Regius Professorship of Greek

Regius Professorship of Greek
Post	Regius Professorship of Greek
University	University of Cambridge (originally University of Cambridge; also at University of Oxford and other institutions)
Established	1540
Founder	Henry VIII
Discipline	Classics
Firstholder	John Cheke
Notableholders	Thomas Smith, John Cheke, Richard Bentley, Edward Daniel Clarke, Gilbert Murray, E. R. Dodds, G. P. Goold, T. B. L. Webster, Rosamund Kent, Simon Hornblower

Contents

Regius Professorship of Greek is a royal academic chair created in the Tudor period to secure instruction in Ancient Greek and classical texts within the English university system. Founded by Henry VIII during the Renaissance, the position has been associated with leading scholars at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, influencing curricula at institutions such as Trinity College, Cambridge, King's College, Cambridge, Magdalen College, Oxford, and Christ Church, Oxford. Over centuries holders have engaged with figures and movements including Erasmus, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Isaac Casaubon, Girolamo Mei, Aldus Manutius, and Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.

History and Establishment

The chair was established in 1540 by Henry VIII alongside other royal endowments such as the Regius Professorship of Physic and the Regius Professorship of Divinity to align English pedagogy with continental humanism exemplified by Petrarch, Lorenzo Valla, Marsilio Ficino, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Early incumbents like John Cheke and Thomas Smith connected English scholarship to the networks of William Cecil and the Tudor court, while later holders such as Richard Bentley engaged with philological debates influenced by editors like Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Newton, and Thomas Hobbes. The professorship evolved alongside institutions including St John's College, Cambridge, Christ's College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Oxford, and professional bodies like the Royal Society and the British Academy.

Traditionally the post required lecturing and lectio continua on canonical authors such as Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Euripides, and editorial work on manuscripts housed in libraries like the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, British Library, and collections at Trinity College Library, Cambridge. Holders have contributed to editions of works by Plutarch, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Lucian, Sappho, Callimachus, Pindar, Theocritus, and Menander, while supervising research connected to archives such as the Vatican Library and presses including the Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Loeb Classical Library.

Prominent incumbents include John Cheke (a Tudor court scholar), Richard Bentley (critic and classical scholar who corresponded with Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson), Gilbert Murray (translator of Euripides and public intellectual linked to Royal Society of Literature), E. R. Dodds (who wrote on The Greeks and the Irrational and engaged with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung), and modern figures such as T. B. L. Webster and Simon Hornblower whose work intersects with scholars like Bernard Knox, F. W. Nietzsche, Heinrich Schliemann, Arthur Hamilton Smith, E. R. Dodds, J. B. Lightfoot, R. G. Collingwood, J. E. Sandys, H. J. Rose, and A. E. Housman. Lesser-known but significant incumbents include scholars associated with Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Queens' College, Cambridge, Oriel College, Oxford, Wadham College, Oxford, Jesus College, Cambridge, and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Appointments historically involved royal nomination by Henry VIII's successors and patronage networks linking to offices such as the Privy Council and advisors like William Cecil. Later procedures incorporated university organs including the Cambridge Senate, Oxford Convocation, governing bodies of colleges such as St Catharine's College, Cambridge, St John's College, Oxford, and external input from learned societies like the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society. Selection criteria emphasized proficiency in Greek language and the editing of texts by figures like Aeschylus and Plato, demonstrated through publications with presses including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press and through lectures in venues such as the Sheldonian Theatre and Senate House, Cambridge.

Controversies have included disputes over classical curricula involving advocates such as Thomas Arnold, debates over textual emendation championed by Richard Bentley against rivals like Conyers Middleton, and tensions over secularization associated with figures like John Henry Newman and institutional reforms by William Laud and Oliver Cromwell. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century reforms addressed access and modern languages driven by educational reformers like Matthew Arnold, Henry Sidgwick, Benjamin Jowett, John Addington Symonds, and organizations including the University Grants Committee and the Further Education Committee. More recent controversies involve hiring practices debated in contexts related to Equality Act 2010-era policies, governance reforms at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, and public funding discussions involving Department for Education and UK Research and Innovation.

Category:Professorships