Robert Sonkowsky
Robert Paul Sonkowsky (September 16, 1931 – November 16, 2014) was an American scholar and performer who taught at the University of Minnesota. He was a professor emeritus of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and a leading expert on Latin rhetoric and the pronunciation of Golden Age Latin.
He was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, and died in North Oaks, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence College in 1954 and a PhD from the University of North Carolina in 1958. He was an Honorary Member of the Center for Chronobiology in the Mayo Building of the Medical School.
Sonkowsky was known for his work and performances of oral renditions of classical texts. He released the album Homer: The Death of Patroclus - Chapter XVI of the Iliad with Folkways Records as part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Numerous other recordings of his readings of classical Greek and Latin are available online.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:41 (CET).