken with Antony Andrewes. Despite a wide range of interests which held potential as subjects for books- "a history of the Roman port of Ostia based on the exciting archaeological discoveries, a synthetic treatment of the fifth-century Athenian empire in the light of the great epigraphical material (above all, the Athenian tribute lists), a study of Herodotus"- Meiggs's first major work, ''Roman Ostia'', was produced "in the midst of a crushing schedule of teaching and college affairs"; his later writing took place after his retirement.

He was a periodic visiting professor in the Classics Department at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, in the 1970s, where he taught (among other classes) Greece in the Fifth Century (BCE) and Roman Ostia. In 1981, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1981. During World War II he worked at the Ministry of Supply, where he was chief labour officer, responsible for home timber production. This experience led him to formulate an interest in a survey of trees and timber in the ancient world as a prospective topic of study, ''Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World'' eventually being published in 1982.

His eccentricity was legendary; his "flaring shoulder-length gray hair, massive black eyebrows, leathery skin, and Aztec profile" and "jaunty disregard of conventional formalities" made him a popular and admired figure amongst undergraduates. His papers are in the Balliol College library.

Personal life

In 1941, Meiggs married the historian Pauline Gregg (1909-2006). They had met at the Ministry of Supply. They had two daughters.

Bibliography

*''Home Timber Production (1939-1945)'' (1949)
*''The Athenian Empire'' (1972)
*''Roman Ostia'' (1960; 2nd ed. 1973)
*(with J. B. Bury) ''A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great'' (1978) multiple editions.
* ''Trees and timber in the ancient Mediterranean world'' (1982).
* ed. ''A Selection of Greek historical inscriptions to the end of the fifth century B.C.'' (1988).
* A. Gallina Zevi, ed. Roman Ostia' revisited : archaeological and historical papers in memory of Russell Meiggs'' (1996)

References

*Obituary by Jasper Griffin in ''The Independent'' 27 June 1989; Oswyn Murray in ''The Guardian'' 28 June 1989.
*Biography by Kenneth Dover in ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' 80 (1991) 361-70.
*Obituary by Glen Bowersock
Obituary: Russell Meiggs"
In ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 135 (1991), 473–77.
Portrait by Michael Noakes in the collection of Balliol College, Oxford

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meiggs, Russell
British classical scholars
Historians of antiquity
1902 births
1989 deaths
People educated at Christ's Hospital
Alumni of Keble College, Oxford
Classical scholars of the University of Oxford
Swarthmore College
20th-century British historians
Members of the American Philosophical Society