All Scholars

RENEHAN, Robert Francis Xavier

  • Robert Francis Xavier Renehan
  • Date of Birth: April 25, 1935
  • Born City: Boston
  • Born State/Country: MA
  • Parents: Francis Xavier & Ethel Mary Sullivan R.
  • Date of Death: April 26, 2019
  • Death City: Santa Barbara
  • Death State/Country: CA
  • Married: Joan Lee Axtell-Damerow, Sept. 9, 1966.
  • Education:

    B.A., Boston College, 1956; travelling fellowship, Harvard,1953-4; A.M., Harvard, 1958; Ph.D., 1963.
  • Dissertation:

    “Leonis Medici Synopsis de natura hominum, primum ed. Renehan R. F.” (Harvard, 1963; summary in HSCP 68 (1964) 421-2).
  • Professional Experience:

    Instr. Greek & Latin, University of California at Berkeley, 1963-4; instr., Harvard University, 1964-5; asst. prof., Boston College, 1966-9; asso. prof., 1969-71; prof., 1971-7; classical studies dept. chairman, 1969-77; prof. Greek & Latin, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1976-2007 ; dept. chair, 1984-8, 1993-2000; sr. fellow, NEH, 1972-3; asso. ed., CP, 1976-2000; AJP, 1987-95; sr. memb, ed. board, Classical Antiquity, 1980-7.
  • Publications:

