author
Martin P. (Martin Persson) Nilsson
1874–1967
A pioneering Swedish classicist, mythographer, and historian of religion, remembered for bringing literary evidence and archaeology together to illuminate the ancient Greek world. His books helped shape modern study of Greek myth, cult, and ritual.
1 Audiobook
Primitive Time-reckoning A study in the origins and first development of the art of counting time among the primitive and early culture peoples
by Martin P. (Martin Persson) Nilsson
About the author
Born in Stoby, Sweden, in 1874, Martin P. Nilsson became one of the most influential scholars of ancient Greek religion in the 20th century. He studied at Lund University, earned his doctorate there in 1900, and later served as professor of classical archaeology and ancient history. He was also rector of Lund University in the late 1930s.
Nilsson is especially known for his wide-ranging work on Greek religion, myth, and ritual. Scholars have noted his habit of combining literary sources with archaeological evidence, an approach that helped him trace how Greek religious ideas and mythic traditions developed over long periods of time. His writing ranged across Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman religion, and his work remained a major reference point for later classicists and historians of religion.
Alongside his university career, he played a part in strengthening Swedish classical scholarship more broadly, including support for the Swedish Institute in Rome. He died in Lund in 1967, leaving behind a body of work that still matters to readers interested in mythology, antiquity, and the religious life of the ancient Mediterranean.