Prof David Scourfield

    Ancient Classics

    Emeritus Professor

    Biography

    I came to Ireland to take up the Chair of Classics at Maynooth University (then NUI Maynooth) in 1998. I cannot remember a time when I was not interested in ancient Greece and Rome, and at school in Wales I was fortunate to have a very inspiring Latin (and Greek) teacher, who did a great deal to shape my future. I studied for a BA in Classics at Jesus College, Oxford, and stayed on to write a doctoral thesis on the letters of Jerome under the supervision of Michael Winterbottom. After a period working in parliamentary administration in London, I took up a lectureship at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (‘Wits’) in 1984, became Head of Department four years later, and was appointed to the Jan Hofmeyr Chair of Classics in 1995. My career has been quite varied. In addition to teaching across a very wide range (from Homer to the Arab conquest of north Africa, and beyond), I have been fortunate to hold an array of interesting positions in several countries. I was joint editor of The Classical Review from 2002 to 2005, have for many years been an associated member of the Editorial Board of Akroterion (Stellenbosch, South Africa), and was formerly a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Scholia (Dunedin, New Zealand). From 2007 to 2013 I served as Chair of Council of the Classical Association, the largest subject organization for Classics in the UK, having previously (1997–8) held the post of Chair of the Classical Association of South Africa. I have also held appointments as Chair of the Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception of the American Philological Association (now the Society for Classical Studies; 2013-14) and Vice-Chair of the Royal Irish Academy’s Committee for Classical and Near Eastern Studies (2010-13). I am currently a member of the Academy's Historical Studies Committee, and continue to represent the Academy on the Internationale Thesaurus-Kommission of the Thesaurus linguae Latinae.

    Research Interests

    I am interested in practically all aspects of Antiquity, and my research embraces both literature and ancient social and cultural history. In general, it has four main emphases: (a) bereavement and consolation in the ancient world; (b) the literature of late Antiquity, especially Jerome; (c) the Greek and Roman novel; (d) twentieth-century receptions of the classical world, especially in English literature from 1900 to 1939.  I am currently working on a monograph on E. M. Forster and Classics, as well as a new edition of his second novel, The Longest Journey, commissioned by Cambridge University Press as part of The Cambridge Edition of the Fiction of E. M. Forster; and I have for some time been working on a major book-length study of the ancient consolatory letter, where sociohistorical questions are as much of a concern as more traditional literary and philosophical matters.  Recent publications include a volume on representations of violence in Latin literature, Texts and Violence in the Roman World, co-edited with Monica Gale of Trinity College Dublin (Cambridge, 2018).

    Book

    Year Publication
    2018 Gale, Monica R., and Scourfield, J. H. D. (eds.) (2018) Texts and Violence in the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    2007 Scourfield, J. H. D. (ed.) (2007) Texts and Culture in Late Antiquity: Inheritance, Authority, and Change. : The Classical Press of Wales.
    1993 Scourfield, J. H .D. (1993) Consoling Heliodorus: A Commentary on Jerome, Letter 60. : Oxford University Press.

    Book Chapter

    Year Publication
    2019 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2019) 'Forster and Woolf' In: The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature. Volume 5: After 1880. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
    2018 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2018) 'Violence and the Christian Heroine: Two Narratives of Desire' In: Texts and Violence in the Roman World. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
    2018 Gale, Monica R., and Scourfield, J. H. D. (2018) 'Introduction: Reading Roman Violence' In: Texts and Violence in the Roman World. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
    2013 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2013) 'Towards a Genre of Consolation' In: H. Baltussen(Eds.). Greek and Roman Consolations: Eight Studies of a Tradition and its Afterlife. Swansea : The Classical Press of Wales.
    2007 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2007) 'Textual Inheritances and Textual Relations in Late Antiquity' In: J. H. D. Scourfield(Eds.). Texts and Culture in Late Antiquity: Inheritance, Authority, and Change. Swansea : The Classical Press of Wales.
    2003 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2003) 'Anger and Gender in Chariton's Chaereas and Callirhoe' In: Ancient Anger: Perspectives from Homer to Galen. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

