A B Bosworth dies

[agesilaos]

It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that A B Bosworth, the great opponent of N G L Hammond, has died following a long illness 22/12/2014.

[Paralus]

And so we lose another; this time one of the very best.

[system1988]

Scripta manent.

[Paralus]

Scripta manent.

Hopefully including Vol III of his Arrian commentary.

[agesilaos]

Indeed, it is difficult to think who might finish the magnum opus, otherwise, all the Thukydideis have gone and we are left with a generation of Xenophonta. Whilst that is better than a generation of Diodoroi I cannot think of anyone with the broad range required; maybe a collegiate solution is required?

[Paralus]

IWhilst that is better than a generation of Diodoroi I cannot think of anyone with the broad range required; maybe a collegiate solution is required?

I see nothing wrong with a generation of 'Diodoroi'. The most important extant source for the Successor period, his worth is only appreciated by his largely disconnected 'one liners' after Book 20. As for the rest, I do hope he has largely finished it. That was his intention last he emailed some years back.

[agesilaos]

A very English defence of the underdog, Paralus, but this is not the thread for a discussion of the Sicilian's value, I think, and I do agree with your general point but comparatively would you not agree that Thukydides is better than his continuator Xenophon and both surpass Diodoros/Ephoros (did not want to spark a quellenforschungen debate nor one on judging the value of lost sources) in their treatments of the Peloponnesian War, to which I was somewhat obscurely alluding.

I too hope that his last volume only needs tweaking, nor should we forget that AB had only just woken up to the delights of the early Diadochoi, a field where his acumen will also be missed. I also ought to let everyone know that I got the news from you first, lest I am accused of not revealing my sources, it would seem that none of the British media have produced an obituary yet, though the season cannot help.

Pretty sure I met him once when his Uni poached the Classics professor to whose courses I had largely signed up, (Robin Osbourne went to Western Australia for 1982); he delivered an off the cuff dissection of Donald Engels' appendix on the Gedrosian March in 'Logistics' whilst praising the intent and content of the rest of the book he demonstrated the fallacy of this section (Engels has the fleet supporting the army when Arrian is clear that it was the army that was to support the fleet; even got brownie points for answering the question of what was wrong with Engels' interpretation, had I been more pushy, or had my professor not known of my Gargantuan capacity I might even of moved on to the bar with them; at the time I had little idea who the fellow was, though, and am still not sure it was AB).

[Paralus]

I also ought to let everyone know that I got the news from you first, lest I am accused of not revealing my sources, it would seem that none of the British media have produced an obituary yet, though the season cannot help

Neither here nor there: I didn't think to post it here. On holiday in Thredbo - the brain's not entirely in gear. As to British media, count me in: didn't read my emails from ASCS until checking a weather report the other day on the laptop.

Yes, he had turned his acumen onto the fertile fields of the Diadochi of late. It was in that regard that while he declared a fascination with the period he owed his publisher a completed draft of Vol III before embarking upon another set of works on the period. His "Legacy", despite upholding the old "high chronology" should be required reading. His chapter on the Babylonian Settlement is a benchmark essay and ranks as one of the three 'standard' works on the topic along with Errington and the recent work of Meeus.