Crook, J.A. 1921–2007

(J. Anthony Crook, John Crook, John Anthony Crook)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born November 5, 1921, in London, England; died September 7, 2007, in Cambridge, England. Classicist, historian, educator, and author. For more than thirty years, from 1953 until 1984, Crook entertained and educated students of ancient history at St. John's College, Cambridge. His stage presence made him a popular lecturer, and his unusual approach to the otherwise dry and scholarly study of Roman law attracted students of history as well as law. Crook's approach was to teach law as it affected daily life in ancient Rome, and for that contribution he is credited as a founder of the subfield of Roman social history. One of his special interests was the life and times of the emperor Augustus. After his education at Cambridge and Oxford and his military service during World War II, much of which he endured as a prisoner of war in Silesia, Crook spent his entire career at his original alma mater chairing the ancient history department from 1979 until his retirement. He was also active as the host of the College Classical Society for some fifty years. Crook's books include Concilium Principia: Imperial Councils and Counsellors from Augustus to Diocletian(1955),Law and Life of Rome(1967), and Legal Advocacy in the Roman World1995.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

McKechnie, Paul, editor,Thinking Like a Lawyer: Essays on Legal History and General History for John Crook on His Eightieth Birthday, E.J. Brill (Boston, MA), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Times(London, England), November 15, 2007, p. 70.