Arnold Wycombe Gomme was a British classical scholar

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

, Lecturer in Greek and Greek History (1911–1945), Professor of Greek, University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

 (1946–1957). 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...

 (1947).

Life

He was born the son of Laurence

Laurence Gomme

Sir Laurence Gomme, FSA was a public servant and leading British folklorist. He helped found both the Victoria County History and the Folklore Society...

 and Alice Gomme

Alice Gomme

Alice Bertha Gomme, Lady Gomme, born Merck was a leading British folklorist, and a pioneer in the study of children's games.-Life:...

, noted folklore experts. He studied at Merchant Taylor’s School and Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. In 1911 he became Assistant Lecturer in Greek and Greek History at the University of Glasgow and in 1946 Professor of Greek at the same university. His major work was his commentary on Thucydides

Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...

. The first volume of this was published in 1945. The theft of a suitcase set back the following two volumes to 1956. At his death the work was unfinished (he had left notes on Book 5); and A. Andrewes and K.J. Dover wrote the final volumes. He was the father of Andor Harvey Gomme

Andor Harvey Gomme

Andor Harvey Gomme was a British scholar of English literature and architectural history. He read Moral Sciences at Cambridge University in the 1950s, and became a lecturer in English literature at Keele University in 1963...

, Professor of English Literature and Architectural History.

Publications

• The Population of Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C. (Glasgow University Publications; XXVIII). Oxford: Blackwell, 1933.
• Essays in Greek History and Literature. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1937.
• Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1945.
• A Historical Commentary on Thucydides.
  • Vol. I: Introduction and Commentary on Book I. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1945.
  • Vols. II–III: The Ten Years' War (Books II–III and Books IV–V). Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1956.
  • Vol. IV: Books V.25–VII (with A. Andrewes and K.J. Dover). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970.
  • Vol. V: Book VIII (with A. Andrewes and K.J. Dover). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.
• The Greek Attitude to Poetry and History (Sather Classical Lectures; XXVII). Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1954.
• More Essays in Greek History and Literature, edited by David A. Campbell. Oxford: Blackwell, 1962.

Further reading

• Andrewes, A. "Arnold Wycombe Gomme†", Gnomon 32 (1960), 190-1.
• Kitto, H.D.F. "Arnold Wycombe Gomme: [Obituary]", The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 79. (1959), pp. 1–2.