Birds and Antiquity

I have been interested in birds since the first grade of grammar school, over forty years. I have already gathered so much material on the local fauna of the town of Padasjoki that as soon as I retire, I plan to write a book on the birds of Padasjoki. I have also written several articles on monitoring the seagull and waterfowl populations of Lake Päijänne.

It has been amusing to note the striking similarities between ornithology and classical studies. Both fields are high on empiricism and low on theory. One is forced to reconstruct the true state of the matter from observations that only form a small part of the whole and that may or may not be representative. Both the ornithologist and the philologist learn humility.

By Written by Antti Arjava (Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta ed), translated by Tero Heikkinen, revised by Matthew Billington

Antti Arjava

Antti Juhani Arjava
Born July 18, 1961, Helsinki

Master of Arts 1987, Licentiate 1990, PhD 1995 (Latin and Roman literature), University of Helsinki
Docent in classical philology 1998–, University of Helsinki

Secretary general 2003–, Finnish Cultural Foundation
Academy research fellow 2001–3, Academy of Finland
Planning officer and deputy director 2000–01, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki
Classical philology researcher and senior assistant 1988–2000, University of Helsinki
Head of the textbook department 1986–88, Academic Bookstore

Publications
Women and Law in Late Antiquity (Oxford UP, 1996)
The Petra Papyri I–IV (General Editor, 2002–13)

Awards and achievements
Finnish Academy of Science and Letters prize for an outstanding doctoral dissertation
Award of the title of professor 2013

Written by Antti Arjava (Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta, ed.)
Translated by Matthew Billington