All Scholars
BALCER, Jack Martin
- Date of Birth: November 09, 1935
- Born City: Newark
- Born State/Country: NJ
- Parents: John & Alice B.
- Date of Death: July 11, 2004
- Death City: Columbus
- Death State/Country: OH
- Education:
B.A. Montclair State College, 1957, M.A. U. of Michigan, 1958; Ph.D., 1964.
- Dissertation:
“From Confederate Freedom to Imperial Tyranny: A Study of the Restrictions Imposed by Athens on the Political Self-Determination of the Member States in the Delian Confederacy, 478-431 B.C.” (Michigan, 1964).
- Professional Experience:
Asst. prof. hist. Denison U., 1964-65; asst prof hstory, Indiana U., 1965-71; assoc prof. Ohio State, 1971-80; prof. hist., 1980- 2003.
- Publications:
“Peparethos, the Early Coinage Reconsidered,” SNR 46 (1967) 25-33; “The Early Silver Coinage of Teos,” SNR 47 (1968) 5-50; “Phokaia and Teos. A Monetary Alliance,” SNR 49 (1970) 25-34; “The Date of Herodotus iv, 1, Darius’ Scythian Expedition,” HSPh 76 (1972) 99-132; “The Mycenaean Dam at Tiryns,” AJA 78 (1974) 141-49; “Separatism and Anti-Separatism in the Athenian Empire (478-433 B.C.),” Historia 23 (1974) 21-39; “Peparethos. Further Notes,” SNR 54 (1975) 33-36; “Imperial Magistrates in the Athenian Empire,” Historia 25 (1976) 257-87; “The Athenian Episkopos and the Achaemenid « King’s Eye »,” AJP 98 (1977) 252-63; The Athenian Regulations for Chalkis; Studies in the Athenian Imperial Law, Historia Einzelschr. XXXIII (Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1978) [REVS: Erasmus XXXI 1979 370-372 Germain ; Gnomon LIV 1982 448-453 Moggi]; “The Archaic Coinage of Skyros and the Forgeries of Konstantinos Christodoulos,” SNR 57 (1978) 69-101; “Alexander’s Burning of Persepolis,” IA 13 (1978) 119-133; “Imperialism and Stasis in Fifth Century B.C. Ionia. A Frontier Redefined,” in Arktouros. Hellenic Studies Presented to Bernard M. W. Knox on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, ed. G.W. Bowersock, W. Burkert & M.C.J. Putnam (Berlin : de Gruyter, 1979) 261-68; “The Greeks and the Persians. The Process of Acculturation,” Historia 32 (1983) 257-67; Sparda by the Bitter Sea. Imperial Interaction in Western Anatolia Brown Judaic Stud. ; LII (Chico: Scholars Press, 1984) [REVS: Gnomon LX 1988 544-547 Wiesehoefer]; “Miletos (IG I2.22 [I3.21]) and the Structures of Alliances,” in Studien zum Attischen Seebund , ed. Balcer et al. (Konstanz: Universitätsverlag, 1984) 11-36 [REVS: Gnomon LVII 1985 657-659 Robertson ; HZ CCXLI 1985 384-386 Kiechle ; CR XXXV 1985 407-408 Steppler ; Gymnasium XCIV 1987 274 Kinzl]; “Fifth Century B.C. Ionia. A Frontier Redefined,” REA 87 (1985) 31-42; Herodotus and Bisitun; Problems in Ancient Persian Historiography, Historia Einzelschr. XLIX (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1987) [REVS: CR XXXVIII 1988 434 Stevenson ; RPh LXII 1988 338-340 Menu ; CW LXXXII 1988-1989 455-456 Kawami ; Gnomon LXII 1990 605-609 Wiesehöfer ; Mnemosyne XLIV 1991 469-470 H. T. Wallinga]; “Persian Occupied Thrace (Skudra),” Historia 37 (1988) 1-21; “Ionia and Sparda under the Achaemenid Empire: The Sixth and Fifth Centuries B.C. : Tribute, Taxation and Assessment,” in Le tribut dans l’empire perse : actes de la table ronde de Paris, 12-13 décembre 1986, ed. Pierre Briant Pierre & Clarisse Herrenschmidt, Travaux de l’Institut d’Études Iraniennes et de l’Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle 13 (Paris : Louvain Peeters, 1989) 1-27; “The Persian Wars against Greece; A Reassessment,” Historia 38 (1989) 127-43; “The East Greeks under Persian Rule: A Reassessment,” Achaemenid History VI: Asia Minor and Egypt : Old Cultures in a New Empire: Proceedings of the Groningen 1988 Achaemenid History Workshop, ed. by Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg & Amélie Kuhrt (Leiden: Nederlands Inst. voor het Nabije Oosten, 1991) 57-65; “Herodotus, The «Early State», and Lydia,” Historia 43,2 (1994) 246-249; The Persian Conquest of the Greeks 545-450 B.C. (Konstanz: Universitäts-Verl. Konstanz, 1995) [REVS: HZ 1997 264 (1) : 149-151 Justus Cobet ; Klio 1999 81 (1) : 232 Josef Wiesehöfer]; “The Liberation of Ionia: 478 B.C.,” Historia 46,3 (1997) 374-377.
- Notes:
Jack Balcer enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a teacher and scholar. As a student at the University of Michigan he worked under the direction of Prof. Paul Alexander. At Denison, Indiana, and Ohio State, he was known as a spell-binding lecturer, and generations of students remember “Dr. B’s” courses as among the highlights of their time at OSU. He brought a quick and lively mind, a keen wit, and genuine enthusiasm for teaching to all of his classes. He was also one of the first here to employ visual aids in virtually all of his classes. An accomplished photographer, he employed his impressive collection of slides of coins, artifacts, and archaeological sites as “texts” to instruct students on how to interpret the past. The University twice recognized the outstanding quality of his contribution by the awarding of its highest accolades, the Outstanding Teaching Award (1983) and the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award (1984). He retired in December of 2003.Jack’s research focused principally on the Athenian Empire, Greek numismatics, the cultural interactions between Greeks and non-Greeks in Western Asia Minor, and on the Persian Empire. His studies led to numerous articles and several monographs, among the most important of which are The Athenian Regulations for Chalkis (1978), Sparda by the Bitter Sea (1984), and Herodotus and Bisitun (1987). His scholarly accomplishments have been recognized by grants awarded by, among others, the American Numismatic Society, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies.Jack was deeply committed to the University, and served OSU in a variety of capacities during his career here, but his deepest, most abiding passion was for the library. He served for many years on library council, and sought in every way he could to make it the crown jewel of the University.
- Sources:
APA Newsletter (October 2004) 26.
- Author: Nathan Rosenstein
