Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Scholar · Excavator · Cataloguer

Dorothea Helen Forbes Gray

1905–1983 · United Kingdom

Oxford teacher of classics and Homer scholar who wrote the chapter on the sanctuary and altar in the 1957 report on Myrtou-Pigadhes, a Late Bronze Age sanctuary.

Biography

Dorothea Helen Forbes Gray wrote Chapter XI of the 1957 report on Myrtou-Pigadhes, the Late Bronze Age sanctuary in Cyprus. The report was by Joan du Plat Taylor and published by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford2. The Antiquaries Journal reviewer called Gray's chapter on the sanctuary and the altar "a stimulating chapter" and a survey of possible western and eastern connexions. He added that her notes on the cult stated, on p. 111 of the report, that the deity was almost certainly personified by a bull1. A review in Bibliotheca Orientalis listed her among the report's contributors10.

Gray was born in 1905 and died on 3 July 1983. She taught at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and took part in excavations at Mycenae, Smyrna, Chios and Myrtou; Richard Hope Simpson was among her students11. Her main work was on Homer. She published "Metalworking in Homer" in the Journal of Hellenic Studies in 19545 and edited J. L. Myres's Homer and His Critics, which appeared in 19584.

Life and work

  1. 1954
    'Metalworking in Homer', Journal of Hellenic Studies 74, 1-... ; she also published a table of iron and bronze knives from Cypro-Geometric contexts (per Wertime and Muhly).

    D. E. Strong (1966). Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate. p. 342, p. 342; T. A. Wertime; J. D. Muhly (eds) (1980). The Coming of the Age of Iron. p. 344, p. 344

  2. 1957
  3. 1958
  4. Undated

Connections

2 people

Scholarship

Mentioned in

4 mentions

Sources

  1. 1.P. Dikaios (reviewer) (1958). “Review of J. du Plat Taylor, Myrtou-Pigadhes. A Late Bronze Age sanctuary in Cyprus”. The Antiquaries Journal 38, p. 255; text read in the journal, bull noted at report p. 111.
  2. 2.Joan du Plat Taylor (1957). Myrtou-Pigadhes. A Late Bronze Age sanctuary in Cyprus. pp. viii+118; ch. XI 'The Sanctuary'. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, for the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
  3. 3.Palestine Exploration Quarterly (1958). “1958-1959 volume, notice of Myrtou-Pigadhes”.
  4. 4.J. L. Myres; ed. Dorothea Gray (1958). Homer and His Critics. Routledge & Kegan Paul (London).
  5. 5.D. E. Strong (1966). Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate. p. 342.
  6. 6.Brenda E. Moon (1961). Mycenaean civilization; publications 1956-60; a second bibliography. p. 172.
  7. 7.R. Hope Simpson; J. F. Lazenby (1970). The Catalogue of the Ships in Homer's Iliad. p. 230.
  8. 8.T. A. Wertime; J. D. Muhly (eds) (1980). The Coming of the Age of Iron. p. 344.
  9. 9.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (2026). Gray, Dorothea H. F. (GND 122595598X). Online
  10. 10.Bibliotheca Orientalis (1960). “Vol. 17 contents: review of Myrtou-Pigadhes (A. A. Kampman)”. Bibliotheca Orientalis 17.
  11. 11.“Dorothea Gray”. Wikipedia (en). Online
  12. 12.“Dorothea Gray (Wikidata Q133898290)”. Wikidata. Online
  13. 13.Tony Spawforth (2014). “Hector Catling (1924-2013)”. The Annual of the British School at Athens 109, 1-2. The Council, British School at Athens. Online
  14. 14.Anastasia Dakouri-Hild; Sue Sherratt (2005). AUTOCHTHON: Papers presented to O.T.P.K. Dickinson on the occasion of his retirement. Oxford, BAR Publishing. p. 9..
  15. 15.Tony Spawforth, 2014, Hector Catling (1924-2013), p. ?.
  16. 16.P. Dikaios (reviewer), 1958, Review of J. du Plat Taylor, Myrtou-Pigadhes. A Late Bronze Age sanctuary in Cyprus.
  17. 17.Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Bibliotheca Orientalis 17 (1960) (1960).

Corrections and additions

Did you know this person?

We would like to hear from relatives, colleagues and anyone who knows more about this person's life and work.

Missing from this record

  • No photograph

We would like to hear about

  • Dates and places of birth and death
  • Other spellings or names they used
  • Photographs, letters or papers
  • Their work, collections or excavations
  • A mistake in what we say
Write to us

or alexis@ancientcyprus.com

If this page is about you, write to us and we will correct it or take it down. Tell us if you would like to be thanked by name on the page.