Robert H. Rodgers

Robert Howard Rodgers (May 24, 1944 - February 20, 2024) was an American philologist who was emeritus professor of classics at the University of Vermont. His edition of Frontinus's De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae on Roman aqueducts was the first detailed commentary on the work for almost 300 years. He has also produced notable editions of works on ancient agriculture by Palladius and Columella.

Reviewers have appreciated the thoroughness of his work, which he combined with many bold emendations and conjectures in order to make texts with difficult and contested histories more coherent and readable. Some, however, have wished that he had done more to acknowledge alternative perspectives on Roman technical literature which would have added an extra layer of interest to his work.

Early life Rodgers's edition of Petri Diaconi Ortus et vita, iustorum cenobii casinensis, 1972. Robert Rodgers was born on May 24, 1944. Rodgers's work was welcomed by Braxton Ross of the University of Chicago as turning what had previously been seen as a "collection of pious stories" into a "cultural document".

Career Rodgers's edition of Frontinus De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae, 2004. Rodgers has spent his career at the University of Vermont where he is now emeritus professor of classics. He was a Guggenheim fellow in classics in 1986.

His first major work, after the publication of his dissertation, was An introduction to Palladius which was published as a supplement to the University of London's Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin (BICS) in 1975. In the same year, he published an edition of Palladius's Opus Agriculturae in the Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana series. Reviewing both for L'Antiquité Classique, Raoul Verdière saw the Introduction as the essential companion to the edited edition of Opus Agriculturae and wished the former could have served as the preface to the latter. He noted the extensive textual choices that Rodgers had made to make his edition coherent which had produced an edition of the highest importance. He did not agree with all of Rodgers's decisions, however, particularly over the dating of the work, and felt that the source material was so contested that other editions with different conclusions remained possible.

In 2004, Rodgers published his edition of Frontinus's De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae, the first detailed commentary on the work for almost 300 years. König noted that Rodgers had given his own interpretation, balanced between the various competing theories, but wished that he had explored them in more depth which would have added extra interest to his already exhaustive commentary and notes. Ari Saastamoinen in Classics Ireland also noted the bold emendations and impressive commentary.

In 2010, Rodgers published his edition of Columella's Res Rustica in the Oxford Classical Texts series along with the associated Liber de Arboribus but with the latter marked as incerti auctoris (by an unknown hand). Reviewing the text for Gnomon, David Butterfield appreciated the boldness with which Rodgers had crafted his "radical" version with over 350 new conjectures including more than 200 emendations of the Res Rustica. that the work is of uncertain authorship, rather than a juvenile work of Columella. Death Rodgers died on February 20, 2024 in New Haven, Vermont. Selected publications Articles "The Moore Palladius", Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Vol. 5, No. 3 (1971), pp. 203-216. "Frontinus On Aqueducts: textual temptations", Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies , No. 30 (1983), pp. 131-136.

Books Petri Diaconi Ortus et vita iustorum Cenobii Casinensis. Classical Studies Vol. 10. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1972. ISBN 0520093933 (Edited with an autograph manuscript and commentary) An introduction to Palladius. Bulletin supplement No. 35. University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, London, 1975. ISBN 0900587326 Palladii Rutilii Tauri Aemiliani viri inlustris Opus agriculturae de veterinaria medicina de insitione. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana. Teubner, Leipzig, 1975. ISBN 3322002144 Frontinus: de Aquaeductu Urbis Romae. Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries 42. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004. ISBN 0521832519 (editor) L. Iuni Moderati Columellae: Res Rustica; Incerti Auctoris: Liber de Arboribus. Oxford Classical Texts. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010. ISBN 9780199271542

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