    Peer Reviewed Journal

    Year Publication
    2018 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2018) 'Classical In/stabilities: Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford, and the Great War'. Classical Receptions Journal, 10 (4):435-457. [Link] [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2017 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2017) 'Classical Land/scapes: Transformative Geography in E. M. Forster's Early Short Fiction'. Caliban: French Journal of English Studies, 58 :185-202. [Link] [Full-Text]
    2012 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2012) 'Euripides, Hippolytus 136'. RHEINISCHES MUSEUM FÜR PHILOLOGIE, 155 :225-232. [Full-Text]
    2010 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2010) 'Chaereas, Hippolytus, Theseus: Tragic Echoes, Tragic Potential in Chariton'. PHOENIX-THE JOURNAL OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF CAN, 64 :291-313. [Full-Text]
    1997 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1997) 'A Note on Jerome's Homily on the Rich Man and Lazarus'. Theological studies, 48 :536-539. [Full-Text]
    1996 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1996) 'The De mortalitate of Cyprian: Consolation and Context'. Vigiliae Christianae, 50 :12-41. [Full-Text]
    1995 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1995) 'Consoling Heliodorus: A Reply to Marc Kleijwegt's Review'. Acta Classica, 38 :107-111. [Full-Text]
    1992 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1992) 'The Classics after Apartheid'. Classical Journal, 88 :43-54. [Full-Text]
    1989 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1989) 'Life, the Universe and Everything: An Intellectual History of Greece for the Innocent'. AKROTERION, 34 :137-146. [Full-Text]
    1987 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1987) 'Teaching Greek Tragedy in Translation: A Consolidated Approach'. AKROTERION, 32 :49-55. [Full-Text]
    1987 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1987) 'Notes on the Text of Jerome, Letters 1 and 107'. Classical Quarterly, 37 :487-497. [Full-Text]
    1986 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1986) 'Jerome, Antioch, and the Desert: A Note on Chronology'. Theological studies, 37 :117-121. [Full-Text]

    Other Journal

    Year Publication
    1992 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1992) 'Classics in Germany: A Personal Impression' Aquae Candidae: Epistula Witwatersrandensis, 2 :18-20.
    1990 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1990) 'Martial and his Animals' Aquae Candidae: Epistula Witwatersrandensis, 1 :4-9.