    “Photius, Bibl. p. 209a 33 sq.,” RhM 104 (1961) 189-90; “Duo loci Sallustiani,” RhM 105 (1962) 257-60; “Hirtius, Bellum Gallicum VIII,15,1,” La Parola del Passato: Rivista di Studi Antichi 17(1962) 384-5; “Plato, Epistle VII, 337B,” CP 57 (1962) 109; “An Unnoticed Proverb in Theognis,” CR 13 (1963) 131-2; “Aristotle's Definition of Anger,” Philologus 107 (1963) 61-74; “Photius on Ctesias,” AJP 84 (1963) 71; “Pseudo-Xexophon Ath. Pol. II,12,” CP 58 (1963) 38; “Rectification,” CP 58 (1963) 170; “The Derivation of ῥυθμός,” CP 58 (1963) 36-7; “Thucydides 7,28,” RhM 106 (1963) 288; “An Aristotelian Mode of Argumentation in Iamblichus' Protrepticus,” Hermes 92 (1964) 507-8; “The Collectanea Alexandrina. Selected Passages,” HSCP 68 (1964) 375-88; “Arius Didymus. A New Biographical Detail,” Hermes 93 (1965) 256; “Lectiones Galenicae,” RhM 108 (1965) 61-70; “Theocritus (?) VIII.53-56,” RhM 108 (1965) 377; “An Unnoticed Greek Tragic Fragment,” RhM 109 (1966) 185-6; “Pausanias vii,25,10,” RhM 110 (1967) 285; “Christus or Chrestus in Tacitus?,” La Parola del Passato: Rivista di Studi Antichi 23 (1968) 368-70; “Some Greek Lexicographical Notes,” Glotta 46 (1968) 60-73; “The Greeks and the Bath,” CR 18 (1968) 133-4; “Plato, Symposium 219a 2-4,” CR 19 (1969) 270; “A Correction,” Hermes 97 (1969) 380; “A Fragment of Alcaeus in Seneca?,” RhM 112 (1969) 187-8; “Conscious Ambiguities in Pindar and Bacchylides,” GRBS 10 (1969) 217-28; “Culex 163,” RhM 112 (1969) 189-90; “Greek Lexicographical Notes, II & III,” Glotta 47 (1969) 220-34; Greek Textual Criticism: A Reader (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969); “Agamemnon and ἄγκαθεν,” CR 20 (1970) 125-7; “On the Text of Leo Medicus. A Study in Textual Criticism,” RhM 113 (1970) 79-88; “The Platonism of Lycurgus,” GRBS 11 (1970) 219-31; “Greek Lexicographical Notes, 4th Ser.,” Glotta 49 (1971) 65-85; “Nugae Xenephonteae,” RhM 114 (1971) 135-45; “The Michigan Alcidamas-Papyrus. A Problem in Methodology,” HSCP 75 (1971) 85-105; “διαιπετής in Alcman,” RhM 115 (1972) 93-6; “Euripides, Helen vv. 255-260,” RhM 115 (1972) 289-90; “Greek Lexicographical Notes, Fifth and Sixth Series,” Glotta 50 (1972) 38-60; “The Greek Philosophical Background of Fourth Maccabees,” RhM 115 (1972) 223-38; “A Proverbial Expression in Tacitus,” CP 68 (1973) 114-15; “Pseudo-Vergil's ultrix flamma: A Problem in Linguistic Probabilities,” CP 68 (1973) 197-202; “Hera as Earth-Goddess. A New Piece of Evidence,” RhM 117 (1974) 193-201; Greek Lexicographical Notes. A Critical Supplement to the Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell-Scott-Jones (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975); Studies in Greek Texts. Critical Observations to Homer, Plato, Euripides, Aristophanes and Other Authors (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975); “A Traditional Pattern of Imitation in Sallust and His Sources,” CP 71 (1976) 97-105; “But Livy Said Sed,” CP 71 (1976) 253-4; “Mosquito Control in Plautus,” CP 71 (1976) 164-5; “An Interpolation in Horace Confirmed,” AJP 98 (1977) 133-8; “Compound-Simplex Verbal Iteration in Plautus,” CP 72 (1977) 243-8; “A Misunderstood Phrase in Livy XXI, 43,8,” CP73 (1978) 344-5; “Acts 17.28.” GRBS 20 (1979) 347-53; “New Evidence for the Variant in Iliad 1.5,” AJP 100 (1979) 473-4; “Poet or Plato in Plutarch?,” CP 74 (1979) 244-5; “The Meaning of σῶμα in Homer. A Study in Methodology,” CSCA 12 (1979) 269-82; “Hekate, H. J. Rose, and C. M. Bowra,” CW 73 (1980) 302-4; “Isocrates and Isaeus: Lesefruchte,” CP 75 (1980) 242-53; “On the Greek Origins of the Concepts Incorporeality and Immateriality,” GRBS 21 (1980) 105-38; “Viscus/viscum,” HSCP 84 (1980) 279-82; Anthologia Latina 24 Riese,” CQ 31 (1981) 471-2; “Plutarch Lysander II. An Addendum,” CP 76 (1981) 206-7; “Some Passages in Plato,” GRBS 22 (1981) 371-84;“Symphosius 42.1: A Literal Interpretation,” CQ 31 (1981) 471; “The Greek Anthropocentric View of Man,” HSCP 85 (1981) 239-59; “Aristotle as Lyric Poet. The Hermias Poem,” GRBS 23 (1982) 251-74; Greek Lexicographical Notes. Second Series. A Critical Supplement to the Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell-Scott-Jones (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982); “The Early Greek Poets: Some Interpretations,” HSCP 87 (1983) 1-29; “An Epigram from Troezen (IG 4.800): II,” CP 79 (1984) 213-14; “Anacreon fragment 13 Page,” CP 79 (1984) 28-32; “Meletius' Chapter on the Eyes. An Unidentified Source,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 38 (1984) 159-68; “ποικιλόρθονος in Sappho. The First Word of Poem 1,” in Studies Presented to Sterling Dow on his Eightieth Birthday, ed. Kent J. Rigsby (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1984) 255-8; “Herodotean Cruces,” HSCP 89 (1985) 25-35; “A New Hesiodic Fragment,” CP 81 (1986) 221-2; “Apollonius Tyrius 46 and the Editors,” CP 82 (1987) 345-6; “Praxilla Fr. 8 Page,” Hermes115 (1987) 373-7; “Some Passages in Maximus of Tyre,” CP 82 (1987) 43-9; “The Heldentod in Homer: One Heroic Ideal,” CP 82 (1987) 99-116; “Shackleton Bailey and the Editing of Latin Poetry. A Latin Classic,” CP 83 (1988) 311-28; “Three Places in Plato's Symposium,” CP 85 (1990) 120-6; “Aristotle's Elegiacs to Eudemus (fr. 673 Rose³=Olymp. in Pl. Gorg. Comm. p. 214. 25 ff. Westerink) ICS 16 (1991) 255-67; “The Staunching of Odysseus' Blood: the Healing Power of Magic,” AJP 113 (1992) 1-4; “Aristotle's Doctrine of the Proper End of Man: Some Observations, VI,” with a Commentary by Anthony Celano in Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy VI, ed. John J. Cleary & Daniel C. Shartin, (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1992) 79-114; “Some Special Problems in the Editing of Aristotle,” SIFC 10 (1992) 719-24; “A Note on Plato Apology 27 B 4-5,” CP 88 (1993) 318-19; “On the Interpretation of a Poem of Anacreon,” ICS 18 (1993) 39-47; “Of Mice and Men in Aristotle,” CP 89 (1994) 245-55; “Polus, Plato, and Aristotle,” CQ 45 (1995) 68-72; “The Private Aristotle: Two Clues,” Hermes 123 (1995) 281-92; “ἄνθος and ἄλθος,” Glotta 73 (1995-6) 56-9; “Aristotelian Explications and Emendations 1: Passages from the Physics, De caelo, and De generatione et corruption,” CP 91 (1996) 141-58; “Aristotelian Explications and Emendations 2: Passages from the De anima, De partibus animalium, De generatione animalium, De motu animalium, Politics, and Nicomachean Ethics, CP 91 (1996) 223-46; “On Some Genitives and a Few Accusatives in Aristotle: A Study in Style,” Hermes 125 (1997) 153-68; “On Gender Switching as a Literary Device in Latin Poetry,” in Style and Tradition: Studies in Honor of Wendell Clausen ed. Peter E. Knox & Clive Foss Stuttgart: Teubner, 1998) 212-29; “The Euripidean Studies of James Diggle: Review Article. 1,” CP 93 (1998) 161-91; “The Euripidean Studies of James Diggle: Review Article. 2,” CP 93 (1998) 249-70; “A Rare Surgical Procedure in Plutarch,” CQ 50 (2000) 223-9; “Further Thoughts on a Sallustian Literary Device,” The Ancient World 31 (2000) 144-7; Herodotos Philanthropos,” Hermes 129 (2001) 173-87; “Some Notes on Longus, Daphnis and Chloe,” RhM 144 (2001) 233-8; “Some Supplements to the Revised LSJ Supplement,” Glotta 77 (2001) 221-43; “Inserted Apposition in Classical Greek Poetry,” ICS 27-8 (2002-3) 101-8; “Some Passages in Aristophanes,” RhM 149 (2006) 31-50.
  • Notes:

