author
David M. (David Moore) Robinson
1880–1958
Best known for uncovering ancient Olynthus, this American classical archaeologist helped bring the material world of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean to a wider audience. He taught for many years, published extensively, and left a lasting mark on the study of classical art and archaeology.
1 Audiobook
Sappho and her influence
by David M. (David Moore) Robinson
About the author
Born in Auburn, New York, in 1880, he studied at the University of Chicago, earning both his A.B. and Ph.D. He went on to build a prominent career as a classical archaeologist, art historian, and teacher, and became especially associated with Johns Hopkins University.
His name is most closely linked with the excavation of Olynthus in northern Greece, a major archaeological project that greatly expanded knowledge of everyday life in the ancient Greek world. He also wrote widely on Greek art, inscriptions, and archaeology, and his work helped shape American classical scholarship in the first half of the twentieth century.
Robinson died in 1958 in Oxford, Mississippi. Modern accounts of his career note both his scholarly importance and later criticism surrounding plagiarism of student work, so his legacy is remembered as significant but also complicated.