    Conference Contribution

    Year Publication
    2018 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2018) Literary Form, Historical 'Reality', and Philosophical Exploration in Two Novels of Ancient Rome University of Exeter Department of Classics and Ancient History Seminar University of Exeter, .
    2018 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2018) De-/Re-queering Virgil: Forster’s 'Other Kingdom' and the Second Eclogue International E. M. Forster Society Conference, ‘E. M. Forster: Nature, Culture, Queer!’ Ludwigsburg, Germany, .
    2016 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2016) Fear and Freedom, Desire and Dread: Dionysiac Landscapes in the Fiction of E. M. Forster 9th Celtic Conference in Classics University College Dublin, .
    2016 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2016) Classical Land/scapes: Transformative Spaces in E. M. Forster’s Early Short Fiction International Conference, ‘The Mediterranean and its Hinterlands: “le pays en profondeur”’ Université Toulouse–Jean Jaurès, .
    2013 (2013) Annexing Arcadia: Classical Space in the Short Fiction of E. M. Forster University of Pennsylvania Classical Studies Colloquium University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA, USA, .
    2013 (2013) Roman Bereavement Research Lecture Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA, .
    2013 (2013) Undying Praise: Memorialization in the Consolatory Letters of Jerome International Conference, 'Praise and the Construction of Character in Late Antiquity' NUI Maynooth, .
    2013 (2013) Being Bereaved in Ancient Rome RIA Colloquium, 'Death in the Ancient World' Dublin, .
    2012 (2012) A Classical Lens for Eyes Wide Shut Colloquium, ‘Masks, Echoes, Shadows: Locating Classical Receptions in the Cinema’ Institute of Classical Studies, London, .
    2012 (2012) Respondent in panel 'Antiquity in Action' 143rd Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association Philadelphia, PA, USA, .
    2012 (2012) Annexing Arcadia: Classical Space in the Short Fiction of E. M. Forster University of Liverpool Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology Seminar University of Liverpool, .
    2012 (2012) Exemplarity, Monumentality, and Self-Fashioning in Jerome's Letters of Consolation University of Manchester Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar University of Manchester, .
    2011 (2011) Exemplarity, Monumentality, and Self-Fashioning in Jerome’s Letters of Consolation University of Cambridge Faculty of Classics Literature Seminar University of Cambridge, .
    2010 (2010) Exemplarity, Monumentality, and Self-Fashioning in Jerome’s Letters of Consolation NUI Maynooth Classics Research Discussion Group Seminar NUI Maynooth, .
    2010 (2010) Exemplarity, Monumentality, and Self-Fashioning in Jerome’s Letters of Consolation University of Exeter Classics Seminar University of Exeter, .
    2010 (2010) Consolation in Antiquity: Some Possible Misapprehensions Masterclass on Spiritualities in Early Modern France. 1. The Consolatory Tradition NUI Maynooth, .
    2009 (2009) A Forsterian Pastoral Joint Conference of the Classical Association and the Classical Association of Scotland University of Glasgow, .
    2009 (2009) Respondent in panel ‘From Classical Tradition to Reception Studies II’ 140th Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association Philadelphia, PA, USA, .
    2009 (2009) Respondent in panel 'From Classical Tradition to Reception Studies II' Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association Philadelphia, PA, USA, .
    2009 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2009) Trimalchio the Narcissist NUI Maynooth Classics Research Discussion Group Seminar NUI Maynooth, .
    2009 (2009) Petronius and the Poodle in the Microwave UCD Classics Society Lecture University College Dublin, .
    2008 (2008) The Sophoclean Forster CADRE (Centre for Ancient Drama and its Reception) Seminar University of Nottingham, .
    2007 (2007) E. M. Forster and the Greek Optative RIA Colloquium, 'Greco-Roman Ghosts: Receptions of the Classical World in the 19th/20th Centuries' Dublin, .
    2007 (2007) The Genre(s) of Consolation International Colloquium, ‘Acts of Consolation: Approaches to Grief and Mourning' Institute of Classical Studies, London, .
    2007 (2007) The Sophoclean Forster University of Edinburgh Department of Classics Research Seminar University of Edinburgh, .
    2006 (2006) Violence and the Christian Heroine: Two Narratives of Desire KYKNOS Seminar University of Wales, Swansea, .
    2006 (2006) Opportunitas mortis: Exemplarity and Self-Fashioning in Jerome's Letters of Consolation International Conference, 'Jerome of Stridon' Cardiff University, .
    2006 (2006) The Academic Deejay: Classics Book Reviewing and the Limits of Editorial Control 137th Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association Montreal, Canada, .

