Moses Finley

Sir Moses I. Finley (Moses Israel Finkelstein) CBE (May 20, 1912–June 23, 1986) was an American and English classical scholar.

Moses Finley

He was born in 1912 in New York City to Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen; died in 1986 as a British subject. He was educated at Syracuse University and Columbia University. Although his MA was in public law, most of his published work was in the field of ancient history, especially the social and economic aspects of the classical world.

He taught at Columbia University and City College of New York, where he was influenced by members of the Frankfurt School who were working in exile in America. In 1952, during the Red Scare, Finley was fired from his teaching job at Rutgers University; in 1954, had been summoned by the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and asked whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party. He invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer.

Unable to find work in the United States, Finley moved to England, where he taught classical studies for many years at Cambridge University, first as a Reader in Ancient Social and Economic History at Jesus College (1964–1970), then as Professor of Ancient History (1970–1979) and eventually as Master of Darwin College (1976–1982). He broadened the scope of classical studies from philology to culture, economics, and society. He became a British subject in 1962 and a Fellow of British Academy in 1971, and was knighted in 1979.

Bibliography

• The Ancient Greeks (1963).
• The Ancient Economy (1973).
• Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology.
• The World of Odysseus (1954).
• Politics in the Ancient World (1983).
• Aspects of Antiquity (1968).

Further reading

• Watson, George. The man from Syracuse: Moses Finley (1912–1986) in Sewanee Review, Winter 2004, Vol. 112 Issue 1, pp. 131–137.
• Shaw, Brent D.; Saller, Richard P. Editors' introduction to Economy and society in ancient Greece (with Finley's up-to-date bibliography). London: Chatto & Windus, 1981 (hardcover, ISBN 0701125497); N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1982 (hardcover, ISBN 0670288470); London: Penguin Books, 1983 (paperback, ISBN 014022520X).