John in the 1950s (by Renée). Courtesy Angharad Ellis Jones.
This memoir of John Ellis Jones, best known for his contributions to the Classical archaeology of rural Attica, traces his early studies in North Wales, his first encounters with Greece in the early 1950s, his family life, and the teaching posts he held at the University of Leicester (1957–8) and at the University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) – the latter for 37 years until his formal retirement in 1995, after which he continued to support Classics in North Wales for many more years. His important contributions to the archaeology of Classical Greece, especially rural Attica, are outlined, together with an example of the distinctive artwork with which he embellished his copious publications. Also highlighted are his many contributions to the archaeology and history of North Wales. The memoir is accompanied by a complete bibliography of his publications, many in Welsh.
Το παρόν άρθρο γραμμένο για να τιμήσει τη μνήμη του John Ellis Jones, γνωστού κατά κύριο λόγο χάρη στη συνεισφορά του στην Κλασική αρχαιολογία της αττικής υπαίθρου, ιχνηλατεί τις πρώτες σπουδές του στη Βόρεια Ουαλία, την πρώτη γνωριμία του με την Ελλάδα στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1950, την οικογενειακή του ζωή και τις θέσεις διδασκαλίας που κατείχε στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Leicester (1957–8) και στο Πανεπιστημιακό Κολλέγιο της Βόρειας Ουαλίας (πλέον Bangor University), όπου εργάστηκε επί τριάντα επτά χρόνια, μέχρι την συνταξιοδότησή του το 1995. Ο John Ellis Jones συνέχισε να στηρίζει τις κλασσικές σπουδές στην Βόρεια Ουαλία για πάρα πολύ καιρό μετά την επίσημη αποχώρησή του από το πανεπιστήμιο. Το άρθρο καταδεικνύει τη σημαντική συμβολή του στην αρχαιολογία της Κλασικής Ελλάδας, ενώ ταυτόχρονα παρουσιάζει την ξεχωριστή καλλιτεχνική επιμέλεια με την οποία συνόδευε το πλήθος των δημοσιεύσεών του. Έμφαση δίνεται και στον μεγάλο αριθμό των κειμένων του για την αρχαιολογία και ιστορία της Βόρειας Ουαλίας. Το άρθρο συνοδεύεται από βιβλιογραφία, η οποία καλύπτει το πλήρες έργο του John Ellis Jones, με πολλές από τις δημοσιεύσεις του στα Ουαλικά.
Μετάφραση: Φλωρεντία Φραγκοπούλου
θνῄσκειν μὴ λέγε τοὺς ἀγαθούς Callimachus,
With the departure of John Ellis Jones, the study in North Wales, at university level, of the cultures of the Greeks and Romans and their history, archaeology and literature has come to an end – at least for the present. John was a classical scholar and archaeologist of international renown, and an inspirational communicator of his subject in his home country, ‘a figure of such immense charm’, as a senior ancient historian wrote to one of us. All who met him will remember his powerful, modulated voice; his conversation punctuated frequently by an enthusiastic ‘Oh yes?’; and the sense he gave of enjoying everything he did, which was quite contagious ( John in the 1950s (by Renée). Courtesy Angharad Ellis Jones.
Born and brought up in Llanrwst, Denbighshire, below the eastern outliers of Eryri/Snowdonia, John – often addressed by his middle name, Ellis – was the second of three sons born to Margaret Ann Jones, a farmer’s daughter, and Evan Jones, deputy headmaster and teacher of botany at Llanrwst Grammar School, who died shortly after retiring when John was just 16. After benefiting from the tuition of the learned classicist H. Parry Jones, the school’s headmaster until 1946, John enrolled the following year at University College of North Wales, Bangor (now Bangor University), some 15 miles from his birthplace as the crow flies. The College’s Principal, Sir Emrys Evans, was the leader of a fine team of classical teachers. Graduating with Firsts in Latin (1950) and Greek (1951), John then gained a teaching qualification in the College’s Department of Education (1952).
The following five years, up to the time when John secured his first university post, were highly formative for him. He was attracted to field archaeology and, under the direction of V.E. Nash-Williams, took part in excavations of Roman military sites in Wales, aided by his exceptional energy and his love of venturing to out-of-the-way places by bicycle or on foot. He continued to work on such sites into the 1960s and returned to this field in his last publications. He even began doctoral research at Cardiff, but found the subject of Roman fortresses and camps in Britain too wide to complete to his satisfaction.
