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Dirk Obbink

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Professor Dirk D. Obbink (born 1957 in Lincoln, Nebraska) is an American-born papyrologist and Classicist. He is the Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University and is the head of the prestigious Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project. Obbink has achieved the rare distinction of a dual appointment as an American University Professor (Collegiate Professor of Papyrology, University of Michigan) and Fellow and Tutor in the University of Oxford (Christ Church College).[1]

Biography

As his name suggests, Dirk Obbink's ancestors were originally from the Netherlands until they emmigrated to the United States. Obbink took a BA in English at the University of Nebraska before going on to take an MA in Classical Studies and Papyrology at the same university. In 1986 he gained his PhD at Stanford University with his doctoral thesis On the Piety of the Greek Philosophers - Philodem. After an assistant professorship at Columbia University in New York in 1995 Obbink was appointed to the post of Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at Christ Church, Oxford University[2] and was appointed the head of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project. In addition, since 2003 he has been the Ludwig Koenen Collegiate Professor of Papyrology at the University of Michigan.

As a papyrologist, combining traditional philological methods with more recent technological breakthroughs, Obbink made accessible heavily damaged texts from the ancient world, many of which had been regarded as being irretrievably lost. By this achievement he has substantially enriched our knowledge of ancient literature, society and philosophy. He is as much acquainted with the poetry of Sappho or Simonides discovered in the Egyptian Oxyrhynchus papyri as with the technical-philosophical writings of the Epicurean Philodemus, which he rescued from the carbonized papyrus rolls discovered in The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum.[3]

In 2001 Obbink received the MacArthur Fellowship for his work on the papyri from Oxyrhynchus and Herculaneum. In May 2007 the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven awarded him an honorary doctorate.[1][3]

In March 2010 Obbink appeared in Channel 4's series Alexandria: The Greatest City, presented by Bettany Hughes. In the programme he talked about the ancient library at Alexandria.

Select publications

  • Alan K. Bowman (Author, Editor), R.A. Coles (Editor), N. Gonis (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor), Peter John Parsons (Editor), Oxyrhynchus: A City and Its Texts Egypt Exploration Society (2007) ISBN-10: 085698177X
  • Christopher A. Faraone (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor) Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion OUP USA (1997) ISBN-10: 0195111400
  • Marcello Gigante and Dirk Obbink Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum (The Body in Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism) The University of Michigan Press (2002) ISBN-10: 0472089080
  • Dirk Obbink, Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus, and Horace Oxford University Press USA (1995) ISBN-10: 0195088158* dirk obbink, Anubio: Carmen Astrologicum Elegiacum (Bibliotheca Teubneriana) K G Saur Verlag (2003) ISBN-10: 3598712286
  • T. V. Evans (Editor), D. D. Obbink (Editor) The Language of the Papyri Oxford University Press (2009) ISBN-10: 0199237085
  • A.E. Raubitschek (Author), Dirk Obbink (Editor), Paul A.Vander Waerdt (Editor), The School of Hellas: Essays on Greek History, Archaeology and Literature Oxford University Press Inc (1991) ISBN-10: 0195056914
  • Dirk Obbink, Philodemus On Piety: Part 1, Critical Text with Commentary: Critical Text with Commentary Pt.1 Clarendon Press (1996) ISBN-10: 0198150083
  • Jean-Jacques Aubert (Contributor), Roger S. Bagnall (Editor), Dirk D. Obbink (Editor) Columbia Papyri X (American Studies in Papyrology) American Society of Papyrologists (1996) ISBN-10: 0788502751
  • N. Gonis (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor), P. J. Parsons (Editor) Oxyrhynchus Papyri 68 (4639-4704) (Graeco-Roman Memoirs) Egypt Exploration Society (2003) ISBN-10: 0856981427
  • N. Gonis (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor), D. Colombo (Editor) Oxyrhynchus Papyri: v. 69 (Graeco-Roman Memoirs) Egypt Exploration Society (2005) ISBN-10: 0856981435
  • N. Gonis (Author), Dirk Obbink (Author) Oxyrhynchus Papyri: Pt. 73 (Graeco-Roman Memoirs) Egypt Exploration Society (2009) ISBN-10: 0856981826
  • John T. Fitzgerald (Author, Editor), Dirk Obbink (Author), Glenn Stanfield Holland (Author), et al Philodemus and the New Testament World (Novum Testamentum Supplements) Brill (2003) ISBN-10: 9004114602

References

  1. ^ a b [1] Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies
  2. ^ [2] Classicist at British Universities
  3. ^ a b [3] Honorary Doctorates awarded by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2007)
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