Robert Browning (Byzantinist)

Robert Browning, FBA (/ˈbraʊnɪŋ/; 15 January 1914 – 11 March 1997) was a Scottish Byzantinist and university professor.

Browning was born in Glasgow in 1914. He attended Kelvinside Academy in that city. He entered the Humanities department of Glasgow University in 1931, graduating in 1935. As Snell Exhibitioner at Balliol College, Oxford, he acquired first class degrees in Mods and Greats as well as several prizes (Nowlands, Ireland, Craven, Ferguson, De Paravicini, and Jenkyns). During his time at Glasgow University, Browning became proficient in several Eastern European languages, beginning with Albanian.

In 1939 Browning received a second degree from Glasgow, and began a seven-year service with the Royal Artillery. During that time he mastered the Georgian language. He served on the General Staff in Italy, and on the Allied Control Commission in Sofia, Bulgaria. In Belgrade, Yugoslavia he was assistant to the British Military Attaché.

In 1946 Browning returned to the academic milieu, first as a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, and then moved to London University. From 1947 to 1965 he taught in University College, London and from 1965 to his retirement (1981) he was Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London.

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