Oliver Lyne
# Oliver Lyne

Richard Oliver Allen Marcus Lyne (21 December 1944 – 17 March 2005), also known as R.O.A.M. Lyne, was a British academic and classicist specialising in Latin poetry. He was a tutor in classics at Balliol College and Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Oxford.

## Early life

Lyne was born on 21 December 1944 in Peterborough, Northamptonshire, England, to Richard and Rosalind Lyne. He was educated at Highgate School, then an all-boys private school in London, where his father was a teacher of Latin. He studied classics at St John's College, Cambridge. His tutor was Guy Lee. In 1966, he graduated with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, also from the University of Cambridge, in 1970. His doctoral supervisor was F. R. D. Goodyear.

## Academic career

While undertaking his doctorate, Lyne held two held short-term fellowships; at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and at Churchill College, Cambridge. In 1971, he moved to the University of Oxford where he became a Fellow of Balliol College. In 1999, he was appointed Professor of Classical Languages and Literature.

## Death

On 17 March 2005, Lyne died at the age of 60 having suffered a cerebral haemorrhage while at his holiday home located in Marche, Italy.

An edited volume, R. O. A. M. Lyne: Collected Papers on Latin Poetry, was published in 2007 as a memorial to him; the introduction was written by Stephen Harrison.

## Personal life

Lyne married Linda (née Rees) in 1969. He had met her when they were both students. Together they had two children; Raphael, born 1971, and Rosy, born 1973.

His older brother is Adrian Lyne, a film director.

## Select works

* Ciris: a poem attributed to Vergil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1978. ISBN 052121727X.
* The Latin love poets from Catullus to Horace. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1980. ISBN 0198144539.
* Further voices in Vergil's Aeneid. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1987. ISBN 019814461X.
* Words and the poet: characteristic techniques of style in Vergil's Aeneid. Oxford: Clarendon. 1989. ISBN 0198148968.
* Horace: behind the public poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1995. ISBN 0300063229.