A life-changing opportunity had arisen in 1952, when he won a scholarship to visit Greece. The country was just opening up to outsiders after the tragic Civil War of 1946–9, so that young visitors from the wider world were still a rarity. This visit established his enduring links with the British School at Athens, and it was during this trip that John met his lifelong friend and collaborator Hugh Sackett (1928–2020) (see A. Ellis Jones, C. Ellis Jones and R.C. Ellis Jones
The first visit in 1952 had been life-changing in a more important way, too. Travelling out to Greece on the Orient Express, John met two young female teachers who boarded the train in Croatia after being thwarted in their attempts to hitchhike across Yugoslavia by the lack of cars. One was called Helen Dixon. The other had been born in Luxembourg but brought up across the border in Germany, at Iserlohn in Nordrhein-Westfalen. This was Ilse Renée (or Renate) Radau-Eckstein (1927–2016), with whom John maintained a relationship through the mid-1950s while she was teaching at independent schools: first Hatherop Castle School, Gloucestershire, and later Downham School (closed
At the end of a year’s National Service in the Royal Army Educational Corps (1956–7), during which John was largely based at Kettering in Northamptonshire (and for a time at Catterick in the North Riding of Yorkshire), he gained a temporary position at the newly chartered University of Leicester in 1957. Classics had been a strong subject within the University since its foundation as the University College of Leicester, Leicestershire, & Rutland in 1921 (renamed University College Leicester in 1929). The department was led by its first Professor, Philip Leon (1895–1974), who had taught there since 1923 and been promoted in 1955. At the same time as John, there arrived Duncan Cloud (1930–2020), who had himself done National Service as an educator in the Army and later became the last head of Classics at the University (Shipley and Millett
During the academic year 1957–8, John lived in a student residence in Oadby, then as now named Gilbert Murray Hall, where he was a warden. A banner drawn by him on paper for a party belongs to this happy period ( Composite image of the banner drawn by John for a party during his year in Leicester. Original photographs by Elen Simpson (Archives & Special Collections, Bangor University); composite by D. Graham J. Shipley.
At the end of this year, John moved to a permanent post at Bangor, where he spent the rest of his career, rising to be Senior Lecturer (as many academics did, promotion to the rank of professor being much rarer than today). Perhaps now feeling financially secure, John married Renée in July 1958 at the registry office in Great Dunmow, Essex (a state-approved civil service being a German legal requirement for recognising a marriage at the time), and in August in church at her home town of Iserlohn. Their union was blessed with the births of Angharad, Rhodri and Catrin and was characterised by an incomparable verve and happiness. Renée participated in his archaeological expeditions, and they were married for 58 years. The family home in Sling, Tregarth, became a magical fusion of Welsh, German and Greek cultures; their welcome to a host of visitors was proverbial. The writer Angharad Price, who was taught German by Renée, beautifully captures the unique atmosphere of the Joneses’ household at Fronheulog in her volume of essays entitled
John would serve 37 years at Bangor up to his retirement. His career there was not ended by the controversial decision, taken in 1988 in the wake of a government review, to close the Department of Classics (along with those at Aberdeen, Aberystwyth, Birkbeck, Hull, Lancaster, Leicester, Sheffield and Southampton) – purportedly justified by ‘rationalisation’ and the creation of ‘centres of excellence’ elsewhere. (Several of the unfortunate units have since, of course, thrived as centres of classical excellence under other names than ‘Classics’.) Instead, John, now aged 58, chose to remain in post at Bangor while several of his colleagues transferred to Durham. By doing so, he enabled existing Classics students to complete their first degrees, master’s and doctorates, and then taught classical studies, ancient history, Greek archaeology and classical drama in departments such as English and History.
Almost single-handedly, therefore, he ensured the survival of Classics at Bangor, as a knowledgeable and enthusiastic educator. It was painful for John to see Greek (to quote the poet D. Gwenallt Jones) ‘being mortally wounded in the bastions of learning … the classics wasting away’. But becoming bitter was not in John’s character, and he remained an indefatigable organiser of extra- and intramural events, all promoting various aspects of his subject. Until the 1980s, he ran day-schools in Latin for school pupils and their teachers at the University. For a decade or more, he produced annual performances of Greek and Roman dramas with Joan Haldane, and continued to arrange regular meetings of the Bangor branch of the Classical Association (CA), which he ran for half a century with the most active programme of all CA branches. Each speaker who had the pleasure of travelling to Bangor to talk to the students remembers with fondness and pride the posters, hand-drawn by John, that publicised their visits. These works of art, and much other material, now reside within the archives of Bangor University. In addition, John continued for many years to travel to other universities to give CA lectures.
He had also been curator of the local museum at Bangor for 15 years or so, playing a central role in organising an exhibition to celebrate the University’s centenary in 1984, and designing the mace, among other things (
In early and even middle life, John was quite an athlete, playing soccer and cricket for his school and continuing to play rugby for the University’s 2nd XV until he was 40. He also made amazingly long bike journeys, once riding well over 200 miles from Llanrwst to London to visit a friend. He even took up fencing shortly before retiring in his late sixties, and was soon representing Wales on the veterans’ (over-45s’) team. He continued competing until he was over 80, and went on doing bouts and umpiring until his late eighties. Those who attended his 80th birthday celebration in Bangor will recall the University’s Fencing Club forming a guard of honour for him and Renée.
