'Ernest Barker: Classics England-Britain and Europe 1906-1960'

Stapleton, Julia

'Ernest Barker: Classics England-Britain and Europe 1906-1960'

Stapleton, Julia

Authors

Professor Julia Stapleton julia.stapleton@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Ernest Barker's contributions to the study of classical political thought have remained a benchmark in that field for much of the twentieth century. This introduction seeks to place his output in historical context, examining the professional, political and personal factors which underpinned his success as an interpreter of Plato and Aristotle, especially. It considers his education, the popular nature of his work, his ambiguous relationship to the establishment, his English-British patriotism, his European connections and perspective, his dual career as a scholar and journalist, and his liberalism as central to the cultural authority he acquired in the first half of the twentieth-century. The introduction emphasises the close relationship between Barker's `national' status as a classical scholar, the methodological, democratic, and religious sensibilities that informed his work, and the deep sense of public mission by which he was moved, down to his last years. In doing so, it draws together themes which are explored more fully in the special issue as a whole.

Citation

Stapleton, J. (2006). 'Ernest Barker: Classics England-Britain and Europe 1906-1960'. Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought, 23(2), 203-221

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2006
Deposit Date	Mar 12, 2009
Publicly Available Date	Dec 1, 2009
Journal	Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought
Print ISSN	0142-257X
Publisher	Brill Academic Publishers
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	23
Issue	2
Pages	203-221
Publisher URL	http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/pol/2006/00000023/00000002/art00001