author
W. A. (William Abbott) Oldfather
1880–1945
A pioneering American classicist, he helped shape the study of the ancient world at the University of Illinois and brought unusual energy to both scholarship and campus life. His work ranged from Greek history and geography to widely used translations of major classical texts.
1 Audiobook
The Defeat of Varus and the German Frontier Policy of Augustus
by W. A. (William Abbott) Oldfather, H. V. (Howard Vernon) Canter
About the author
Born in 1880 in Urumia, Persia, to missionary parents, William Abbott Oldfather became an American classical scholar known for his deep learning and forceful personality. He studied in the United States and Germany, then joined the University of Illinois, where he spent most of his career teaching classics and helping build the department into a strong center for classical studies.
Oldfather served as professor of classics, later led the department, and was also active in wider academic life on campus. He was especially noted for research on ancient Locris in Greece and for work carried out in the rigorous German scholarly tradition. He also remains known to many readers as the translator of classical works, including volumes of Diodorus Siculus for the Loeb Classical Library.
Accounts from the University of Illinois remember him as more than a conventional professor: he was adventurous, outspoken, and deeply involved in the intellectual life around him. He died in 1945, but his influence continued through his students, his publications, and the academic culture he helped establish.