Chester G. Starr

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Chester G. Starr (October 5, 1914 – September 22, 1999) was an American historian and a leading expert on ancient history, especially the art and archaeology of the Greco-Roman world. He was often called the dean of ancient history in America.

Starr studied at Cornell University and worked with scholar Max Laistner. He taught at the University of Illinois from 1940 to 1953, becoming a professor there until 1970. He then moved to the University of Michigan, where he held the Bentley Chair from 1973 to 1985. In 1974 he became the first president of the American Association of Ancient Historians.

During World War II, Starr served in the U.S. Army in the history section at the Fifth Army HQ in Italy from 1942 to 1946. He wrote the nine-volume Fifth Army History and the popular From Salerno to the Alps (1948).

Starr published about 21 books, many articles, and over 100 book reviews. His best-known work is A History of the Ancient World, which was expanded and reissued several times between 1965 and 1991. His approach is often described as Hegelian, especially in Civilization and the Caesars (1954).

In The Origins of Greek Civilization (1961) he challenged the Nordic theory about Greek achievement and emphasized individuals as drivers of history. Other notable works include The Awakening of the Greek Historical Spirit (1968), Economic Growth of Early Greece (1977), The Beginnings of Imperial Rome: Rome in the Mid-Republic (1980), The Flawed Mirror (1983), and Past and Future in Ancient History (1987).