Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton
Encyclopedia
Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton (1900 – 17 September 1993) was a Canadian classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

 scholar and leading Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 prosopographer
Prosopography
In historical studies, prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis...

 of the twentieth century. He is especially noted for his definitive three-volume work, Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1951-1986).

Life and career

Broughton was born in 1900 in Corbetton, Ontario. He attended Victoria College
Victoria University in the University of Toronto
Victoria University is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1836 and named for Queen Victoria. It is commonly called Victoria College, informally Vic, after the original academic component that now forms its undergraduate division...

 at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, where he received a B.A. in 1921 with honors in classics. He earned his M.A. in 1922. After studying at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, he was made a Rogers Fellow at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, where he received a Ph.D. in Latin in 1928, having studied under the famed ancient historian Tenney Frank
Tenney Frank
Tenney Frank was a prominent ancient historian and classical scholar.-Biography:...

 (1876-1939).

He began his teaching career at Victoria College, Toronto. Broughton would go on to teach at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....

 (1928-1965) and, later, serve as George L. Paddison
George L. Paddison
George Lucas Paddison was an American assistant professor, lawyer, and sales supervisor.George Paddison, a native of North Carolina, studied chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1905. He studied further at Kentucky State University and...

 Professor of Latin at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

 (1965-1971), where the Library Epigraphy Room, created at his behest, remains a seminal resource. Although he retired from UNC in 1971 (then aged 71), he would continue to work and advise students until his death in 1993.

In 1931, he married Annie Leigh Hobson Broughton
Annie Leigh Hobson Broughton
Annie Leigh Hobson Broughton was an academic administrator and advocate for women's opportunities in higher education....

 of Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

. They had two children, Margaret Broughton Tenney and T. Alan Broughton
T. Alan Broughton
T. Alan Broughton was born in June 1936 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He is a poet, and an amateur pianist. He began teaching writing in 1966 at the University of Vermont until he retired in 2001. He has attended Harvard University, Philips Exeter Academy, and the Juilliard School of Music...

 (b. 1936), a poet and pianist and professor emeritus of the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...

. Mrs. Broughton died on September 19, 2005, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Magistrates of the Roman Republic

Broughton's main scholarly work was his massive, three-volume Magistrates of the Roman Republic (commonly abbreviated MRR), published 1951 to 1986 and requiring more than 30 years to complete. The project provides an unparalleled accounting of the names of men elected to office during the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 and has become a standard reference work. It provides a year-by-year list of all known office-holders, including not only the magistracies of the cursus honorum
Cursus honorum
The cursus honorum was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The cursus honorum comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts. Each office had a minimum...

from consul
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

 to quaestor
Quaestor
A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

, but also promagistracies and military commands in the provinces
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

, legates
Legatus
A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...

 (both official and ad hoc), military prefects, priesthoods, and special commissions. Each entry is documented with ancient sources and selected works of modern scholarship. An index by name, listing each man's known offices, appears in volume 2.

In 1953 the Magistrates of the Roman Republic was recognized with the Award of Merit from the American Philological Association
American Philological Association
The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...

.

Achievements and awards

Broughton’s career included a variety of academic appointments and awards: visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, Simon F. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, holder of a Fulbright research grant to Italy and professor in charge of the School of Classical Studies of the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

.

Broughton served as president of the American Philological Association and as vice president of the International Federation of Societies of Classical Studies for 10 years. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...

, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

, an honorary member of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies was founded in 1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies....

, a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute
German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute is an institution of research within the field of archaeology , and a "scientific corporation", with parentage of the federal Foreign Office of Germany-Origin:...

 and a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

. Three universities awarded him honorary LL.D. degrees: Johns Hopkins University in 1969, the University of Toronto in 1971 and UNC in 1974.

Works

  • [dissertation] The Romanization of Africa Proconsularis (1929, reissued 1968).
  • "Was Sallust Fair to Cicero?" TAPA 67:34-46 (1936).
  • Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1951-1986).
  • "Roman Asia Minor", in Tenney Frank, An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome IV (1938)
  • "Candidates Defeated in Roman Elections: some ancient Roman 'also-rans'" Transactions of the American Philological Association 81.4 (1991).
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