• Horsfall, Nicholas Mark, Photo by Adam Bülow Jacobsen courtesy Alisa Campbell
  • Date of Birth: September 19, 1946
  • Born City: London
  • Born State/Country: England
  • Parents: Thomas, Royal Navy officer, and Sophie Sonia Szapiro Mendelssohn-Horsfall, Russian-language interpreter for the BBC.
  • Date of Death: January 1, 2019
  • Death City: Strathconon
  • Death State/Country: Scotland
  • Education:

    Queen's Scholar at Westminster School, London; read Classics at Peterhouse, Cambridge (Montagu Butler Prize, Charles Oldham Scholarship, Chancellor's Medal for Classical Learning); D.Phil., Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1971.

  • Dissertation:

    "Aeneid VII: Notes on Selected Passages" (Oxford, 1971).

  • Professional Experience:

    Lectr., Dept. Latin, UCL, 1971–87; independent scholar, Rome, 1987–2000; Oxford, 2000-2; Strathconon, Scotland, 2002-19; hon. prof., Classics & Ancient History, Durham University; Premio Internazionale, Accademia Virgiliana, Mantua, 2010.

  • Publications:

    Books

    Cornelius Nepos. A Selection, including the Lives of Cato and Atticus, Clarendon Ancient History Series (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989); Virgilio: l'epopea in alambicco, Forme, Materiali e Ideologie del Mondo Antico; 31 (Naples: Liguori, 1991); La villa sabina di Orazio: il galateo della gratitudine; una rilettura della settima epistola del primo libro. Horatiana; 11 (Venosa: Osanna, 1993); Georgiche. Libro IV, ed. with Alessandro Biotti (Bologna: Pàtron, 1994); A Companion to the Study of VirgilMnemosyne Supplements 151 (Leiden: Brill, 1995); Virgil, Aeneid 7: a Commentary, Mnemosyne Supplements 198 (Leiden: Brill, 2000); Virgil, Aeneid 11: a Commentary, Mnemosyne Supplements 244 (Leiden: Brill, 2003); The Culture of the Roman Plebs (London: Duckworth, 2003); Virgil, Aeneid 2: a CommentaryMnemosyne Supplements 299 (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2008); Virgil, Aeneid 6: a Commentary. (Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter, 2013); The Epic Distilled: Studies in the Composition of the Aeneid (Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 2016); Fifty Years at the Sibyl’s Heels: Selected Papers on Virgil and Rome, ed. Alisa Crofts (Oxford & New York: Oxford U. Press, 2020).

  • Publications (2):

