E. A. Thompson

E. A. Thompson
Born
Edward Arthur Thompson

(1914-05-22)22 May 1914
Waterford, Ireland
Died1 January 1994(1994-01-01) (aged 79)
Nottingham, England
NationalityBritish
Spouses
  • Thelma Phelps
    (m. 1945; div. 1958)
  • Hazel Casken
    (m. 1964)
Academic background
EducationTrinity College, Dublin
Academic advisorsH. W. Parker
Academic work
Discipline
Institutions
Main interests
Influenced

Edward Arthur Thompson FBA (22 May 1914 – 1 January 1994) was an Irish-born British Marxist historian of classics and medieval studies. He was professor and director of the classics department at the University of Nottingham from 1948 to 1979, and a fellow of the British Academy. Thompson was a pioneer in the study of late antiquity, and was for decades the most prominent British scholar in this field. He was particularly interested in the relations between Ancient Rome and "barbarian" peoples such as the Huns and Visigoths, and has been credited with revitalizing English-language scholarship on the history of early Germanic peoples. Thompson's works on these subjects have been highly influential.