Elaine Matthews

Elaine Matthews BA BPhil (19 August 1942 - 26 June 2011)[1] was a British classical scholar at the University of Oxford and one of the principal contributors to the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names.

Elaine Matthews
Born	19 August 1942 Netherton
Died	26 June 2011 (aged 68) Oxford
Academic background
Education	St Hilda's College, Oxford
Academic work
Discipline	Classics
Sub-discipline	Greek onomastics
Institutions	University of Oxford

Education and career

Matthews was an alumna of St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she took a BA in Literae Humaniores (1960–64) and was a pupil of Barbara Levick. She went on to take the MPhil (then BPhil) in Ancient History, working on Lucian.[2] After a break to raise her two daughters, Matthews embarked on a research career in Greek onomastics at the University of Oxford. In 2010, after she had retired, she was the dedicatee of a Festschrift on Ancient Greek personal names in honour of her distinguished career, containing a collection of scholarly essays on Greek onomastics but with an appreciation of Matthews as a scholar by Alan Bowman as its first chapter.[3]

She was a supernumerary fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford from 1996 and was honorary secretary for the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, of which she was also a trustee,[4] for twenty-one years.[5]

Personal life

Matthews was born in Netherton, Yorkshire, but grew up in Birmingham. Her father was a police officer. She died of cancer, aged 68, in 2011.[6]

Selected publications

• A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names I-IV (with Simon Hornblower). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987-2005.
• Greek Personal Names: Their Value as Evidence (with Simon Hornblower). Proceedings of the British Academy 104. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Old and New Worlds in Greek Onomastics. Edited by Elaine Matthews. Proceedings of the British Academy 148. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

External links

• Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (Oxford Classics Faculty page)
• Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (project website)

References

1. Bowman, Alan (2011). "Elaine Matthews". Britannia. 42: xii–xiv.
2. Bowman, Alan (2010). "Elaine Matthews: An Appreciation". Onomatologos: 1–4.
3. Catling, Marchand & Sasanow (2010). Onomatologos. Studies in Greek Personal Names presented to Elaine Matthews. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781842179826.
4. "Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies". Open Charities register.
5. "2011 Annual Report" (PDF). Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
6. Bowman, Alan and Jackie. "Elaine Matthews obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 May 2017.