# Tenney Frank

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Tenney Frank Portrait of Tenney Frank Born (1876-05-19)May 19, 1876 Clay Center, Kansas, US Died April 3, 1939(1939-04-03) (aged 62) Oxford, England Education University of Kansas (BA, MA) University of Chicago (PhD) Occupations Ancient historian and classical scholar Spouse Grace Frank

**Tenney Frank** (May 19, 1876 – April 3, 1939) was a prominent American [ancient historian](/source/Ancient_historian) and [classical scholar](/source/Classical_scholar). He studied many aspects of [Ancient Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome), for instance its economy, imperialism, demographics and epigraphy.

## Biography

Tenney Frank earned his A.B. at the [University of Kansas](/source/University_of_Kansas) in 1898 and his A.M. the following year. Frank went on to receive his Ph.D. at the [University of Chicago](/source/University_of_Chicago) in 1903. Frank taught at [Bryn Mawr College](/source/Bryn_Mawr_College) as a Professor of Latin from 1904 until 1919, when he moved to the [Johns Hopkins University](/source/Johns_Hopkins_University). At Bryn Mawr Frank wrote and published his influential study *Roman Imperialism* in 1914. Frank believed that Rome's [imperialism](/source/Imperialism) stemmed from a desire to keep peace in the Mediterranean world by preventing the rise of any rival power.[1] Frank's other work focused on classical literature, with articles on [Cicero](/source/Cicero), [Strabo](/source/Strabo), [Curiatius Maternus](/source/Curiatius_Maternus), [Plautus](/source/Plautus), and [Virgil](/source/Virgil), among others. In 1932 he gave the British Academy's [Master-Mind Lecture](/source/Henriette_Hertz#British_Academy_bequest), on Cicero.[2]

He wrote periodically for the *American Historical Review*, including a paper on the demise of the various ancient Italian peoples that comprised the [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) ethnicity in [Julius Caesar](/source/Julius_Caesar)'s day. Arguing that Roman expansion brought in masses of foreign peoples and slaves that over time changed the ethnic make-up of the Roman populace and contributed to the empire's ruin.[3]

He worked on Latin inscriptions, including the [stele](/source/Stele) from the [Forum Romanum](/source/Forum_Romanum) in Rome,[4] and on Roman construction and the [Servian Wall](/source/Servian_Wall) of Rome.[5][6] His work on the Roman [economy](/source/Economy) was a seminal study of the economy and trade in the Roman world.

Frank was elected to the [American Philosophical Society](/source/American_Philosophical_Society) in 1927 and the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences) in 1935.[7][8]

He married [Grace Edith Mayer](/source/Grace_Frank) in 1907. Of Swedish ancestry, Frank was influenced by his agrarian roots. He was also multilingual and had a great facility for languages, including [Scandinavian](/source/North_Germanic_languages) tongues. At Johns Hopkins, Frank trained [Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton](/source/Thomas_Robert_Shannon_Broughton), with whom he collaborated on his studies of the Roman economy. A bibliography of Frank's work may be found in *The American Journal of Philology* 60.3 (1939).[9]

Frank died on April 3, 1939, in [Oxford, England](/source/Oxford%2C_England) while serving as a visiting professor at the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford).[10] While in Oxford Frank was reportedly preparing for publication a new work entitled "Rome and Italy of the Empire".[11] This appeared posthumously as Volume 5 of *An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome*.[12]

## Works

English [Wikisource](/source/Wikisource) has original works by or about:

**[Tenney Frank](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/en:Author:Tenney_Frank)**

- (1903). *A Stichometric Scholium to the Medea of Euripides*, The University of Chicago Press.

- (1904). *Attraction of Mood in Early Latin: A Dissertation*, Press of the New Era Printing Company.

- (1920). [*An Economic History of Rome to the End of the Republic*](https://books.google.com/books?id=rngxAQAAMAAJ), Johns Hopkins University Press [rev. ed. 1927].

- (1922). [*Vergil, a Biography*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ya9hxwEACAAJ), Henry Holt & Company [Russell & Russell, 1965].

- (1923). [*A History of Rome*](https://books.google.com/books?id=UPEeAAAAMAAJ), Henry Holt & Company.

- (1924). ["Latin Quantitative Speech as Affected by Immigration"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/289026). *The American Journal of Philology*, Vol. 45, No. 2 (1924), pp. 161–175.

- (1924). *Roman Buildings of the Republic*, American Academy in Rome.

- (1928). *Catullus and Horace*, Henry Holt & Company [Russell & Russell, 1965].

- (1930). *Life and Literature in the Roman Republic*, Sather Classical Lectures, University of California Press, [Sixth Printing](https://books.google.com/books?id=98PH4X3FBf4C), 1971.

- (1932). *Aspects of Social Behavior in Ancient Rome*, Harvard University Press [Cooper Square Publishers, 1969].

- (1933 & 1940). *An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome*, Johns Hopkins University Press. - Vol. I: *Rome and Italy of the Republic*. - Vol. V: *Rome and Italy of the Empire*.