    Book Review

    Year Publication
    2019 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2019) Classics and South Africa: Review of G. Parker (ed.), South Africa, Greece, Rome: Classical Confrontations (Cambridge, 2017). Cambridge: BREV
    2013 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2013) Classics and South Africa: Review of M. Lambert, The Classics and South African Identities (London and New York, 2011). BREV
    2011 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2011) Review of A. Cain, The Letters of Jerome: Asceticism, Biblical Exegesis, and the Construction of Christian Authority in Late Antiquity (Oxford, 2009). BREV
    2005 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2005) Dulce, sed periculosum? Review of D. West, Horace Odes III: Dulce Periculum (Oxford, 2002). BREV
    2003 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2003) Review of A. Canellis (ed.), S. Hieronymi Presbyteri Opera. III. Opera Polemica. 4. Altercatio Luciferiani et Orthodoxi (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, 79B; Turnhout, 2000). BREV
    2001 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2001) Review of P. Freeman, Ireland and the Classical World (Austin, Texas, 2001). BREV
    2001 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2001) Written Death: Review of A. Petrucci (tr. M. Sullivan), Writing the Dead: Death and Writing Strategies in the Western Tradition (Stanford, 1998). BREV
    1999 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1999) Review of I. Hilberg (ed.), Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, 2nd, augmented, edn., Parts 1–3 (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 54, 55, 56/1), and M. Kamptner (compiler), Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, Part 4: Indexes and Addenda (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 56/2) (Vienna, 1996). BREV
    1999 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1999) Review of G. B. Conte (tr. E. Fantham), The Hidden Author: An Interpretation of Petronius’ Satyricon (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1996). BREV
    1998 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1998) Review of M. Grant, The Severans: The Changed Roman Empire (London, 1996). BREV
    1997 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1997) Review of S. J. Harrison (ed.), Homage to Horace: A Bimillenary Celebration (Oxford, 1995); D. Innes, H. Hine, and C. Pelling (eds.), Ethics and Rhetoric: Classical Essays for Donald Russell on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday (Oxford, 1995); R. G. M. Nisbet, Collected Papers on Latin Literature, ed. S. J. Harrison (Oxford, 1995). BREV
    1995 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1995) Review of T. D. Barnes, Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire (Cambridge, Mass., 1993). BREV
    1995 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1995) Review of J. den Boeft and A. Hilhorst (eds.), Early Christian Poetry: A Collection of Essays (Leiden, 1993). BREV
    1994 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1994) Review of R. S. Miola, Shakespeare and Classical Comedy: The Influence of Plautus and Terence (Oxford, 1994). BREV
    1981 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1981) Review of G. J. M. Bartelink, Hieronymus: Liber de optimo genere interpretandi (Epistula 57): Ein Kommentar (Mnemosyne Supplements, 61; Leiden, 1980). BREV

    Editorial

    Year Publication
    2005 Powell, J. G. F. and Scourfield, J. H .D. (2005) Classical Review 55.1: Editorial. ED
    2005 Powell, J. G. F. and Scourfield, J. H. D. (2005) Classical Review 55.2: Editorial. ED
    2004 Powell, J. G. F. and Scourfield, J. H. D. (2004) Classical Review 54.1: Editorial. ED
    2004 Powell, J. G. F. and Scourfield, J. H. D. (2004) Classical Review 54.2: Editorial. ED
    2003 Powell, J. G. F. and Scourfield, J. H. D. (2003) Classical Review 53.2: Editorial. ED
    2003 Powell, J. G. F. and Scourfield, J. H. D. (2003) Classical Review 53.1: Editorial. ED

    Thesis

    Year Publication
    1984 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1984) A Literary Commentary on Jerome, Letters 1, 60, 107. University of Oxford: THES

    Other

    Year Publication
    2012 Scourfield, J. H. D. (2012) Avianus; Avienus; Christodorus; Claudian; Commodianus; Consolatio ad Liviam; Consolation; Cupido amans; Jerome; Luxorius; Nemesianus; Novatianus; Optatianus Porfyrius; Pentadius; Pervigilium Veneris; Phoenix; Precatio Terrae; Reposianus; Rutilius Claudius Namatianus; Servasius; Tiberianus; Vespae iudicium; Vulgate. OTHER
    1996 Scourfield, J. H. D. (1996) Avianus; Avienus; Christodorus; Claudian: Commodianus; Consolatio ad Liviam; Consolation; Cupido amans; Jerome; Luxorius; Nemesianus; Novatianus; Optatianus Porfyrius; Pentadius; Pervigilium Veneris; Phoenix; Precatio Terrae; Reposianus; Rutilius Claudius Namatianus; Servasius; Tiberianus; Vespae iudicium; Vulgate. OTHER
    Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2023) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

    Honors and Awards

    Date Title Awarding Body
    01/01/2013 Vice-President, The Classical Association

    Committees

    Committee Function From / To
    Associated Member of Editorial Committee, Akroterion -
    Corresponding Member of the Internationale Thesaurus-Kommission for the Thesaurus linguae Latinae, representing the Royal Irish Academy -