    Articles

    “Aspects of Virgilian Influence in Roman Life, II,” Atti del Convegno mondiale scientifico di studi su Virgilio. Mantova, Roma, Napoli 19-24 settembre 1981, II, (Milan: Mondadori, 1982) 47-63; “Aeschylus, Persae 107-12.” CR 18(1968) 268; “Aclys and Cateia,” C&M 30 (1969) 297-9; “Numanus Remulus, Ethnography and Propaganda in Aen. IX, 598f.,” Latomus 30 (1971) 1108-1116; “Incedere and incessus,” Glotta 49 vol. XLIX, 1971, pp. 145-147. “Varro and Caesar. Three Chronological Problems,” BICS 19 (1972) 120-8; “Three Notes on Horace's Epodes,” Philologus 117 (1973) 136-8; “Corythus. The Return of Aeneas in Virgil and His Sources,” JRS 63 (1973) 68-79; “Virgil's Roman Chronography. A Reconsideration,” CQ 24 (1974) 111-15; “Turnus ad portas,” Latomus 33 (1974) 80-6; “The Ides of March. Some New Problems,” G&R 21 (1974) 191-9; “Labeo and Capito,” Historia 23 (1974) 252-4; “Dido in the Light of History,” PVS 13 (1973-1974) 1-13; “Classical Studies in England, 1810-1825,” GRBS 15 (1974) 449-77; “Aeschylus and the Strymon,” Hermes 102 (1974) 503-5; “Ad Iuv. I,40,” Mnemosyne 28 (1975) 422; “Virgil, History, and the Roman Tradition,” Prudentia 8 (1976) 73-89; “The Collegium Poetarum,” BICS 23 (1976) 79-95; “Q. Fabius C. filius Pictor. Some New Evidence,” LCM 1 (1976) 18; “Mr. Harrison and Corythus. A Reply,” CQ 26 (1976) 296-7; “Eduard Fraenkel. Bibliography,” JRS 66 (1976) 200-5; “The iconography of Aeneas' Flight, a Practical Detail,” AK 22 (1979) 104-5; “Stesichorus at Bovillae?,” JHS 99 (1979) 26-48; “Some Problems in the Aeneas Legend,” CQ 29 (1979) 372-90; “Horace, Sermones 3,” LCM 4 (1979) 117-19, “Epic and Burlesque in Ovid, Met. VIII.260ff.,” CJ 74 (1979) 319-32; “Doctus sermones utriusque linguae,” EMC 22 (1979) 85-95; “Otto Skutsch. A Bibliography,” BICS (1980) (unnumbered); “Virgil and the Conquest of Chaos,” Antichthon 15 (1981) 141-50. “Some Problems of Titulature in Roman Literary History, BICS 28 (1981) 103-14; “From History to Legend. M. Manlius and the Geese,” CJ  76 (1981) 298-311; “Vergil's Parade of Heroes,” AncSoc 12 (1982) 12-18; “The Caudine Forks. Topography and Illusion,” PBSR 50 (1982) 45-52; “Allia Potestas and Murdia, Two Roman Women,” AncSoc 12 (1982) 27-33; “Allecto and Natura. A Pattern of Allusion in Apuleius,” LCM 7 (1982) 41; “The Origins of the Illustrated Book,” Aegyptus 63 (1983) 199-216; “Tabulae Iliacae in the Collection Froehner, Paris,” JHS 103 (1983) 144-7; “Some Problems in the Laudatio Turiae,” BICS 30 (1983) 85-98; “Poets and Patron Reconsidered,” AncSoc 13 (1983) 161-6; “Myth and Mythography,” EMC 29 (1985) 393-410; “Illusion and Reality in Latin Topographical Writing,” G&R 32 (1985) 197-208; “CIL VI,37965 = CLE 1988 (epitaph of Allia Potestas): a Commentary,” ZPE 61 (1985) 251-72; “Virgil and the Inscriptions. A Reverse View,” LCM 11 (1986) 44-5. “The Aeneas-Legend and the Aeneid,” Vergilius 32 (1986) 8-17; “Fast. Cons. Cap. fr. XXXIX; a Problematic Grandfather,” ZPE 65 (1986) 84; “Two notes. 1) Horace, Carm. 4.2.29. 2) CIL V,1*,” LCM 12 (1987) 136; “The Letter of Cornelia. Yet More Problems,” Athenaeum 65 (1987) 231-4; Roman Myth and Mythography, with Jan Bremmer, BICS Suppl. 52 (London: U. of London Inst. of Class. Stud., 1987); “Augustus' Table Talk?,” AS 17 (1987) 16-18; “Non viribus aequis. Some Problems in Virgil's Battle-Scenes,” G&R 34 (1987) 48-55; “Wilamowitz' Bimillenary Essay on Vergil,” Vergilius 34 (1988) 112-27; Vir bonus discendi peritus. Studies in Celebration of Otto Skutsch's Eightieth Birthday (ed.) BICS Suppl. LI. (London: Inst. of Class. Stud., 1988); “Stylistic Observations on Two Neglected Subliterary Prose Texts,” in Vir bonus discendi peritus. Studies in Celebration of Otto Skutsch's Eightieth (London: Inst. of Class. Stud., 1988) 53-56; “Patronage of Art in the Roman World,” Prudentia 20 (1988) 9-28; “Camilla, o i limiti dell'invenzione,” Athenaeum 66 (1988) 31-51; “Virgil and Marcellus' Education,” CQ 39 (1989) 266-7; “The Uses of Literacy and the Cena Trimalchionis, I,” G&R 36 (1989) 74-89; “I pantaloni di Cloreo,” RFIC 117 (1989) 57-61; “Barbara tegmina crurum,” Maia 41 (1989) 251-4; “Atticus Brings Home the Bacon,” LCM 59 (1989) 60-2; “Alcestis Barcinonensis 67: some metrical problems,” ZPE 77 (1989) 25-6; “Aeneas the Colonist,” Vergilius 35 (1989) 8-27; “Virgil and the Illusory Footnote, VI,” PLLS 6 (1990), Roman Poetry and Drama, Greek Epic, Comedy, Rhetoric, ed. Francis