author
William Ridgeway
1853–1926
A pioneering Anglo-Irish scholar, he ranged across classics, archaeology, and anthropology with unusual energy. His books often chased big questions about the ancient world, from early Greece to the origins of drama, coins, and horses.
1 Audiobook
The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards
by William Ridgeway
About the author
Born in King's County, Ireland, in 1853, William Ridgeway studied at Trinity College Dublin and then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He built an academic career first as Professor of Greek at Queen's College, Cork, and later as Disney Professor of Archaeology at Cambridge, a post he held for many years.
Ridgeway became known for wide-ranging, sometimes bold scholarship that crossed disciplinary lines. He wrote on Greek history and literature, prehistoric archaeology, anthropology, religion, and the history of money and transport, and he was especially interested in connecting material evidence with ancient texts.
He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and was knighted later in life. Ridgeway died in 1926, leaving behind a large body of work and a reputation as an original, energetic thinker who helped shape the study of the ancient world in Britain.