Miriam Griffin

Miriam Tamara Griffin (née Dressler; 6 June 1935 – 16 May 2018) was an American classical scholar and tutor of ancient history at Somerville College at the University of Oxford from 1967 to 2002. She was a scholar of Roman history and ancient thought, and wrote books on the Emperor Nero and his tutor, Seneca, encouraging an appreciation of the philosophical writings of the ancient Romans within their historical context.

Early life and education Griffin was born and brought up in New York City. She was the only child of Jewish parents, Fanny Dressler (née Natelson) and Leo Dressler.

Griffin attended Erasmus Hall High School in New York. She graduated with a first in "Greats" in 1960. Griffin completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1968. Her thesis was supervised by Ronald Syme,

Career Griffin held a Junior Research Fellowship at St Anne's College, University of Oxford, before being appointed Tutor in Ancient History at Somerville College in 1967. Her research interests included Roman history, the late Republic and early Empire, and intellectual history. She was described as "a generous, kind and warm colleague and a mentor to generations of students".

Griffin was a scholar of the Julio-Claudian imperial dynasty and ancient philosophy. Her book Seneca: a Philosopher in Politics (1976) examined the tensions between philosophy and politics in the life and career of Seneca. The volume was described by reviewers as "a work of consequence" and an "authoritative book".

Griffin's book Nero: The End of a Dynasty was first published in 1984, and republished in 2000 and 2013. It was translated into French by Alexis D'Hautcourt and published as Néron, ou, La fin d'une dynastie in 2002. Griffin places Nero as a person, including "his desire for popularity and his fear and insecurity", in the context of the social and legislative structures of his time, and examines the ways in which this contributed to his downfall. She said in an interview with The New York Times that "Nero was a man of taste, rather than intellect, and by the time of his death, I think, he was losing his mental balance". The incipient rebellion against his rule threw him into a state of panic, she added, exacerbated by his persecutory delusions.

Griffin edited the journal The Classical Quarterly (2002–2007). She was a long-standing editor of the Clarendon Ancient History Series for Oxford University Press. Griffin was one of five women to deliver the lecture in its history.

In 2013, Griffin was on the Steering Committee of the Oxford Classics Conclave, which hosted a dinner to which all women engaged in classics teaching or research at Oxford were invited. Griffin arranged to hold the first Women in Classics dinner at her current institution, Somerville College, where thirty-one women attended on 5 October 2013.

Honours In 2002, Griffin was the dedicatee of a Festschrift in honour of her career titled Philosophy and Power in the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in Honour of Miriam Griffin (2002). On 20 August 2018, she was awarded the British Academy Medal in recognition of "lifetime achievement".

Selected bibliography Griffin published articles in academic journals in both fields, as well as contributing to 61 reference entries in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd rev. ed. (2005). She wrote reviews and articles in the London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books.

Books Seneca: a philosopher in politics. Clarendon Press, 1976. . Nero: the end of a dynasty. Batsford, 1984. . This details the events of Nero's reign and then analyses the reasons for his downfall. Seneca on society. Oxford University Press, 2013. .

Edited collections Philosophia Togata I. Essays on Philosophy and Roman Society. Edited by Miriam Griffin and Jonathan Barnes. Oxford University Press, 1997. . Philosophia Togata II. Plato and Aristotle at Rome. Edited by Jonathan Barnes and Miriam Griffin. Oxford University Press, 2000. . A Companion to Julius Caesar. Edited by Miriam Griffin. Wiley, 2009. . Health and Sickness in Ancient Rome; Greek and Roman Poetry and Historiography. Edited by Francis Cairns and Miriam Griffin. Francis Cairns, 2010. . Studies in Stoicism. P. A. Brunt. Edited by Miriam Griffin, Alison Samuels, and with the assistance of Michael Crawford. Oxford University Press, 2013. .

Translations On Benefits. Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Translated by Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood. University of Chicago Press, 2011. .

Edited texts Cicero: On Duties. Edited by M. T. Griffin and E. M. Atkins. Cambridge University Press, 1991. . "Cicero on Life and Death." Translated by John Davie. Edited with an introduction and Notes by Miriam T. Griffin. World's Classics. Oxford University Press, 2017. .

Articles

'De Brevitate Vitae', The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 52, Parts 1 and 2 (1962), pp. 104–113 'Seneca on Cato's Politics: Epistle 14. 12-13', The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Nov., 1968), pp. 373–375 'The 'Leges Iudiciariae' of the Pre-Sullan Era', The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1 (May, 1973), pp. 108–126