A. N. Sherwin-White

Adrian Nicholas Sherwin-White, FBA (10 August 1911 – 1November 1993) was a British academic and ancient historian. He was a fellow of St John's College, University of Oxford and President of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. His most important works include a study of Roman citizenship based on his doctoral thesis, a treatment of the New Testament from the point of view of Roman law and society, and a commentary on the letters of Pliny the Younger.

Biography Adrian Nicholas Sherwin-White was born on 10 August 1911. His father, H. N. Sherwin-White, was a solicitor employed by the London County Council. From 1923 to 1930 he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, apart from one year in which ill health forced him to study independently at home. He won a scholarship to the School's "sister foundation" St John's College, Oxford, where he began the Literae Humaniores course in 1930. His tutor in ancient history was Hugh Last, whose interest in Roman administrative history influenced the direction of his student's later scholarship. Sherwin-White achieved first-class honours in both sets of Oxford examinations, the preliminary Honour Moderations and the more important Finals which he sat in 1934. In 1936, he married Marie Leonora Downes. He was also selected ahead of older competitors to succeed to Last's fellowship at St John's College, despite not yet having a doctorate – this may have been on Last's recommendation. He helped to edit some of the Admiralty's series of geographical handbooks, acquiring detailed geographical knowledge that he displayed in subsequent scholarship including a 1944 article about the historical geography of Algeria.

Sherwin-White's Oxford career was not interrupted by his family's move in 1963 to a cottage near Fyfield, Oxfordshire. His daughter, Susan Sherwin-White, was an ancient historian (1945-2016), expert on the Greek islands and the Seleucid Empire.

Publications

Books The Roman Citizenship (Oxford, 1939, revised 1973). Ancient Rome (London, 1959, revised 1978). Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Oxford, 1963, based on the Sarum Lectures for 1960–1961). The Letters of Pliny: A Historical and Social Commentary (Oxford, 1966). Racial Prejudice in Imperial Rome (Cambridge, 1967, based on the J. H. Gray lectures for 1966). Fifty Letters of Pliny (London, 1967, revised 1969). Roman Foreign Policy in the East (Norman, 1984).

Selected articles "Geographical Factors in Roman Algeria". The Journal of Roman Studies 34 (1944): 1–10. "Violence in Roman Politics". The Journal of Roman Studies 46 (1956): 1–9. Review of R. Syme, Tacitus. The Journal of Roman Studies 49 (1959): 140–146. "The Roman Citizenship: A Survey of Its Development into a World Franchise". Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 1.2 (1972): 23–58.