Harold Mattingly

For his son, also a historian of Roman civilization, epigrapher and numismatist, see Harold B. Mattingly.

Harold Mattingly
Born24 December 1884
Died26 January 1964(1964-01-26) (aged 79)
RelativesHarold B. Mattingly (son)
David Mattingly (grandson)
Academic background
Alma materGonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Academic work
DisciplineClassical scholar
Sub-discipline
InstitutionsBritish Museum

Harold Mattingly (24 December 1884 – 26 January 1964) was a British classical scholar, specialising in art history and numismatics. His interests included the history of Ancient Rome, Etruscan and Roman currency, and the Roman historian Tacitus.

Early life and education[edit]

Harold Mattingly was born in Sudbury, Suffolk on 24 December 1884.[1] From 1896 to 1903, he was educated at The Leys School, a private school in Cambridge.[2] He then studied classics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he achieved a double first and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1907.[2]

Career[edit]

In 1910 he joined the Department of Printed Books of the British Museum.

In 1909 and 1914, showing his interest in Roman history, he published two books on the subject.

During the First World War, worked for the Postal Censorship Bureau. At the close of hostilities he returned to his work at the British Museum and his attention carried him towards the study of antique coins.

From 1912, Harold Mattingly was a member of the Royal Numismatic Society.[3]

He completely revised the chronology used for the study of Roman coins. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1941.[4]

He also translated Tacitus' works Agricola and Germania. These two translations were published together in 1948 by Penguin Books under the title Tacitus on Britain and Germany.[5] 27,000 copies of this book were sold in that year.[6] It was reprinted in 1951, 1954,[7] 1960, 1962, 1964 and 1965.[8] The second edition, revised by S A Handford, was published in 1970 under the title The Agricola and the Germania. The book was revised again in 2009 by J B Rives.[9] Mattingly's translation is considered one of the best and is still used (albeit in edited format) today.

Personal life[edit]

His son, Harold B. Mattingly (1923-2015) was also a celebrated numismatist, and President of the Royal Numismatic Society 1999-2004.[10]

Mattingly died on 26 January 1964 at the age of 79 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

Publications[edit]

  • Outlines of Ancient History, from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, A.D. 476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914.
  • Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, 6 volumes. London: British Museum, 1923-1963.
  • (with Edward Allen Sydenham), The Roman Imperial Coinage, 10 volumes. London: Spink, 1923-1994.
  • Roman Coins from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. London: Methuen, 1928.
  • The Pirates, and three other Latin plays on Caesar's life. London: Methuen, 1928.
  • The Date of the Roman Denarius and Other Landmarks in Early Roman Coinage. London: Humphrey Milford, 1933.
  • L'Impero di Roma nelle monete della Britannia e nelle raccolte e negli studi numismatici inglesi. Rome: Istituto di Studi Romani, 1939.
  • Some New Studies of the Roman Republican Coinage. Proceedings of the British Academy : pp. 239–285, 1953.
  • Roman Imperial Civilisation. London: Edward Arnold, 1957.

Notes and references[edit]

  • "Dr Harold Mattingly, Distinguished Numismatist", The Times, 1 February 1964, p 10
  • R A G Carson, "Harold Mattingly 1884-1964" (1965) Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, 7th Series, vol 5, p 239
  1. ^ "Mattingly, Harold, (24 Dec. 1884–26 Jan. 1964), late Assistant Keeper, Dept of Coins and Medals, British Museum (1910–48)". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b Crawford, Michael H. (23 September 2004). "Mattingly, Harold (1884–1964)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60182. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Numismatic Chronicle, Chronicle of the Royal Numismatic Society.
  4. ^ "The Society's Medal". 23 May 2014.
  5. ^ Harold Mattingly and Cornelius Tacitus. Tacitus on Britain and Germany. Penguin Books. 1948. Google Books.
  6. ^ Jeremy Munday, Evaluation in Translation: Critical Points of Translator Decision-making, Routledge, 2012, p 105
  7. ^ Harold Mattingly and Cornelius Tacitus. Tacitus on Britain and Germany. Penguin Books. 1948. Reprinted 1954. Google Books
  8. ^ Harold Mattingly and Cornelius Tacitus. Tacitus on Britain and Germany. Penguin Books. 1948. Reprinted 1965. Google Books.
  9. ^ For reviews of, and other commentary on the various editions of this book, see (1971) 1-3 American Classical Review 158 [1]; (1950) 33 Saturday Review of Literature 46 [2] [3]; (1949) 81 Journal of Education 686 [4] [5]; D M Loades, Readers Guide to British History, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2003, vol 2, p 1136 [6]; (1968) Arion, p 473 [7]; (1948) 89-100 British Book News 690 [8]; Tacitus: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide, OUP, 2010, p 14
  10. ^ "Harold Mattingly obituary". TheGuardian.com. 28 September 2015.

External links[edit]

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