Joseph Fontenrose

Joseph Eddy font Rose ( born June 17, 1903 in Sutter Creek, † July 7, 1986 in Ashland, Oregon) was an American classical philologist and scholar of religion.

Life

After studying at the University of California (Bachelor in 1925, Master 1928) Font Rose worked as a lecturer at Cornell University and his doctorate in 1933. In 1934 he was an Assistant Professor of Greek and Latin Philology at the University of Oregon. In the same year he returned to his alma mater, Berkeley, where he worked as a lecturer and later a professor of Greek philology. His teaching he delivered from 1935 to 1936 as a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, 1936-1937 as a Sterling Fellow at Yale University, from 1951 to 1952 as a Senior Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, and from 1958 to 1959 as a Guggenheim Fellow. From 1962 to 1966 he was dean of the Department of Classics. In 1970 he retired.

In his research, font Rose specialized early Greek religious history and mythology. His dissertation dealt with the cults of Asia Minor city of Didyma. He also wrote numerous essays and monographs. His areas of focus included the cult of Apollo (especially in Delphi), of Zeus and the reception of ancient myths in John Steinbeck.

Writings (selection )

• Python. A study of Delphic myth and its origins. Berkeley / Los Angeles 1959
• John Steinbeck. An introduction and interpretation. New York 1963
• The ritual theory of myth. Berkeley 1966
• The Delphic oracle. Its responses and operations with a catalog of responses. Berkeley 1978
• Orion. The myth of the hunter and the huntress. Berkeley 1981
• Steinbeck 's Unhappy Valley. A Study of The Pastures of Heaven. Berkeley 1981
• Didyma. Apollo's Oracle, cult, and companions. Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 1988