David West
This volume has two closely related aims. Most obviously, it commemorates the remarkable person and scholar that was David West. As such, it is an extension of the commemorative colloquium held at Newcastle in May 2014, about a year after his death, organised by JW. AJW, a colleague and friend of David’s for over forty years, joined as editor of this volume, and also contributed the personal tribute on the following pages.
Our second aim is to reflect David’s inspirational scholarship by gathering work of the kind with which his name is associated. Accordingly, all contributors seek to focus attention on individual Latin texts by a close examination of the words used and, where appropriate, by a detailed investigation of the literary, social and historical contexts in which the texts were produced. We hope and expect that the volume will thus once more illustrate the relevance and importance of paying close attention to the texts themselves, even if there will always be different ways of looking at the results of such close readings.
The core of the contributors to this volume is formed by the speakers at the Newcastle colloquium; they are joined by other friends of David’s who were either former students or colleagues. Of the speakers at the colloquium, JW, due to circumstances beyond his control, cannot contribute, but hopes to publish a tribute elsewhere in the future; John Moles, who died suddenly in October 2015, left his paper in an unfinished state, but, given the originality of the argument, we believe that it deserves its place in the volume and we are extremely grateful to Damien Nelis for his very generous work in converting it into a publishable piece.
The editorial team originally included Jonathan Powell, who was David’s successor to the Newcastle Chair of Latin, maintained a long personal and professional friendship with him, and also spoke at the colloquium. We very much regret that a serious stroke, sustained in the late summer of 2015, forced him to withdraw and also made it impossible to contribute his planned chapter.
Warm thanks are due to Lauren Emslie and especially Janet Watson for their invaluable help in organising the Newcastle colloquium, and to the local CA and Newcastle University’s School of History, Classics and Archaeology for supporting it financially. We are also grateful to Chris Whitton and the Cambridge Classical Journal for accepting the volume for publication in its Supplementary Volume series.
The Newcastle colloquium was named, at the suggestion of Jonathan Powell, ‘Enthusiasms’, and the participants – speakers, David’s family and all other attenders – made sure that this central quality of David’s work and personality was also central to the day. We hope that it will likewise be seen in the contributions to this volume.
JW
Abbreviations
BCHPFinkel, I. L. and van der Spek, R. J. Babylonian chronicles of the Hellenistic period [online at: http://www.livius.org/sources/about/mesopotamian-chronicles/]
BNJWorthington, I. Brill’s new Jacoby [online at: http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/cluster/Jacoby%20Online?s.num=0]
BNPCancik, H. and Schneider, H. (2002–9) Brill’s new Pauly (Vols. 1–15), Leiden and Boston
D-KDiels, H. and Kranz, W. (1966) Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker 6th edn, Berlin 1951, repr. Zurich
HEGow, A. S. F. and Page, D. L. (1965) The Greek Anthology 1: Hellenistic epigrams (2 vols.), Cambridge
IEGWest, M. L. (1992) Iambi et elegi graeci ante Alexandrum cantati (2nd edn), Oxford
In.Inwood, B. (2001) The poem of Empedocles. Rev. edn, Toronto
LGPNLexicon of Greek personal names [online at: http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/]
LIMCLexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (1981–99), Vols. 1–8, Zurich and Munich
MGHMonumenta Germaniae Historica
OGISDittenberger, W. (1903–5) Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae (2 vols.), Leipzig
OLDOxford Latin dictionary
SEGSupplementum epigraphicum Graecum (1923–), Leiden
SHLloyd-Jones, H. and Parsons, P. (1983) Supplementum Hellenisticum, Berlin and New York
SSRGiannantoni, G. (1990) Socratis et Socraticorum reliquiae (Vols. 1–4), Naples
TLLThesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–)
VIRVocabularium iurisprudentiae Romanae (1903–), Berlin