R. J. Hopper

Robert John Hopper, FSA (1910 – 3 July 1987) was an archaeologist and historian of Ancient Greece. He was Professor of Ancient History at the University of Sheffield. He was Dean of the university's Faculty of Arts from 1967 to 1970.

Early life

Hopper was born on 13 August 1910. He was educated at Mount Radford School in Exeter and read classics at the University College of Swansea.[1] He was then awarded a scholarship, the Rhonda studentship, to study at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. There, he completed the diploma in classical archaeology and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in classics.[2]

Academic career

Hopper was the Senior Lecturer in charge of the Department of Ancient History at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England from 1947 to 1956.[3] From 1967 to 1970, he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Sheffield and, by 1976, was a Professor Emeritus.[4]

In 1953, he wrote the book The Attic Silver Mines in the 4th Century BC.[5] In 1955, he wrote the book Ancient Corinth about Corinth's history.[6] In 1961, he wrote the book The Mines and Miners of Ancient Athens, and in 1963 he wrote both Parthenos and Parthenon[7] and Greece and Rome.[8] In 1964 he reviewed The Growth of the Athenian Economy by A. French.[6] In 1968 Hopper wrote a book about the Laurium mines, titled The Laurium Mines: A Reconsideration[9] and, that same year, wrote the segment "Observations on the Wappenmünzen" in the book Essays in Greek Coinage by C. M. Kraay and G. K. Jenkins.[10][11] In 1971, he participated in the Research Seminar in Archaeology and Related Subjects at University of Sheffield.[12] In 1979, Hopper wrote Trade and Industry in Ancient Greece which, along with his other books, has been cited several times.[13][14][15][16]

Hopper was a member of the Managing Committee of the British School of Archaeology at Athens and wrote two popular books on ancient Greek history, The Acropolis (1971)[14] and The Early Greeks (1976).[17]

Honours

Hopper was an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).[18]

References

1. Annual obituary, 1987. Chicago : St James. 1990. p. 362. ISBN 9781558620216 – via Internet Archive.
2. "Prof R. J. Hopper". The Times. No. 62819. 13 July 1987. p. 14.
3. Current Archaeology, Issues 121-132. A. W. Selkirk. 1990. p. 121. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
4. Dolphin Press (1973). The Archarologists' Year Book. Noyes Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780856420245. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
5. Bissa, Errietta (2009). Governmental Intervention in Foreign Trade in Archaic and Classical Greece. BRILL Publishers. p. 253. ISBN 978-9047428497. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
6. Hopwood, Keith (1995). Ancient Greece and Rome: A Bibliographical Guide. Manchester University Press. pp. 66–81. ISBN 0719024013. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
7. Ehrenberg, V. (2014). From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilization. Routledge. p. 409. ISBN 978-1136783937. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
8. Hartswick, Kim J.; Sturgeon, Mary C. (1998). Stephanos: Studies in Honor of Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. p. 99. ISBN 0924171529. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
9. Thomson de Grummond, Nancy (2015). Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology. Routledge. p. 665. ISBN 978-1134268542. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
10. Figueira, Thomas J. (1993). Excursions in Epichoric History: Aiginetan Essays. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 65. ISBN 0847677923. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
11. Archaeology, Volumes 23-24. Archaeological Institute of America. 1970. p. 76. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
12. Colin Renfrew (1973). The explanation of culture change: models in prehistory: proceedings of a meeting of the Research Seminar in Archaeology and Related Subjects held at the University of Sheffield, Volume 1971. Duckworth Overlook. pp. 12–14. ISBN 9780715606735. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
13. Preziosi, Donald (1989). ethinking Art History: Meditations on a Coy Science. Yale University Press. p. 241. ISBN 0300049838. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
14. Talbert, Richard J. A. (2002). Atlas of Classical History. Routledge. pp. 181–182. ISBN 1134966539. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
15. Greene, Kevin (1990). The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. University of California Press. p. 180. ISBN 0520074017. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
16. Norton, Mary Beth, he American Historical Association's guide to historical literature, Volume 1, page 171-185, 1995, University of Oxford Press
17. Wang, Tao (2003). History of the World. iUniverse. ISBN 1469753235. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
18. Quennell, Peter, History Today, page 294, 1956