Andrew Wallace-Hadrill

Andrew Frederic Wallace-Hadrill, (born 29 July 1951) is a British ancient historian, classical archaeologist, and academic. He is Professor of Roman Studies and Director of Research in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge. He was Director of the British School at Rome between 1995 and 2009, and Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge from August 2009 to July 2013.

Early life

Wallace-Hadrill was born on 29 July 1951 in Oxford, England, the son of mediaeval historian John Michael Wallace-Hadrill. He was educated at the independent Rugby School. He studied at University of Oxford, where he read for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Classics at Corpus Christi College. This was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon). He went on to attain a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree at St John's College, University of Oxford.

Academic career

Wallace-Hadrill's first academic position was Fellow of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge between 1976 and 1983. He was also the Director of Studies in Classics of the College during that time. He then lectured at the University of Leicester from 1983 till 1987. In 1987, he became Professor of Classics at the University of Reading until 2009. Wallace-Hadrill was Director of the British School at Rome between 1995 and 2009. He was elected the 25th Master of Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge, taking up office in August 2009 on the expiry by statute of Professor Dame Sandra Dawson's tenure. In June 2012, it was announced that he would be standing down from the position of Master to concentrate his efforts on the Herculaneum Conservation Project. He stood down in 2013, and continued at Cambridge as Director of Research of the Faculty of Classics from 1 October 2012. He now has the status of Emeritus Professor.

In 2004, in an interview on the Australian television programme ''60 Minutes'', Wallace-Hadrill aired his opinion about the neglect of the archaeological site of Pompeii. He was described as an "angry archaeologist" when he argued that the conservation issues that need to be acted upon urgently at Pompeii are being neglected and that the site is suffering from a "second death". Regarding the deterioration of Pompeii, he contends, "Man is wreaking a damage far greater than Vesuvius. The moment of Pompeii's destruction was also the moment of its preservation. The public needs to understand that unless constant efforts are taken to arrest the decay, the site will, within decades crumble to nothing."

Television

Wallace-Hadrill has made three well-reviewed documentary programmes for BBC television. ''The Other Pompeii: Life and Death in Herculaneum'', first screened in April 2013, was described by ''The Arts Desk'' as "a straightforward, lively but informative documentary of substance" on Herculaneum, a Roman city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The two-parter, ''Building the Ancient City: Athens and Rome'', was screened in August 2015, and showed how the building of Athens and Rome paralleled the development of democracy in those two cultures. Daisy Wyatt of ''The Independent'' said of it: "An exuberant Wallace-Hadrill made the...documentary watchable thanks to his passion for the subject. It was hard to feel anything but warmth for the antithesis of the typical Oxbridge academic presenter."

Honours and awards

*In 2014, Wallace-Hadrill was awarded an Honorary D.Litt. degree by the University of Reading
* Fellow of the British Academy ( FBA) in 2010.
* In the New Year Honours 2004 Wallace-Hadrill was appointed as Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ''For services to UK-Italian cultural relations''.
* Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries ( FSA) on 30 April 1998.
* Archaeological Institute of America's James R. Wiseman Award in 1995 for his book: ''Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum'' (1994).

Selected works

* ''Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars'' (Duckworth, 1983).
* ''City and Country in the Ancient World'' (New York, 1991), ed. with John Rich
* ''Augustan Rome'' (1993)
* ''Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum'' (Princeton, 1994).
* ''Suetonius'' (Duckworth, 1995).
* ''Domestic Space in the Roman World: Pompeii and Beyond'' (1997), ed. with Ray Laurence
* ''Rome's Cultural Revolution'' (Cambridge, 2008)
* ''Herculaneum: Past and Future'' (Frances Lincoln, 2011).

References

External links

''Debrett's People of Today''

"Herculaneum Uncovered – A conversation with Andrew Wallace-Hadrill"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew
1951 births
Living people
People educated at Rugby School
English classical scholars
Scholars of Roman history
Academics of the University of Reading
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Masters of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Fellows of the British Academy
Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics