Eric Robertson Dodds
Encyclopedia
Eric Robertson Dodds was an Irish
classical
scholar. He signed all his publications E. R. Dodds.
, County Down
, the son of schoolteachers. His father Robert was from a Presbyterian family, and died of alcoholism
when Dodds was seven. His mother Anne was of Anglo-Irish
ancestry. When Dodds was ten, he moved with his mother to Dublin, and he was educated at St Andrew's College (where his mother taught) and at Campbell College
in Belfast
. He was expelled from the latter for "gross, studied and sustained insolence".
In 1912, Dodds won a scholarship at University College, Oxford
to read classics
, or Literae Humaniores
(a two-part four-year degree program consisting of five terms study of Latin and Greek texts followed by seven terms study of ancient history and ancient philosophy). Friends at Oxford
included Aldous Huxley
and T. S. Eliot
. In 1916, he was asked to leave Oxford due to his support for the Easter Rising
, but he returned the following year to take his final examinations in Literae Humaniores
, and was awarded a first class degree to match the first-class awarded him in 1912 in Honour Moderations, the preliminary stage of his degree. His first tutor at Oxford was A. B. Poynton.
After graduation, Dodds returned to Dublin and met W. B. Yeats
and AE (George Russell
). In 1919, he was appointed as a lecturer in classics at the University of Reading
, and in 1923 he married a lecturer in English there, Annie Edwards Powell (1886–1973). They had no children.
In 1924, Dodds was appointed Professor of Greek
at the University of Birmingham
, and came to know W. H. Auden
(whose father George, Professor of Public Medicine and an amateur classicist, was a colleague). Dodds was also responsible for Louis MacNeice
's appointment as a lecturer at Birmingham in 1930. He assisted MacNeice with his translation of Aeschylus
, Agamemnon (1936), and later became the poet's literary executor
. Dodds published one volume of his own poems, Thirty-Two Poems, with a Note on Unprofessional Poetry (1929).
On the 22 December 1926 E. R Dodds witnessed a spectacular ‘first’. He was the son-in-law of pioneer aviator Canon Powell of Watermillock, and was visiting him for Christmas in the Lake District. He had heard of the attempt to land an aircraft on Helvellyn
earlier that month, but the flyers John F. Leeming
and Bert Hinkler
had been delayed by weather and mechanic problems. The earlier attempts would have been recorded by Mr. Sandham, the manager of Thirlmere reservoir, who made a previous reconnaissance visit with Leeming to clear a landing strip. He decided on another attempt, but unfortunately by this time Sandham had retired from the mountain. After an eventful bumpy flight over the Lake District they spiralled down to the summit. No doubt looking for the cleared strip. Leeming also noticed someone sheltering at the summit cairn. A witness (E.R. Dodds). The landing was easy as strong headwind and steep slope stopped them at once. Once down Hinckler had to use full throttle on the slope, whilst Leeming found rocks to chock the wheels to stop them rolling backwards. Luckily the witness Dodds had gone up half expecting the aviators to try again. Not one of them had brought a pencil and paper to record the event. After much searching a scrap of paper and pencil stub was found in a jacket pocket. Dodds signed resting on the wing. Photographs taken. A letter in a tin box was left for Sandham which still exists today in a relative's house in Penrith
.
In 1936, Dodds became Regius Professor of Greek
at the University of Oxford
, succeeding Gilbert Murray
. Murray had decisively recommended Dodds to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
(the Chair was in the gift of the Crown) and it was not a popular appointment — he was chosen over two prominent Oxford dons (Maurice Bowra
of Wadham College
and John Dewar Denniston
of Hertford College
). His lack of service in the First World War (he had worked briefly in an army hospital in Serbia
but later invoked the exemption from military service granted Irish residents) and his support for Irish republicanism
and socialism
in addition to his scholarship on the non-standard field of Neoplatonism
, also did not make him initially popular with colleagues. He was treated particularly harshly by Denys Page
at whose college (Christ Church
) the Regius Chair of Greek was based.
Dodds had a lifelong interest in mysticism
and psychic
research, being a member of the council of the Society for Psychical Research
from 1927 and its president from 1961 to 1963.
He died in Old Marston, northeast of Oxford
.
, and Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety, a study of religious life in the period between Marcus Aurelius and Constantine I
.
For a bibliography of Dodds' publications see Quaderni di Storia no. 48 (1998) 175-94 (with addenda in the same journal, no. 61, 2005), and for general information on him and studies of some of his works see the bibliography to the entry for him in The Dictionary of British Classicists (2004), vol. 1, 247-51. Add the articles on his work on Neoplatonism in Dionysius 23 (2005) 139-60 and Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 103 (2007) 499-542.
He was also editor of three major classical
texts for the Clarendon Press
, Proclus
: Elements of Theology, Euripides
' Bacchae
and Plato
's Gorgias
, all published with extensive commentaries, and a translation in the case of the first. His autobiography, Missing Persons, was published in 1977.
He edited Louis MacNeice
's unfinished autobiography The Strings are False (1965) and MacNeice's Collected Poems (1966).
recorded a song for their 1988 album, Night Shift at the Thrill Factory
, entitled "The History of the Concept of the Soul", which is a two minute, musical version of lead singer Frank Portman's (aka Dr. Frank
) Master's thesis. Dodds' The Greeks and the Irrational is specifically referenced at the end of the song as "footnotes" (including an Ibid
) sung by Portman.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
classical
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
scholar. He signed all his publications E. R. Dodds.
Life
Dodds was born in BanbridgeBanbridge
Banbridge is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It was named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. The town grew as a coaching stop on the road from Belfast to Dublin and thrived from Irish linen manufacturing...
, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
, the son of schoolteachers. His father Robert was from a Presbyterian family, and died of alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
when Dodds was seven. His mother Anne was of Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
ancestry. When Dodds was ten, he moved with his mother to Dublin, and he was educated at St Andrew's College (where his mother taught) and at Campbell College
Campbell College
Campbell College is a Voluntary Grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The College educates boys from ages 11–18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and is a member of the Independent Schools Council.The school occupies...
in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. He was expelled from the latter for "gross, studied and sustained insolence".
In 1912, Dodds won a scholarship at University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
to read classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, or Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
(a two-part four-year degree program consisting of five terms study of Latin and Greek texts followed by seven terms study of ancient history and ancient philosophy). Friends at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
included Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
and T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
. In 1916, he was asked to leave Oxford due to his support for the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
, but he returned the following year to take his final examinations in Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
, and was awarded a first class degree to match the first-class awarded him in 1912 in Honour Moderations, the preliminary stage of his degree. His first tutor at Oxford was A. B. Poynton.
After graduation, Dodds returned to Dublin and met W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
and AE (George Russell
George Russell
George Allen Russell was an American jazz pianist, composer and theorist. He is considered one of the first jazz musicians to contribute to general music theory with a theory of harmony based on Jazz rather than European music, in his book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization...
). In 1919, he was appointed as a lecturer in classics at the University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
, and in 1923 he married a lecturer in English there, Annie Edwards Powell (1886–1973). They had no children.
In 1924, Dodds was appointed Professor of Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
, and came to know W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
(whose father George, Professor of Public Medicine and an amateur classicist, was a colleague). Dodds was also responsible for Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Frederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
's appointment as a lecturer at Birmingham in 1930. He assisted MacNeice with his translation of Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, Agamemnon (1936), and later became the poet's literary executor
Literary executor
A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...
. Dodds published one volume of his own poems, Thirty-Two Poems, with a Note on Unprofessional Poetry (1929).
On the 22 December 1926 E. R Dodds witnessed a spectacular ‘first’. He was the son-in-law of pioneer aviator Canon Powell of Watermillock, and was visiting him for Christmas in the Lake District. He had heard of the attempt to land an aircraft on Helvellyn
Helvellyn
Helvellyn is a mountain in the English Lake District, the apex of the Eastern Fells. At above sea level, it is the third highest peak in both the Lake District and England...
earlier that month, but the flyers John F. Leeming
John F. Leeming
John Fishwick Leeming was an English entrepreneur, businessman, early aviator, co-founder of the Lancashire Aero Club, gardener and author.- Early life and family :...
and Bert Hinkler
Bert Hinkler
Herbert John Louis Hinkler AFC DSM , better known as Bert Hinkler, was a pioneer Australian aviator and inventor. He designed and built early aircraft before being the first person to fly solo from England to Australia, and the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean...
had been delayed by weather and mechanic problems. The earlier attempts would have been recorded by Mr. Sandham, the manager of Thirlmere reservoir, who made a previous reconnaissance visit with Leeming to clear a landing strip. He decided on another attempt, but unfortunately by this time Sandham had retired from the mountain. After an eventful bumpy flight over the Lake District they spiralled down to the summit. No doubt looking for the cleared strip. Leeming also noticed someone sheltering at the summit cairn. A witness (E.R. Dodds). The landing was easy as strong headwind and steep slope stopped them at once. Once down Hinckler had to use full throttle on the slope, whilst Leeming found rocks to chock the wheels to stop them rolling backwards. Luckily the witness Dodds had gone up half expecting the aviators to try again. Not one of them had brought a pencil and paper to record the event. After much searching a scrap of paper and pencil stub was found in a jacket pocket. Dodds signed resting on the wing. Photographs taken. A letter in a tin box was left for Sandham which still exists today in a relative's house in Penrith
Penrith
Penrith may be:*Penrith, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia**Penrith Panthers, rugby league team**Penrith Stadium, home ground of the Penrith Panthers**Penrith Bears, ice-hockey team**City of Penrith, local government area...
.
In 1936, Dodds became Regius Professor of Greek
Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford)
The Regius Professorship of Greek is a professorship at the University of Oxford in England.Henry VIII founded the chair by 1541. He established five Regius Professorships in the University , the others being the Regius chairs of Divinity, Medicine, Civil Law and Hebrew.-List of holders:* John...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, succeeding Gilbert Murray
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM was an Australian born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century...
. Murray had decisively recommended Dodds to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
(the Chair was in the gift of the Crown) and it was not a popular appointment — he was chosen over two prominent Oxford dons (Maurice Bowra
Maurice Bowra
Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra was an English classical scholar and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1951 to 1954.-Birth and boyhood:...
of Wadham College
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
and John Dewar Denniston
John Dewar Denniston
John Dewar Denniston was a British classical scholar. He was Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford from 1913 until his death.-Publications:*Greek Literary Criticism...
of Hertford College
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is located in Catte Street, directly opposite the main entrance of the original Bodleian Library. As of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £52m. There are 612 students , plus various visiting...
). His lack of service in the First World War (he had worked briefly in an army hospital in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
but later invoked the exemption from military service granted Irish residents) and his support for Irish republicanism
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in addition to his scholarship on the non-standard field of Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
, also did not make him initially popular with colleagues. He was treated particularly harshly by Denys Page
Denys Page
Sir Denys Lionel Page was a British classical scholar at Oxford and Cambridge.-Early life:Born at Reading, Page was the son of Frederick Harold Dunn Page, a chartered civil engineer of the Great Western Railway, and his wife Elsie Daniels. He was educated at St...
at whose college (Christ Church
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
) the Regius Chair of Greek was based.
Dodds had a lifelong interest in mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
research, being a member of the council of the Society for Psychical Research
Society for Psychical Research
The Society for Psychical Research is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena...
from 1927 and its president from 1961 to 1963.
He died in Old Marston, northeast of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.
Work
Among his works are The Greeks and the Irrational, which charts the influence of irrational forces in Greek culture up to the time of PlatoPlato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, and Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety, a study of religious life in the period between Marcus Aurelius and Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
.
For a bibliography of Dodds' publications see Quaderni di Storia no. 48 (1998) 175-94 (with addenda in the same journal, no. 61, 2005), and for general information on him and studies of some of his works see the bibliography to the entry for him in The Dictionary of British Classicists (2004), vol. 1, 247-51. Add the articles on his work on Neoplatonism in Dionysius 23 (2005) 139-60 and Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 103 (2007) 499-542.
He was also editor of three major classical
Ancient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language until the 4th century.- Classical and Pre-Classical Antiquity :...
texts for the Clarendon Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, Proclus
Proclus
Proclus Lycaeus , called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" , was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers . He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism...
: Elements of Theology, Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
and Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Gorgias
Gorgias (dialogue)
Gorgias is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC. In this dialogue, Socrates seeks the true definition of rhetoric, attempting to pinpoint the essence of rhetoric and unveil the flaws of the sophistic oratory popular in Athens at this time...
, all published with extensive commentaries, and a translation in the case of the first. His autobiography, Missing Persons, was published in 1977.
He edited Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Frederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
's unfinished autobiography The Strings are False (1965) and MacNeice's Collected Poems (1966).
Cultural references
The Berkeley, San Francisco punk band The Mr. T ExperienceThe Mr. T Experience
The Mr. T Experience is an American punk rock band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California and currently recording for Lookout! Records. They have released ten full-length albums along with numerous EPs and singles and have toured internationally...
recorded a song for their 1988 album, Night Shift at the Thrill Factory
Night Shift at the Thrill Factory
Night Shift at the Thrill Factory is the second album by the Berkeley, California punk rock band The Mr. T Experience, released in 1988 by Rough Trade Records. Lookout! Records re-released the album in 1996 with a number of bonus tracks....
, entitled "The History of the Concept of the Soul", which is a two minute, musical version of lead singer Frank Portman's (aka Dr. Frank
Dr. Frank
Frank Portman is an American musician, singer, guitarist, and author. He is the singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the Berkeley, California punk rock band The Mr. T Experience, and has remained the only consistent member of the band since its formation in 1985, performing on ten studio...
) Master's thesis. Dodds' The Greeks and the Irrational is specifically referenced at the end of the song as "footnotes" (including an Ibid
Ibid
Ibid. is the term used to provide an endnote or footnote citation or reference for a source that was cited in the preceding endnote or footnote. It is similar in meaning to idem , abbreviated Id., which is commonly used in legal citation. To find the ibid...
) sung by Portman.