William George Grieve Forrest, MA (24 September 1925 – 14 October 1997), known as George Forrest, was Wykeham Professor of Ancient History in the University of Oxford.

[edit] Life

George Forrest was born in Glasgow and educated at University College School, Hampstead.

In 1943 he joined the RAF, and in the following years of war and then liberation he served in France and Belgium.

Forrest entered New College as a scholar in 1947, took a first in Classical Moderations in 1949, and another in Literae Humaniores in 1951. In his final term he won the Derby Scholarship, usually awarded for travel abroad, and within months he was elected to a Tutorial Fellowship in Ancient History at Wadham College, which he held until 1977.

In that year he was elected Wykeham Professor of Ancient History and accordingly became a Fellow of New College, where he remained until his retirement in 1992.

He died of cancer in 1997, 5 years after retiring.

George Forrest was fiercely political and liberal in his views and worked tirelessly to free Greece from the tyranny under the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.

He was also a strong supporter of the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Athens, and was one of the original members of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

[edit] Select Works

• The Emergence of Greek Democracy (1966)
• A History of Sparta, 950-192 B.C. (1968)

[edit] Sources

• Obituary

Persondata
NAME	Forrest, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford, ancient historian
DATE OF BIRTH	1925-09-24
PLACE OF BIRTH	Glasgow, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH	1997-10-14
PLACE OF DEATH

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