**Other**

- Frank, Tenney (1914). [*Roman Imperialism*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Roman_Imperialism) – via [Wikisource](/source/Wikisource).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Hammond, Mason (1948). "Ancient Imperialism: Contemporary Justifications," *Harvard Studies in Classical Philology*, Vol. 58, pp. 105–16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Duff2009_2-0)** [Duff, J. Wight](/source/John_Wight_Duff) (2009). "Review: *Cicero*. By Tenney Frank. Annual Lecture on a Master Mind: Henriette Hertz Trust of the British Academy. (From the *Proceedings of the British Academy*, Vol. XVIII.) Pp. 26. London: Milford, 1932. Paper, 1s. 6d". *The Classical Review*. **46** (6): 275. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S0009840X00060777](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0009840X00060777). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0009-840X](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0009-840X). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [163557126](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:163557126).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Frank. Tenney (1916). ["Race Mixture in the Roman Empire,"](https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1835889/1835889#page/n1/mode/2up) *The American Historical Review*, Vol. XXI, No. 4.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["On the Stele of the Forum"](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/CP/14/1/Stele_in_the_Forum*.html), *Classical Philology*, Vol. XIV, No.1 (Jan., 1919), pp. 87‑88.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Notes on the Servian Wall"](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/AJA/22/2/Servian_Wall*.html) *American Journal of Archaeology*, Vol. XXII, No.2 (Apr., 1918), pp. 175‑188.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["The Letters on the Blocks of the Servian Wall"](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/AJP/45/1/Letters_on_Servian_Wall*.html), *The American Journal of Philology*, Vol. XLV, No.1, (1924), pp. 68‑69.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["APS Member History"](https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Tenney+Frank&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced). *search.amphilsoc.org*. Retrieved 2023-08-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Tenney Frank"](https://www.amacad.org/person/tenney-frank). *American Academy of Arts & Sciences*. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2023-08-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** DeWitt, Norman W. “Tenney Frank.” The American Journal of Philology 60, no. 3 (1939): 273–87. [https://doi.org/10.2307/291293](https://doi.org/10.2307/291293).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** "DR. TENNEY FRANK OF JOHNS HOPKINS" *The New York Times* Tuesday, April 4, 1939 [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/04/04/91560753.html?zoom=16](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/04/04/91560753.html?zoom=16)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["DR. TENNEY FRANK OF JOHNS HOPKINS; Latin Authority Dies in Oxford While Serving as Eastman Professor in England FIRST CLASSICIST IN POST Scholar Was Preparing Work on 'Rome and Italy of the Empire' for Survey"](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/04/04/91560753.html?zoom=16). *The New York Times*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Frank, Tenney (1940). ["Rome and Italy of the empire"](https://books.google.com/books?id=dH-LAAAAIAAJ).

## Further reading

- [Baynes, Norman H.](/source/Norman_H._Baynes) (1943). "The Decline of the Roman Power in Western Europe. Some Modern Explanations," *Journal of Roman Studies*, Vol. XXXIII. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/296623](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F296623)

- [Broughton, T. R. S.](/source/Thomas_Robert_Shannon_Broughton) (1990). “Tenney Frank.” In [Ward W. Briggs](/source/Ward_W._Briggs) and William M. Calder III, (eds.), *Classical Scholarship. A Biographical Encyclopedia*, Garland Publishing, pp., 68–76.

- [Muller, Herbert Joseph](/source/Herbert_J._Muller) (1952). *The Uses of the Past*, New American Library.

- DeWitt, Norman W. (1939). ["Tenney Frank", *The American Journal of Philology*, 60(3), pp. 273–287](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/AJP/60/3/Tenney_Frank*.html).

- [Pease, Arthur Stanley](/source/Arthur_Stanley_Pease) (1940). "Tenney Frank (1876-1939)," *Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences*, Vol. 74, No. 6. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [20023372](https://www.jstor.org/stable/20023372)

- [Taylor, Lily Ross](/source/Lily_Ross_Taylor) (1939). ["In Memoriam: Tenney Frank,"](https://archive.org/stream/brynmawralumnaeb19bryn#page/n201/mode/2up) *Bryn Mawr Alumnæ Bulletin*, Vol. XIX, No. 1.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Tenney Frank](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tenney_Frank).

- Tenney Frank at Database of Classical Scholars [\[1\]](https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/8710-frank-tenney)

- [Works by Tenney Frank](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/3769) at [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg)

- [Works by or about Tenney Frank](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Frank%2C%20Tenney%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Tenney%20Frank%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Frank%2C%20Tenney%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Tenney%20Frank%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Tenney%20Frank%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Frank%2C%20Tenney%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Tenney%20Frank%22%29%20OR%20%28%221876-1939%22%20AND%20Frank%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

- [Works by Tenney Frank](http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22Frank,%20Tenney,%201876-1939.%22&type=author&inst=), at [HathiTrust](/source/HathiTrust)

- [Works by Tenney Frank](https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Search=Search&Query=au:%22Tenney%20Frank%22&wc=on), at [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR)

- [Professor Tenney Frank on Agriculture in Early Latium](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4387944)

- [The Columna Rostrata of C. Duilius](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/CP/14/1/Columna_Duilii*.html)

- [Bryn Mawr: History of the Latin Department](https://web.archive.org/web/20141217124435/http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/history/latin.html)

- [Bryn Mawr: Notable Former Faculty](http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/history/formerfaculty.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160505052310/http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/history/formerfaculty.html) 2016-05-05 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [Antiquary's Shoebox at LacusCurtius](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/home.html): several journal articles by Tenney Frank

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tenney Frank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenney_Frank) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenney_Frank?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.