Richard F. Thomas (born September 26, 1950) is the George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics at Harvard University. His scholarship has focused on various critical approaches, metrics and prose stylistics (particularly Tacitus), genre studies, translation theory and practice, and the reception of Classical literature and culture, particularly with respect to Virgil.

Career

Thomas was born in London, England and brought up in New Zealand. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Auckland, in 1972 and 1973 respectively, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1977. He has taught at Harvard as Assistant and Associate Professor, 1977–84; as Associate Professor at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44, ...

, 1984–86; as Professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...

, 1986–87; as Professor of Greek and Latin at

Harvard 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 higher l ...

from 1987–2010; as George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics since 2010. He was also visiting Professor of Latin,

University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from ...

(Spring, 1991). In the Harvard Department of Classics, he has served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, and Department Chair. He is Co-chair of the Seminar on "The Civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome," in Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center. He has served as Director of the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA) is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the preemine ...

and as Trustee and Director, and as President, of the Vergilian Society of America. Since 2001, he has been a Trustee of the Loeb Classical Library, and is currently serving as Editor of ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology''. In 2017 Thomas published ''Why Bob Dylan Matters'', a study of Dylan's work in the context of Virgil and Ovid.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Richard F. American classical scholars Harvard University faculty Harvard Extension School faculty 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers British historians University of Auckland alumni University of Michigan alumni English emigrants to New Zealand Writers from London 1950 births Living people Cornell University faculty American male non-fiction writers