Editing Michael Grant (classicist) (section)

== Biography ==
Grant was born in London, the son of Col. Maurice Grant who served in the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] and later wrote part of its official history. Young Grant attended [[Harrow School]] and read classics (1933–37) at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. His speciality was academic [[numismatics]]. His research fellowship thesis later became his first published book – ''From Imperium to Auctoritas'' (1946), on Roman bronze coins. Over the next decade he wrote four books on [[Roman currency|Roman coinage]]; his view was that the tension between the eccentricity of the Roman emperors and the traditionalism of the Roman mint made coins (used as both propaganda and currency) a unique social record.

During [[World War II]], Grant served for a year as an [[intelligence officer]] in London after which he was assigned (1940) as the UK's first [[British Council]] representative in Turkey. In this capacity he was instrumental in getting his friend, the eminent historian [[Steven Runciman]], his position at [[Istanbul University]]. While in Turkey, he also married Anne-Sophie Beskow (they had two sons). At war's end, the couple returned to the UK with Grant's collection of almost 700 Roman coins (now in the [[Fitzwilliam Museum]] in Cambridge).

After a brief return to Cambridge, Grant applied for the vacant chair of Humanity (Latin) at [[University of Edinburgh|Edinburgh University]], which he held from 1948 until 1959. During a two-year (1956–58) leave of absence he also served as vice-chancellor (president) of the [[University of Khartoum]] – upon his departure, he turned the university over to the newly independent Sudanese government. He was then vice-chancellor of [[Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University of Belfast]] (1959–66), after which he pursued a career as a full-time writer. According to his obituary in ''[[The Times]],'' he was "one of the few classical historians to win respect from [both] academics and a lay readership".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310210241/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article493478.ece "Michael Grant" [Obit.&#93;], ''[[The Times]]'', 13 October 2004.</ref> Immensely prolific, he wrote and edited more than 70 books of nonfiction and translation, covering topics from Roman coinage and the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]] to the [[Gospel]]s. He produced general surveys of ancient Greek, Roman and Israelite history as well as biographies of important figures such as [[Julius Caesar]], [[Herod the Great]], [[Cleopatra]], [[Nero]], [[Jesus]], [[Saint Peter|St. Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|St. Paul]].<ref>Martin, Douglas, [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/obituaries/25grant.html "Michael Grant, Who Wrote Histories of the Ancient World, Is Dead at 89" [Obit.], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 25 October 2004.</ref>

As early as the 1950s, Grant's publishing success was somewhat controversial within the classicist community. According to ''The Times'':

<blockquote>Grant's approach to classical history was beginning to divide critics. Numismatists felt that his academic work was beyond reproach, but some academics balked at his attempt to condense a survey of Roman literature into 300 pages, and felt (in the words of one reviewer) that "even the most learned and gifted of historians should observe a speed-limit". The academics would keep cavilling, but the public kept buying.<ref>"Michael Grant" [Obit.], ''[[The Times]]'', 13 October 2004.</ref></blockquote>

From 1966 until his death, Grant lived with his wife in [[:it:Gattaiola (Lucca)|Gattaiola]], a village near [[Lucca]] in Tuscany. His autobiography, ''My First Eighty Years'', appeared in 1994.