Mitchell, Stephen, 1948-2024

Stephen Mitchell, epigrapher and ancient historian, contributed significantly to the understanding of Anatolia in the Hellenistic, Roman, early Christian and Byzantine periods. He grew up in Oxford and was educated at Oxford University. He subsequently held positions at the University of Wales, Swansea, and at the University of Exeter, while maintaining extensive contact with Turkish, French and German colleagues and institutions. Throughout his career, Stephen took part in and led numerous archaeological projects in Türkiye and can be considered a trailblazer for the areas he worked on. As a scholar working in Türkiye, he was deeply involved in the British Institute at Ankara, the only British academic institution focusing on research in the humanities and social sciences in Türkiye and the Black Sea region, from the time he was a student. His epigraphic publications, which earned him honours and prizes, formed the basis for a broader understanding of ancient societies and religions.

Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 22