Cornford Mythistoricus

Abstract

Although P.M. Cornford's name was already known to me from hiscommentary on Plato's 'Theaitetos', my first acquaintance with his 'Thucydides Mythistoricus' came in my earliest years of teaching Ancient History in the mid-1970s under the tutelage of the one to whom this essay is dedicated. I have drawn on Cornford's book regularly when teaching Greek History, and found it useful as a provocation to students reading Thucydides. With the centenary since its publication looming, two years ago I felt it was high timeto learn more about the context in which the book arose. Already a generation ago, W.M. Calder ill identified Cornford as 'an outstanding scholar, a personality, and. a man involved in the issues of his time' who merits a biography.