Cairns and Malcolm Heath, ARCA; 29 (Leeds: Cairns, 1990) 49-63; “The Aeneid and the Social Structures of Primitive Italy,” Athenaeum 68 (1990) 523-7; “Virgil, Parthenius and the Art of Mythological Reference,” Vergilius 37 (1991) 31-6; “Virgil and the Poetry of Explanations,” G&R 38 (1991) 203-11; “Statistics or States of Mind,” in Literacy in the Roman World, ed. John H. Humphrey, JRA Supplement ser. 3 (1991) 59-76; “Otto Skutsch: una commemorazione,” A&R 36 (1991) 103-7; “L'Eneide e le strutture sociali dell'Italia primitive,” Annali del Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Linguistici e Comparati. Sezione Linguistica, 13 (1991) 17-25; “Externi duces.” RFIC 119 (1991) 188-92; “Toponimi metrici ed ametrici,” Annali del Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Linguistici e Comparati. Sezione Linguistica, 14 ( 1992) 173-7; “Problemi della biografia letteraria: Terenzio, Orazio, Virgilio,” Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, Classe di Lettere, Filosofia e Belle Arti, 68 (1992) 41-53; “M. I. Rostovtzeff storici, filologo russo, politici.” QS 18 (1992) 117-23; “‘Generic composition’ and Petronius' Satyricon,” SCI 11 (1991-2) 123-38; “Economia suburbana e tradizione bucolica: il senex di Claudiano.” InvLuc 13-14 (1991-2) 169-77; “Trasmissione del latino a Costantinopoli: ritorno dei testi in patria,” Messana, N. S., no. 16 (1993) 75-94; “Roma.” Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica: 1, La produzione e la circolazione del texto : 2, L'ellenismo, ed. Giuseppe Cambiano, Luciano Canfora and Diego Lanza (Rome: 1993) 791-822; “Odoratum lauris nemus (Virgil, Aeneid 6.658) SCI 12 (1993) 156-8;  “P. Bonon. 4 and Virgil, Aen. 6, Yet Again,” ZPE 96 (1993) 17-18; “Mythological Invention and poeticu licentia,” in Mythos in mythenloser Gesellschaft: das Paradigma Roms, ed. Fritz Graf, Colloquia Raurica 3 (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1993) 131-41; “Empty Shelves on the Palatine,” G&R 40 (1993) 58-67; “Aeneid 6.852: a Reply,” SO 68 (1993) 38-9; “Orazio, Epistole 1.7: problemi di metodo,” Atti dei convegni di Venosa, Napoli, Roma, novembre 1993,, Bimillenario della morte di Q. Orazio Flacco Atti dei convegni; 3 (Venosa: Osanna, 1994) 315-28; Testi e Manuali per l’Insegnamento Universitario del Latino; 39; “Orazio e la conquista del mondo: problemi di ideologia e di metaforica,” Orazio: umanità, politica, cultura : atti del convegno di Gubbio 20-22 ottobre 1992, ed. Aldo Setaioli (Perugia: Università degli Studi di Perugia, 1995) 23-34; “Autograph MSS. of Virgil: a Note,” Vergilius 41 (1995) 57-9; “The Cultural Horizons of the plebs Romana,” MAAR 41 (1996) 101-19; “The Unity of Roman Italy: Some Anomalies,” SCI 16 (1997) 71-6; “The Emperor Unbends: Some Neglected Aspects of Suetonius' ‘Life’ of Augustus,” AH  27 (1997) 25-30; “L' anno duemila: problemi classici (e post-classici) di cronografia,” A&R 42 (1997) 102-8; “C. Castricius of Forli: from Soldier to Sage,” AH 27 (1997) 19-23; “The First Person Singular in Horace's Carmina,” Style and Tradition: Studies in Honor of Wendell Clausen, ed. Peter E. Knox and Clive Foss, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 92 (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1998) 40-54; “Two Virgilian Notes,” SCI 18 (1999) 45-8;  “Pots et poètes: Homère, Lucrèce et Virgile,” REL 77 (1999) 12; “Erik Wistrand†,” Gnomon 72 (2000) 381-2; “The Unity of Roman Italy: Anomalies in Context,” SCI  20 (2001) 39-50; “The Moretum Decomposed,” C&M 52 (2001) 303-15; “Lycophron and the Aeneid, Again,” ICS  30 (2005) 35-40; “La coerenza ortografica del latino,” SCI 24 (2005) 225-8; “Virgil and the Theatre: a Melodramatic Note,” SCI 26 (2007) 67-71; “Dictys's Ephemeris and the Parody of Scholarship,” ICS 33-34 (2008-9) 41-63; “Excudent alii,” Vergilius 57 (2011) 63-73; “Virgil and the Jews,” Vergilius, 58 (2012) 67-80; “Un ricordo di Giovanni Franco,” Lexis 31 (2013) 14-15; “Poetic Immortality and Virgil's Elysium,” Paideia 69 (2014) 363-5; “Exempla in Virgil’s Underworld,” WS 128 (2015) 63-7. 

  • Sources:

    James J. O’Hara, Vergilius 65 (2019) 161-8; Carlo Franco, “Per Nicholas Horsfall,” Lexis 37 (2019) 9-18; Aldo Lunelli, RFIC 147 (2019) 256-7; Telegraph (February 13, 2019) accessed 07-13-2026: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/02/13/nicholas-horsfall-leading-authority-virgil-whose-career-noted/.