Stephen Runciman

Sir Steven Runciman (1903-2000), one of the world's greatest historians, died in November 2000, aged 97, having left behind a body of work of considerable volume, as well as interest, which bears his name with Byzantine history. He was a philhellenic, one of the most stable reference points of modern Greek ideology. After a brief stint at the British Embassy in Sofia, the embassy in Cairo and a stint in Constantinople where he taught Byzantine Art and History at the university there, he ended up in Athens, director of the British Council from 1945 to 1947. He worked with Patrick Lee Fermor and met Katsimbalis and Seferis. At the age of 94, he had come once again to Athens to be honored with the Onassis Prize. Many of his books are published in Greek, among which: ῾῾West and East in Schisma῾, "Byzantine civilization", "Byzantine theocracy", "The last Byzantine renaissance", "The fall of Constantinople" etc.