author
John Knight Fotheringham
1874–1936
A gifted historian of the ancient world, this scholar turned eclipses, calendars, and scattered records into tools for dating the distant past. His work on ancient astronomy and chronology helped shape modern understanding of Babylonian and classical history.
1 Audiobook
The Political History of England - Vol XI From Addington's Administration to the close of William IV.'s Reign (1801-1837)
by George C. (George Charles) Brodrick, John Knight Fotheringham
About the author
Born in Tottenham in 1874, John Knight Fotheringham was educated at the City of London School and at Merton College, Oxford, where he took first-class degrees in Literae Humaniores and in Modern History. He went on to teach and research at Oxford and later lectured in ancient history and, in his later years, in ancient astronomy and chronology.
Fotheringham became best known for his work on the dating of events in the ancient world. He was widely regarded as an authority on ancient chronology, especially where historical records could be checked against astronomical evidence such as eclipses. He is particularly remembered for establishing the chronology of the Babylonian dynasties and for bringing unusual precision to problems that had long challenged historians.
His scholarship earned him election as a Fellow of the British Academy in 1933. He died in 1936, leaving a reputation for exacting, original research that linked history, classics, and astronomy in a way few scholars of his time could match.