Expertise in ancient texts.

[Nialler]

I read an obituary last week of Frank Walbank (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-frank-walbank-classical-scholar-who-defined-and-dominated-the-field-of-hellenistic-history-for-half-a-century-975465.html). The link is to the Independent's obit rather than the one carried by the LT.

Anyway, what I thought was very striking was the length of time that it took him to complete his life's work on Polybius: 35 years.

He seems to have been quite a distinguished historian and an acclaimed expert in one set of historical texts.

The fact that it took him so very long to finish his magnum opus should really shame into silence those who would pretend to be experts.

[Ray Moscow]

[dumbass mode]
Or rather, it shows how much smarter we are than he was.
[/dumbass mode]

I'm reminded of the guys I know who had a semester or so of Greek or Hebrew in Bible school and an introductory course in another language and then undertake a new, improved translation of the Bible. It's like taking a year of high-school Spanish and then deciding you're qualified to make a new, definitive translation of Don Quixote.

[FreezBee]

I read an obituary last week of Frank Walbank (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-frank-walbank-classical-scholar-who-defined-and-dominated-the-field-of-hellenistic-history-for-half-a-century-975465.html). The link is to the Independent's obit rather than the one carried by the LT.

Anyway, what I thought was very striking was the length of time that it took him to complete his life's work on Polybius: 35 years.

He seems to have been quite a distinguished historian and an acclaimed expert in one set of historical texts.

The fact that it took him so very long to finish his magnum opus should really shame into silence those who would pretend to be experts.

Yes, serious scholarship isn't done overnight.

I'm not a scholar myself, but I do know it requires some dedication and quite a lot of hard work.

- FreezBee

[Gagundathar Inexplicable]

However, writing about how you are a serious scholar can be done in just a few minutes.

It isn't surprising in this day and age that the clueless majority would really believe that the only reason why 'those old farts' took so long to do their scholarly work was because the old farts didn't understand how to use teh Intrawebz.

This is why Hawkins and the Treehouse Gang take themselves so seriously.

[Lucretius III]

Nothing really stunning to say apart from the fact I have actually met Frank Walbank (many many years ago )

[Dlx2]

The real question is, did he have more expertise than Rook Hawkins?

I DON'T THINK SO.

[Nialler]

Nothing really stunning to say apart from the fact I have actually met Frank Walbank (many many years ago )

That's stunning enough on its on. He sounds like a pretty dedicate guy;

[Lucretius III]

I was in the habit of attending the annual confrences of the Classical Association in the early to mid 1980's (I was a steward at a couple of them ) and got to meet quite a few of the real experts in the field .
Some of them (not Walbank I hasten to add ) did fulfil the stereotypical idea of the absent minded professor ,like the "Oxbridge Don" (who shall remain nameless) who was shocked to find that the shoes he had left outside his room had not been polished during the night and the distuingished expert who could quote from memory pretty much any line of any Latin or Greek poem, purely by being told the line number and the edition as well as all the conflicting views on the reading and meaning of it, but who could never quite remember his home address and phone number

[BWE]

[dumbass mode]
Or rather, it shows how much smarter we are than he was.
[/dumbass mode]

I'm reminded of the guys I know who had a semester or so of Greek or Hebrew in Bible school and an introductory course in another language and then undertake a new, improved translation of the Bible. It's like taking a year of high-school Spanish and then deciding you're qualified to make a new, definitive translation of Don Quixote.
I've read it in both English and Spanish and they are pretty different. I don't know about taking a semester of Sapnish to translate it though. It's in a pretty funky dialect. I had to look up a lot of words and that was when my Spanish was pretty good.

[Rathpig]

Though it is hilarious for Rook Hawkins to claim expertise in "ancient texts" for multiple reasons, the most telling is that such a claim shows a complete lack any contact with real "experts" in any academic field. The first thing that someone who may have expertise will tell you is the limit of their knowledge.

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know" is not just a witty saying. That this applies to historical topics perhaps more than any other is common knowledge among those who at least have common knowledge. Pretenders need not apply.