John Crook

John Anthony Crook FBA (5 November 1921 – 7 September 2007) was a professor of ancient history at the University of Cambridge and an authority on the law and life of ancient Rome. He wrote several chapters for the Cambridge Ancient History and was an accomplished linguist.

Early life and education Crook was born in Balham, South London, and educated at Dulwich College. He received a London County Council scholarship to attend St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1939 which he followed with postgraduate study at the University of Oxford.

War service During the Second World War, Crook was drafted into the 9th Royal Fusiliers in 1942. He served in the Middle East and North Africa before being captured during the allied landings in Italy in 1943. He was sent to Stalag Luft VIII-B at Lamsdorf in Silesia as a prisoner of war. At that camp he learned German, and taught languages to other prisoners. He practiced his clarinet, which was the same instrument his father, a military bandsman, had played. He also developed his acting in Shakespearean roles. He began his military service as a private, but ended as a sergeant in the Royal Army Educational Corps.

Selected publications Consilium Principis: Imperial Councils and Counsellors from Augustus to Diocletian. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1955. Law and Life of Rome. Thames and Hudson, London, 1967. Legal Advocacy in the Roman World. Duckworth, London, 1995.