Mason Hammond (1903–2002), was a Harvard University professor, authority on Latin and the history of Rome and its empire, and former chairman of the board of trustees at St. Mark's School.
Professor Hammond's work has proven highly durable. His book City State and World State was still in print 51 years after it was first published as City-State and World State in Greek and Roman Political Theory Until Augustus. Another book The Antonine Monarchy remained available 43 years after it first appeared in bookstores.
Professor Hammond joined Harvard's faculty in 1928 and was its Pope professor of the Latin language and literature from 1950 until he retired from the post in 1973. During World War II Hammond served as an intelligence officer in the Army Air Forces in Europe and worked to protect valuable artwork.
He received a bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Harvard and also studied at Oxford, where he was a Rhodes scholar. In 1928, Mason Hammond returned to Harvard, where he began his career in the Classics and History departments. From 1937 to 1939, 1951 to 1952, and 1955 to 1957 he was in charge of classical studies at the American Academy in Rome, and he served two appointments as acting director of the Villa I Tatti, Harvard’s Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. He was awarded the Harvard Medal by the Harvard Alumni Association in 1987, and in 1994 the University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
Following his retirement as professor, he worked for many years as a Harvard Historian, contributing extensively researched monographs on such topics as the stained glass in Memorial Hall, music at Commencement, Harvard china, Latin and Greek inscriptions on College buildings, and the gated enclosures of the Yard.
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