Momigliano, Arnaldo

(1908–1987)

   Widely regarded as one of the greatest 20th-century scholars of classics and of the ancient world, Arnaldo Momigliano was born in the province of Cuneo (Piedmont) in 1908. Momigliano, already a professor, was forced to flee Italy in 1938 because the introduction of the racial laws meant he, as a Jew, was unable to continue his career. He left for England where he taught at Bristol University and then at University College, London, where he was professor from 1951 to 1975. Momigliano was also visiting professor for more than 20 years (1964–1987) at Chicago University. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 for his contributions to scholarship.

   Isaiah Berlin, surely a convincing witness, called Momigliano a “great scholar,” and in fact Momigliano’s work ranged over the entire historical traditions of Greece, Rome, Persia, and old testament Judea. He wrote of the birth of the early church and biographies of Philip of Macedon and the emperor Claudius, and in Italian left 11 volumes of collected essays of “Contributions to the History of Classical Studies and of the Ancient World.” In particular, Momigliano was an unrivalled expert on the historiography of the ancients and of the Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides. Momigliano taught in Pisa, at the Scuola Normale, in his final years. He died in Romein 1987.