Robin Lane Fox

Robin James Lane Fox FRSL (born 5 October 1946^[1]) is an English historian of classical antiquity, described by Paul Cartledge as "one of our most original, daring and arguably life-enhancing".^[2] He is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College, Oxford (of which he is also Garden Fellow and Tutor in Oriental Studies) and Reader in Ancient History, University of Oxford. He is Lecturer in Ancient History at Exeter College, Oxford.^[3] He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history, a subject in which he held an Oxford Research Fellowship.^[4]

His major publications, for which he has won literary prizes including the James Tait Black Award,^[5] the Duff Cooper Prize,^[6] the W. H. Heinemann Award^[7] and the Runciman Award,^[8] include studies of Alexander the Great and Ancient Macedon, Late Antiquity (e.g. on Christianity and Paganism), the Bible and history, and the Greek Dark Ages (e.g. on the relation between Greek Mythology and the myths of the Ancient Near East).

Life

Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, of which he was a Fellow 1970-73.^[9] Like his fellow historians Paul Cartledge and Alan Cameron, and philosophers Terence Irwin and John McDowell,^[10] he was an undergraduate student of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, whom he succeeded at New College in 1977 after a lectureship and Fellowship at Worcester College, Oxford.^[11][12] Other important influences on his unusually wide-ranging^[13] contributions to the study of ancient history include Louis Robert,^[14] Peter Brown,^[15] E.R. Dodds,^[16] Timothy Barnes,^[17] E. J. Bickerman,^[18] Martin Litchfield West,^[19] Walter Burkert,^[20] and his long-standing New College colleague W. G. (George) Forrest.^[21]

He was historical advisor to the film director Oliver Stone for the epic Alexander. His appearance as an extra, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicized at the time of the film's release.^[22] Like his friend (and fellow Duff Cooper Prize winner) Patrick Leigh Fermor^[23][24] he has expressed trenchant views on the relationship between Ancient Macedon and the modern Republic of Macedonia.^[25] He was a friend and admirer of another renowned travel writer (and fellow James Tait Black Award winner), Bruce Chatwin.^[26]

Also an expert gardener, he is the gardening correspondent of the Financial Times and a noted opponent of garden gnomes.^[27]

He is the father of the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, a founder of Lastminute.com. Her younger brother, Henry Lane Fox, also a founder, is CEO of The Browser website.^[28]

He wrote and presented Greek Myths: Tales of Travelling Heroes, which was first broadcast on BBC Four at 9:00pm on 15 November 2010.^[29]

Selected publications

• Alexander the Great (New York: E P Dutton, 1974, ISBN 978-9993440048) (awarded James Tait Black Memorial Prize)
• The Search for Alexander (London: Viking, 1981, ISBN 978-0713913958)
• Pagans and Christians: In the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine (London: Viking, 1986, ISBN 978-0670808489; Penguin Books Ltd new edition, 2006, ISBN 978-0141022956)
• Better Gardening (London: David R. Godine Publ., 1986, ISBN 978-0879236113)
• The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible (1991; new edition by Penguin Books Ltd, 2006, ISBN 978-0141022963)
• The Making of "Alexander": The Official Guide to the Epic Alexander Film (London: R & L (Lane Fox), 2004, ISBN 978-0951139219)
• The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian (London: Allen Lane, 2005, ISBN 978-0713998535)
• Page, Russell, The Education of a Gardener (New York Review of Books reprint, 2007), preface by Robin Lane Fox
• Travelling Heroes: Greeks and Their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer (London: Allen Lane, 2008, ISBN 978-0713999808)

References

External links

• Robin Lane Fox, Esq, FRSL at Debrett's People of Today

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