    Born and raised in Dorchester, Mass., Renehan was graduated from Boston College High School in 1952. His Harvard dissertation was distinguished by being the last written under Werner Jaeger (1888-1961) as well as the last one written in Latin. With a traveling fellowship from Harvard in 1964 he spent that academic year reading manuscripts of Leo, a late medical writer. He was awarded a Senior Fellowship from the National Endowment for Humanities for the academic year 1972-3. After teaching at UC, Berkeley and at Harvard (where his drinking led to his dismissal), he moved to Boston College for ten years. From there he went to UC, Santa Barbara, where he taught until his retirement in 2007. His many articles in journals usually were devoted to solving detailed editorial and interpretive problems in prose and poetic texts—mostly Greek but a significant number are Latin—from Homer to late antiquity, and it is these hundreds of individual observations for which he is most known. Indeed, after his first book, a revised edition with translation on Leo the Physician (published in the distinguished series Corpus Medicorum Graecorum), his remaining four hardcover publications were collections of such minutiae, many of which are still cited, if not for themselves, then for the principles of Greek usage and scribal practices, which Renehan carefully and clearly enunciated in making his case. One of these books, Greek Textual Criticism: A Reader (1969), in which he corrects some of his earlier suggestions, was in fact designed primarily as a teaching tool. Two of them, Greek Lexicographical Notes, first and second series (1975 and 1982) were devoted to improving the magisterial lexicon of Liddell, Scott, and Jones, a book he adored. Clearly, he reveled in what can be thought of as the driest forms of scholarship; just as clearly his undergraduate students, surely unaware of this side of their professor, thought that his chief joy in life was in teaching, consistently praising him for his performance in the classroom. One such student was impressed that Renehan once threatened suicide upon discovering that the class was ignorant of the word "strophe.’" As his colleague Francis Dunn writes, “The range of courses he taught at UCSB was as wide as the range of topics and texts on which he published. His seminars in his scholarly specialty on Textual Criticism and Greek Prose Composition were legendary; for graduates and undergraduates he taught an astounding variety of Greek and Latin prose and poetry authors; and he devised intriguing lecture courses on 'The Nature of Man in Greek Thought' and on 'Religion, Magic and Medicine in Ancient Greece.' As a world-renowned lexicographer, he advertised his fetish for the LSJ, telling students that he wore out a copy every few years.” He would then have to rewrite the many addenda and corrigenda he continually added to each copy. When he went to look up a word, he said, his fingers automatically found the right page.
  • Sources:

    Francis Dunn, Stephen Esposito, Lowell Edmunds, Mary Lefkowitz, Santa Barbara Independent, (April 30, 2019).
  • Author: David Sider