Martin Litchfield West was born in London, September 23rd 1937, and died in Oxford, July 13th 2015. After undergraduate studies in Oxford (1955–1959), he remained there first as a junior research fellow (1959–1963) and then as a fellow and praelector in Classics (1963–1974). From 1974 to 1991 he was professor of Greek in London, but in 1991 he returned to Oxford to be a Senior research fellow at All Souls College (Oxford 1991–2004). After his retirement he was first an Emeritus fellow (2004–2014) and then an Honorary Fellow at All Souls College (from 2014).
West’s research interests range from ancient Greek language, literature and music and Indo-European poetry and myth to early Zoroastrianism. He has published important editions of and commentaries on early and classical Greek poetry, but he has also written important works on Greek and Indo-European metre and music. Lately he has also published works on the Avestan language and on Zoroastrianism. In 1973, he published an influential introductory work to textual criticism and editorial technique (cf. West 1973).
Martin L. West has published numerous books and editions and hundreds of articles and review articles. In the following list, we focus on his works relevant to this lexicon.
Works by West
– West, Martin Litchfield. 1966. Hesiod, Theogony. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
– ———. 1971 and 1972. Iambi et Elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati, vol. I & 2. Oxonii: Clarendon Press. – 2nd improved and augmented edition 1989 and 1992 respectively.
– ———. 1973. Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Latin Texts. Stuttgart: Teubner. – Translated into Greek 1989, Italian 1991 and Hungarian 1999.
– ———. 1978. Hesiod, Works and Days. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
– ———. 1984. Carmina Anacreontea. Bibliotheca Teubneriana. Stutgardiae: Teubner. – Revised and augmented 2nd edition 1993.
– ———. 1987. Introduction to Greek Metre. Oxford: Clarendon Press. – Translated into Polish 2003.
– ———. 1990. Aeschyli Tragoediae cum incerti poetae Prometheo. Bibliotheca Teubneriana. Stutgardiae: Teubner.
– ———. 1992. Ancient Greek Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press. – Reprinted with minor corrections 1994; translated into modern Greek 1999, Polish 2003 and Italian 2007.
– ———. 1998 and 2000. Homeri Ilias. Recensuit/testimonia congessit Martin L. West. Vol. 1 and 2, Stutgardiae: Teubner.
– ———. 2003. Greek Epic Fragments from the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
– ———. 2003. Homeric Hymns, Homeric Apocrypha, Lives of Homer. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
– ———. 2007. Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.