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{{Short description|British historian of ancient Greece (1907–2001)}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix = 
| name = Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|DSO|FBA|size=100%}}
| image = File:Nglhammond.jpeg
| alt =
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| birth_date = 15 November 1907
| birth_place = [[Ayr]], Scotland
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|24 March 2001|15 November 1907}}
| death_place = [[Cambridge]], England
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| children = 3 (including [[Caroline Bammel]])
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| alma_mater = [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
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| discipline = [[Classicist]]
| sub_discipline = {{hlist|[[Ancient history]]|[[Ancient Greece]] (specifically [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Ancient Macedonia]])|[[Philip II of Macedon]]|[[Alexander the Great]]}}
| workplaces = {{plain list|
* [[Clare College, Cambridge]]
* [[Clifton College]]
* [[University of Bristol]] }}
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{{Infobox military person
|embed = yes
|allegiance = United Kingdom
|branch = [[Special Operations Executive]]
|serviceyears = 1940–1945
|battles = [[Second World War]]
|awards = [[Distinguished Service Order]] <br /> [[Order of the Phoenix (Greece)]]
}}
}}
'''Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|DSO|FBA|size=100%|sep=,}} (15 November 1907 – 24 March 2001) was a British historian, geographer, classicist and an operative for the British [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE) in [[occupied Greece]] during the [[Second World War]].

Hammond was seen as the leading expert on the history of [[ancient Macedonia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gottmann |first=Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EsgVAQAAMAAJ |title=Orbits: The Ancient Mediterranean Tradition of Urban Networks : a Lecture Delivered at New College, Oxford, on 3rd May, 1983 |date=1984 |publisher=Leopard's Head Press |isbn=978-0-904920-10-9 |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> His trilogy, ''A History of Macedonia'', has been described as the "most celebrated (and partly irreplaceable) work" on the subject.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iancu |first=Liviu |date=2021 |title=(Review) Miltiades B. Hatzopoulos, Ancient Macedonia - in Dacia, LXV, 2021, 193-198 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366498913 |journal=Dacia: Revue d'archéologie et d'histoire ancienne |volume=LXV |issue=1 |pages=193–198}}</ref> Additionally, he was recognised for his meticulous research on the [[geography]], [[Topography|historical topography]] and history of [[Epirus (ancient state)|ancient Epirus]].<ref name="ShadowOfOlympus" />

== Life and writings ==
Nicholas Hammond was born on 15 November 1907 in Ayr, Scotland to James Vavasour Hammond, an [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopalian]] [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]], and Dorothy May.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Snodgrass |first=Anthony |date=2003 |title=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, 1907–2001 |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publishing/memoirs/2/hammond-nicholas-geoffrey-lempriere-1907-2001/ |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |series=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, II |volume=120 |pages=243–259}}</ref> Hammond studied classics at [[Fettes College]]<ref>[http://www.fettes.com/history/distinguished.htm Distinguished Old Fettesians] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122155051/http://www.fettes.com/history/distinguished.htm |date=22 November 2007 }}</ref> and [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]. In 1929, while he was still a student, Hammond began his personal exploration of all the ancient sites in [[Epirus]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejcjAQAAMAAJ |title=The Classical Outlook |date=1968 |publisher=American Classical League |volume=46 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref> He excelled in his exams and also spent vacations exploring Greece on foot, acquiring knowledge of the topography and terrain. He also spent some time in [[southern Albania]] ([[Northern Epirus]]) where he learnt the [[Albanian language]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Clogg |first=Richard |date=2001-04-05 |title=Obituary: Nicholas Hammond |url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/05/guardianobituaries1 |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> These abilities led him to be recruited by the [[Special Operations Executive]] during World War II in 1940. His activities included many dangerous sabotage missions in Greece (especially on the Greek island of [[Crete]]). As an officer, in 1944 he was in command of the Allied military mission to the [[Greek resistance]] in [[Thessaly]] and [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]].<ref name="ShadowOfOlympus">{{cite book
| last = Borza
| first = Eugene N.
| author-link = Eugene Borza
| title = In the Shadow of Olympus
| publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-0-691-00880-6
| page = 16
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=614pd07OtfQC&q=greek+resistance+world+war+2+macedonians&pg=PA16 }}</ref> There he came to know those regions thoroughly. He published a memoir of his war service entitled ''Venture into Greece'' in 1983; he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] and the Greek [[Order of the Phoenix (Greece)|Order of the Phoenix]].

