Simon Price (classicist)

Simon Rowland Francis Price (27 September 1954 – 14 June 2011) was an English classical scholar, specialising in the imperial cult of ancient Rome. His father, Hetley Price, was a priest at Manchester Cathedral, and Simon was educated at the city's Manchester Grammar School. He subsequently read (classics) at The Queen's College, Oxford, undertook postgraduate study at Oxford and at University College London, then moved briefly to Christ's College, Cambridge before returning to Oxford for a position at Lady Margaret Hall, where he spent the entire remainder of his career.

Price's academic works included ''Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor'', which argued for a decentralised view of the imperial cult as variable between different cities and largely led by local aristocrats. His other academic work included studies in comparative literature, Greek agriculture, and early Christianity, as well as a collaboration with his wife, Lucia Nixon, in an archaeological survey of the Sfakia region of Crete. He took early retirement in 2008, following a diagnosis of cancer, and died in 2011.

Life

Simon Rowland Francis Price was born in London on 27 September 1954, the son of the Anglican priest Hetley Price. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School: his father worked at Manchester Cathedral in the same city. He later credited his father's profession with giving him "an interest in the significance of established religion". He read (classics) at The Queen's College, Oxford, graduating in 1976 with a First. Among his undergraduate teachers was Fergus Millar. He subsequently registered for a DPhil at Oxford, then moved to University College London, where his thesis was supervised by John North.

Upon receiving his doctorate, Price moved to Christ's College, Cambridge, as a junior research fellow. He returned to Oxford in 1981, as fellow and tutor in ancient history at Lady Margaret Hall. In 1985, Price married the archaeologist Lucia Nixon, who co-directed with him the archaeological survey of the Sfakia region of south-western Crete: a two-volume publication of its results was forthcoming at the time of his death. The couple had two daughters. In 1992, Price took a sabbatical, as part of which he visited the University of New Brunswick and conducted research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the Harvard classicist and theologian Arthur Nock. His other academic work included articles on theories of dream interpretation, terracing in Greek agriculture, and apologetic literature in early Christianity. He also edited the ''Journal of Roman Studies'' and the magazine '' Omnibus'', which publishes classical articles for sixth form students.

In his 1984 ''Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor'', Price argued that the Roman imperial cult in the Greek-speaking cities of Asia Minor was largely led by local citizens, and varied in its practices between cities in a manner which reflected the dialogue between local power structures and the central Roman authority. John North credited the book with "radically chang ngideas about the worship of Roman emperors". In ''The New Republic'', Glen Bowersock called it "the first interpretation that really makes sense of this whole bizarre phenomenon".

Price was diagnosed with a recurring gastrointestinal stromal tumour, a rare form of cancer, in 2007, and took early retirement from Oxford in 2008. He died on 14 June 2011. An obituary in ''The Times'' called Price "a pioneer in the study of religion in the classical world". ''The Telegraph'' called his ''Religions of the Ancient Greeks'', published in 1999, "the best short book on Greek religion".

Published works

As sole author

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Collaborations

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Footnotes

Explanatory notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Simon
1954 births
2011 deaths
British historians of religion
English classical scholars
Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
Alumni of University College London
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge
Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Historians of ancient Rome
Scholars of ancient Greek history
Deaths from cancer
People educated at Manchester Grammar School