Homer Thompson

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For the professional baseball player, see Homer Thompson (baseball). For the professional basketball player, see Homer Thompson (basketball).

Homer Armstrong Thompson (September 7, 1906 – May 7, 2000) was a Canadian classical

archaeologist of the twentieth century, specializing in ancient Greece.[1] As a fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Thompson led the excavations of the Athenian Agora from May 25, 1931[2] until 1970. He was married to a fellow archaeologist, Dorothy Burr Thompson
.

Early life and education

Thompson was born in

Latin
. Homer's father, who had also studied the classics before becoming a farmer, encouraged his son as well.

At the young age of 15, Thompson graduated from Chiliwack High School. He enrolled to study the classics at the

B.A. with honours in only three years. He stayed to continue his studies and in 1927 received his M.A. with first-class honours. At this time he was only 19 years old and became the youngest classics professor in Canada. Thompson chose archaeology for his doctoral studies, and was awarded his Ph.D. by the University of Michigan after only two years' study.[4]

Life and career

Soon after completing his doctorate, Thompson was awarded a three-year fellowship of $4,500 by the American School of Classical Studies in Greece to assist on excavations. He was to work primarily at Corinth but also in the agora in Athens. After spending some time in working in Athens, he became passionate about the Athenian agora and the possible work to be done there; it would become the focus of his career.

While excavating in Athens in 1932, Homer met Dorothy Burr. At the time she was the only woman fellow working on the excavations in Athens. Dorothy's concentration of study revolved around excavating and publishing her finds on the Athenian gardens and terracotta figurines.[5] Thompson called Dorothy "one of [his] more remarkable finds." She also was a classics enthusiast and worked with him at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as in Athens. They married in 1934. Dorothy gave birth to twins, Hilary and Hope, in 1935, and another daughter, Pamela, in 1938. However, she pursued her career as well, unlike many women of the era. Excepting the war years, from 1933 to 1947 Homer and Dorothy spent the summers of every year in Athens and the remaining months teaching at the University of Toronto.

In 1947, the Thompsons moved on to Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study.[6]

Thompson received numerous awards during his long career. These included: Fellow of the

Kenyon Medal for Classical Studies from the British Academy (1991), and the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities from the American Philosophical Society (1996), of which he was also a member.[9]

Thompson died in Hightstown, New Jersey.[1]

Sources

  • Diffendale D.P. (2014) Thompson, Homer. In: Smith C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_933
  • Dyson, Stephen L. and Daniel Graepler, "Thompson, Homer Armstrong" In Brill’s New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 6 : History of classical Scholarship - A Biographical Dictionary, 2013-12-04

Necrology

References

  1. ^ a b Douglas Martin (13 May 2000). "Homer Thompson Dies at 93; Led Excavation of the Agora". The New York Times. p. A 14. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  2. ISBN 978-0-87661-910-0
    .
  3. ^ Chilliwack Museum and Archives
  4. ^ Hesperia. Institute for Advanced Study. 1933.
  5. ISBN 978-0-87661-944-5
    .
  6. ^ "Homer D. Thompson | Institute for Advanced Study". Archived from the original on 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  7. ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  8. ^ "Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement". Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  9. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
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