In the postwar period, Hammond returned to academia as senior tutor at [[Clare College, Cambridge]]. In 1954, he became headmaster of [[Clifton College]], Bristol and in 1962 was appointed Henry Overton Wills Professor of Greek at [[Bristol University]], a post which he held until his retirement in 1973. He was elected a Fellow of the [[British Academy]] in 1968<ref>[http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/archive.asp?fellowsID=234 British Academy Fellowship entry] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606092604/http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/archive.asp?fellowsID=234 |date=6 June 2011 }}</ref> and an honorary member of the ''Centre des Nouvelles études de l'histoire, de la philosophie et des problèmes sociaux à Clermont-Ferrand'' in 1988.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

His scholarship focused on the history of [[ancient Macedonia]] and [[Epirus (ancient state)|ancient Epirus]],<ref name="ShadowOfOlympus" /> and he was considered the leading expert on Macedonia.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last1=Chambers|first1=Mortimer|title=The Western Experience|url=https://archive.org/details/westernexperienc00mort_0|url-access=registration|date=2002|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=0072424370|page=[https://archive.org/details/westernexperienc00mort_0/page/101 101]}}</ref> He was also editor and contributor to various volumes of the ''[[Cambridge Ancient History]]'' and the second edition of the ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. He was known for his works about [[Alexander the Great]] and for suggesting the relationship of [[Vergina]] with [[Aegae (Macedonia)|Aegae]], the ancient Macedonian royal city, before the archaeological discoveries. In later years, Hammond backed Greece during the [[Macedonia name dispute]].<ref name=":0" />

On 24 March 2001, while attending a concert at [[Jesus College, Cambridge]], Hammond collapsed and died at the age of 93.<ref name=":2" />

==Personal life==
Hammond was the father of two sons and three daughters including [[Caroline Bammel]], historian of early Christianity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chadwick |first1=Henry |title=Caroline Penrose Hammond Bammel 1940–1995 |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |year=1997 |volume=94 |pages=285–291 |url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/94p285.pdf |access-date=9 March 2017 }}</ref>

==Works==
{{Incomplete list|date=June 2023}}

=== Books ===

* ''Sir John Edwin Sandys, 1844-1922'' (1932)
* ''A History of Greece to 322 B.C.'' (1959)
* ''Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas'' (1967)
* ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'' (1970) (second edition, co-edited with [[H. H. Scullard]])
* ''A History of Macedonia, Volume I: Historical geography and prehistory'' (1972)
* ''The Classical Age of Greece'' (1975)
* ''Migrations and Invasions in Greece and Adjacent Areas'' (1976)
* ''A History of Macedonia, Volume II: 550-336 B.C.'' (1979)
* ''Alexander the Great: King, Commander, and Statesman'' (1980)
* ed. ''Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity'' (1981)
* ''Venture Into Greece: With the Guerrillas, 1943-44'' (1983)
* ''Three Historians of Alexander the Great: The so-called Vulgate authors, Diodorus, Justin, and Curtius'' (1983)
* ''A History of Macedonia, Volume III: 336-167 B.C.'' (1988)
* ''The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions, and History'' (1989)
* ''The Miracle that was Macedonia'' (1991)
* ''The Allied Military Mission and the Resistance in West Macedonia'' (1993)
* ''Sources for Alexander the Great: An Analysis of Plutarch's 'Life' and Arrian's 'Anabasis Alexandrou''' (1993)
* ''Philip of Macedon'' (1994)
* ''The Genius of Alexander the Great'' (1997)
* ''Poetics of Aristotle: Rearranged, Abridged and Translated for Better Understanding by the General Reader'' (2001)

=== Collections ===

*''Collected Studies, Volume I'' (1993)
*''Collected Studies, Volume II: Studies concerning Epirus and Macedonia before Alexander'' (1993)
*''Collected Studies, Volume III: Alexander and his successors in Macedonia'' (1994)
*''Collected Studies, Volume IV: Further studies on various topics'' (1997)

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Richard Clogg|Clogg, Richard]]. [Obituary], [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/05/guardianobituaries1 ''The Guardian'', 5 April 2001].
* Snodgrass, Anthony. "Professor N.G.L. Hammond: Obituary", ''The Independent'', 28 March 2001.

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |first=Clive |last=Hodges |title=Cobbold & Kin: Life Stories from an East Anglian Family |location=Woodbridge |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-84383-954-5 }}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=basp;cc=basp;rgn=full%20text;idno=0599796.0033.001;didno=0599796.0033.001;view=image;seq=00000101;node=0599796.0033.001%3A12 Alexander's Non-European troops and Ptolemy I's use of such troops, Article by Hammond on BASP 33(1996)]
* [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=basp;cc=basp;view=image;rgn=main;node=0599796.0022.001%3A12;idno=0599796.0022.001;seq=89 The scene in Iliad 18.497–508 and the Albanian Blood-feud, Article by Hammond on BASP 22(1985)]
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/507367 Necrology in the ''American Journal of Archaeology'']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, N.G.L.}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Fettes College]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Bristol]]
[[Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:British classical scholars]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Headmasters of Clifton College]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British Special Operations Executive personnel]]
[[Category:Greek Resistance members]]
[[Category:Greece in World War II]]
[[Category:Scholars of ancient Greek history]]
[[Category:Classical scholars of the University of Bristol]]
[[Category:20th-century British historians]]

N. G. L. Hammond - Revision history

imported>UrielAcosta: /* Personal life */WP:NOTEVERYTHING