Sir Ronald Syme was regarded long before his death in 1989 as the twentieth-century's pre-eminent historian of ancient Rome. He was Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, 1929-49; Professor of Classical Philology, Istanbul, 1942-45; Camden Professor of Ancient History and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, 1949-70; Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, 1970-1989. Anthony Birley is Professor of Ancient History in the University of Dusseldorf and was previously Professor of Ancient History in the University of Manchester. He is the author of many books on Rome and editor of Syme's Roman Papers III-VII and Anatolica.