Walter Fifield Snyder (1912–1993) was an American scholar of ancient history.
Born in
Northfield, New Jersey
Northfield is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 8,624,Camden High School and earned an A.B. in Classics from
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...
in 1932.Robert M. Frakes and Brian Dunn, “Walter Fifield Snyder,” ''Perspectives'' 37, no. 8 (Nov. 1, 1993): p. 18, online at: https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/november-1993/in-memoriam-november-1993.Guide to the Walter F. Snyder collection
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...
. Accessed July 30, 2019. "A historian of high regard, Walter Fifield Snyder graduated from as Valedictorian of Camden High School, then going on to receive his BA from Swarthmore College in 1932." He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Classics at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1936 with a dissertation entitled "Chronological Studies in the History of the Roman Emperors" (under
Michael Rostovtzeff
Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff, or Rostovtsev (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Росто́вцев; – October 20, 1952), was a Russian historian whose career straddled the 19th and 20th centuries and who produced important works ...
).See https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/9134-snyder-walter-fifield. He then was a Fellow of the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects, ...
from 1936 to 1938. He first taught at
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
(part of the
City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
) from 1940 to 1941, and then at the
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
from 1941 to 1943. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he served as an officer in the
US Naval Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...
. After training in the
Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...
and cryptography, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and served in the Pacific Theater with the
Seventh Fleet
The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...
. After the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he returned to the
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
where he earned tenure. He then joined the History Department at Clarion State College (now Clarion University) in 1967 as a full professor and taught there until his retirement in 1978.
Snyder's work focused on problems of chronology in Roman imperial history. He co-published a study of the papyrus from
Dura-Europos
Dura-Europos, ; la, Dūra Eurōpus, ( el, Δούρα Ευρωπός, Doúra Evropós, ) was a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the vill ...
known as the
Feriale Duranum
The ''Feriale Duranum'' is a calendar of religious observances for a Roman military garrison at Dura-Europos on the Euphrates, Roman Syria, under the reign of Severus Alexander (224–235 AD).
History and description
The small papyrus roll w ...
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
in 1940. In the same volume, he also published a study of ''Public Anniversaries in the Roman Empire''. Additionally, he published an array of articles in leading journals on topics of historiography in
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
as well as on the Alexandrian Calendar. He was an esoteric (and extemporaneous) classroom lecturer who established the ancient history curriculum at Clarion University.
Selected publications
*Walter F. Snyder, R.O. Fink, and Allan S. Hoey, eds., ''The Feriale Duranum'' ale Classical Studies, vol. 7(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940) p. 1–221*Walter F. Snyder, ''Public Anniversaries in the Roman Empire: The Epigraphical Evidence for Their Observance During the First Three Centuries'' ale Classical Studies, vol. 7(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940) p. 225–317*Walter F. Snyder, “Quinto Nundinas Pompeis,” ''Journal of Roman Studies'' (1936): 12-18
*Walter F. Snyder, “Ancient Coins Bequeathed by E. B. van Deman to the American Academy in Rome,” ''Memoirs of the American Academy at Rome'' 15 (1938): 21-2
*Walter F. Snyder, “Note on the Irregular Evidence upon the Date of the Beginning of the Year of the Tribunician Power during the Reigns of Septimius Severus and of Caracalla,” ''Memoirs of the American Academy at Rome'' 15 (1938): 62-9
*Walter F. Snyder, “Ἡμέραι Σεβασταί,” ''Aegyptus'' 19 (1938): 197-233
*Walter F. Snyder, “On Chronology in the Imperial Books of Cassius Dio's Roman History,” ''Klio'' 33 (1940): 39-56
*Walter F. Snyder, “When Was the Alexandrian Calendar Established?,” ''American Journal of Philology'' 66 (1943): 385-98
*Walter F. Snyder, “Nero's Birthday in Egypt and His Year of Birth,” ''Historia'' 13 (1964): 503-6
*Walter F. Snyder, “Progress Report on the Ἡμέραι Σεβασταί,” ''Aegyptus'' 44 (1964): 145-69