Peter Brunt

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Peter Astbury Brunt (born June 23, 1917 in Coulsdon, Surrey, England; died November 5, 2005 in Oxford) was an eminent ancient historian at Oxford University.

Brunt, son of a Methodist minister, was the Camden professor of ancient (Roman) history and a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, from 1970 to 1982. Brunt studied at Ipswich School and then took his degrees from Oriel College, Oxford in 1939. During World War Two he served in the ministry of shipping, after which he taught first at St. Andrews and then back at Oriel College. His predecessor in the Camden chair was Ronald Syme. He was president of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies from 1980 to 1983.

Brunt was expert in all areas of ancient history, but his one towering contribution remains his 700 page work on the Roman proletariat entitled Italian manpower 225 BC-AD 14 (1971). The work establishes him clearly as a postivist, yet revisionist, historian, in Murray's eye.

[edit] Selected works

Italian manpower 225 B.C.–A.D. 14. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1971.
Social conflicts in the Roman republic. Chatto & Windus, London 1971.
The fall of the Roman Republic and related essays. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1988.
Roman imperial themes. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990.
Studies in Greek history and thought. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993.