All Scholars
BONNER, Campbell
- Date of Birth: January 30, 1876
- Born City: Nashville
- Born State/Country: TN
- Parents: Judge Jesse Willis & Frances Campbell B.
- Date of Death: July 12, 1954
- Death City: Ann Arbor
- Death State/Country: MI
- Married: Ethel Howell, 29 Sept. 1903.
- Education:
A.B. Vanderbilt, 1896; A.M, 1897, A.M. Harvard, 1898; Ph.D, 1900; study at Berlin, 1900-1, travel & study in Greece & Italy, 1901-2.
- Dissertation:
"De Danaidibus commentatio" (Harvard, 1900).
- Professional Experience:
University Prof. Gk. Peabody Coll. Tchrs., U. Nashville, 1901-7; jr. prof. Gk. U. Michigan, 1907-12; prof. Gk. lang. & lit., 1912-46; asso. ed. J, 1906-9; ann. prof., ASCSA, 1927-8; pres., APA, 1932-3; pres., CAMWS, 1918-9.
- Publications:
"The Danaid Myth," TAPA 31 (1900) 27-36; "A Study of the Danaid Myth," HSCP 13 (1902) 129-73; "Dionysiac Magic and the Greek Land of Cockaigne," TAPA 41 (1910) 175-85; "The Prenuptial Rite in the Aetia of Callimachus," CP 6 (1911) 402-9; "The Sacred Bond," TAPA 44 (1913) 233-45; "A Papyrus Describing Magical Powers," TAPA 52 (1921) 111-8; "A Papyrus of Dioscurides in the University of Michigan Collection," TAPA 53 (1922) 142-68; "Traces of Thaumaturgic Technique in the Miracles," HThR 20 (1927) 171-81; "The Numerical Value of a Magical Formula," JEA 16 (1930) 6-9; "Note on the Paris Magical Papyrus," CP 25 (1930) 180-3; "Demons of the Bath," in Studies Presented to F.L.C. Griffith (London, 1932): 203ff.; "Witchcraft in the Lecture Room of Libanius," TAPA 63 (1932) 34-44; "Liturgical Fragments on Gnostic Amulets," HThR 25 (1932) 362-7; A Papyrus Codex of the Shepherdof Hermas (Ann Arbor, 1933); "A Supplement to Preisendanz' 'Amuletum Ineditum'," BNGJhb 9 (1933) 375-6; "An Ikon of St. Demetrius," AJA 47 (1934) 63-77; "Pallados and Jewish Reflections upon the Beginning of Man," JAOS 55 (1935) 196-9; The Last Chapters of Enoch in Greek with the collaboration of H. C. Youtie (London & Toronto, 1937); "Two Curse Tablets from Beisan" with H. C. Youtie, TAPA 68 (1937) 43-77, 128; "Some Phases of Religious Feeling in Later Paganism," HThR 30 (1937) 119-40; "Hades and the Pomegranate Seed (Hymn to Demeter 372-4),'* CR 53 (1939) 3-4; The Homily on the Passion by Melito, Bishop of Sardis (London & Philadelphia, 1940); "A New Historical Fragment," TAPA 72 (1941) 26-35; "Two Studies in Syncretistic Amulets," PAPS 85 (1942) 466-71; "Aeolus figured on Colic Amulets," HThR 35 (1942) 87-93; "The Techniques of Exorcism," HThR 36 (1943) 39-49; and "Correction," HThR 37 (1944) 334ff.; "An Obscure Inscription on a Gold Tablet," Hesperia 13 (1944) 36-55; "The Philinna Papyrus and the Gold Tablet from the Vigna Codini," Hesperia 13 (1944) 349-51; Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian (Ann Arbor, 1950); "A Reminiscence of Paul on a Coin Amulet," HThR 43 (1950) 165-8; "Amulets Chiefly in the British Museum," Hesperia 20 (1951) 301-45; "A Magical Inscription on a Chalcedony," with H. C. Youtie, TAPA 84 (1953) 60-6; "Two Notes," JEA 40 (1954) 15-8; "A Miscellany of Engraved Stones," Hesperia 23 (1954) 138-57 and plates 34-6; "A Note on Method in the Treatment of Magical Inscriptions," AJP 75 (1954) 303-5.
- Notes:
In his roughly 45 years at Ann Arbor Bonner contributed enormously to the University of Michigan's rise to an outstanding position in American classical studies. His contribution was made primarily by his example of unremitting industry, curiosity, wide learning, and meticulous care for accuracy in his many publications. A.D. Nock, who often consulted him, used to refer to him as "my philological conscience." The results were apparent not only in his teaching, but in his choice and support of students and colleagues, his work in building the university library's great classical collection, especially (with H. C. Youtie) the Center for Papyrological Studies, and also in his support for work in classical and Byzantine archaeology, and for the Kelsey Museum. In his chosen specialty—the study of magical gems of the Roman period—he became one of the world's two or three leading authorities. His Studies in Magical Amulets is still the most important book in the field.
- Sources:
C7 50 (1954-5) 52; Henry A. Sanders, Yearbook APhS (1954) 403-6; NYTimes (13 July 1954) 23; WhAm 5:73; H. C. Youtie, Gnomon 27 (1955) 301-3.
- Author: Morton Smith
