Arthur E. R. (Arthur Edward Romilly) Boak

Born in 1888 and educated at McGill University, Arthur E. R. Boak went on to become a specialist in ancient history, especially the Roman world. He is closely associated with the University of Michigan, where he taught for many years and helped shape the study of classical history for generations of students.

Boak wrote works designed to make the ancient world understandable to a broad readership, including books on Roman history that remained useful well beyond their first publication. His scholarship also reached into papyrology and the practical records of everyday antiquity, giving his work a strong documentary foundation.

He died in 1962, leaving behind a body of writing that reflects both careful research and a gift for explaining the long history of Rome in a direct, readable way.