John published relatively prolifically by the standards of UK Classics at the time. His research interests coincided closely with those of his senior colleague at Bangor, R.E. Wycherley, the Professor of Greek, who worked with the American archaeologists at the Athenian Agora and had already published his influential
Despite having started as a linguistic scholar, John expanded his analytical skills to range from inscriptions and pottery to ancient metallurgy and the Greek house. Throughout the Bangor years, he conducted archaeological research in Attica – usually in summer vacations as well as during sabbaticals in 1966, 1973 and 1980 – when he would drive the family across Europe in a VW camper van. From the late 1950s onwards, John became widely known for his co-directorship of important excavations of rural dwellings – notably the Dema House (1958–60, published with admirable promptness in 1962:
The importance of this fieldwork, and of the publication of these excavations in those decades, cannot be overstated. Despite important work by French scholars on the demes of Attica and the Athenian silver mines in the late nineteenth century, anglophone scholars had traditionally treated Athens as if it was just a town, considering the countryside only in as far as it was the site for battles. Robert Hopper, at Sheffield, had, in the 1950s and 1960s, drawn attention to the importance of the Laurium silver mines and of relations between town and country for the history of archaic Athens in two influential articles in
Perhaps John’s most enduring and oft-consulted publication is the co-authored article – often known simply as ‘Jones, Sackett and Graham’ – that occupies 98 pages of the
John’s particular contribution to scholarly understanding of Athenian society and economy was twofold. The first was to bring to the attention of historians and archaeologists alike the importance of the archaeological evidence for housing, both in the countryside and in the town. Crucial here was the paper on ‘Town and country houses of Attica in Classical times’ given at a conference in Ghent in 1973 and published as an extensive 73-page article, well illustrated with line drawings, in 1975 (
He was also occupied with projects in Crete and the Peloponnese. His final publication in Greek archaeology, a volume on surface survey data gathered in 1969 from an area within Eleia (north-west Peloponnese) that was about to be flooded as a result of the construction of a dam, appeared as recently as 2016 (
John was a skilled artist and embellished his publications with reconstruction drawings of houses and other structures, often set in a realistic countryside ( The Vari House, by John. Courtesy Angharad Ellis Jones. (A) Aerial view from east. (B) Aerial view from south.
John also contributed to what we would now call Outreach not only through his many accessible publications but also through the broadcast media. On one occasion, he was interviewed for radio in Welsh by the cultured, and now highly distinguished, broadcaster Hywel Gwynfryn, MBE, about the Laurion and the Attic silver-processing industry.
Outside the University, John was active in local societies and wrote many papers on local history and archaeology, the majority of them in his native language; the last appeared in 2023 (
John’s achievements earned him Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries of London and election as Vice-President of the Classical Association, a rare honour for one who had not previously held high office in the organisation. It was a richly deserved recognition of his remarkable efforts in maintaining the vitality of the Bangor & North Wales Branch for half a century.
John died after a fall at the age of 93. He is survived by his daughters and son, as well as a grandson, Gruff Morgan. His funeral, in Welsh and English, took place in Capel Seion at his birthplace of Llanrwst on 20 February 2023.
We shall not see his like again. But, to cite a Welsh version (by the poet T. Gwynn Jones) of the words of Callimachus, ‘na ddyweded undyn mai bedd yw diwedd y da’: ‘let no one say the grave is the end of the good’ (Gwynn Jones and Rose
1971. 1974. (1st author with A.J. Graham and L.H. Sackett) 1976. (2nd editor with D.G. Jones) 1982. (2nd editor with D.G. Jones) 1983. 1985. (2nd editor with D.G. Jones) 1988. (ed.) 1996. 1997. (ed.) J. Gwyn Griffiths, 2016. (1st author with O. Kouka)
1957. (1st author with L.H. Sackett and C.W.J. Eliot) “Τὸ Δέμα: a survey of the Aigaleos–Parnes wall”, 1962. (1st author with L.H. Sackett and A.J. Graham) ‘The Dema House in Attica’, 1973. (1st author with A.J. Graham and L.H. Sackett) ‘An Attic country house below the cave of Pan at Vari’, 1992. (2nd author with L.H. Sackett et al.) ‘Excavation and architecture’, in L.H. Sackett, 1994. (2nd author with E. Photos-Jones) ‘The building and industrial remains at Agrileza, Laurion (fourth century
Indexed by titular year. The actual year of publication, if different, is in [ ] square brackets. 1960. (1st author with L.H. Sackett, A.J. Graham) ‘Dema House excavations’, 1963. ‘A country house in Attica’, 1967. (1st author with A.J. Graham, L.H. Sackett) ‘Brief account of cleaning operations at a Classical house site near Vari in Attica’, 1970. ‘Excavations in the Peneios valley’, 1975. ‘Another country house in Attica’, 1977. ‘Industrial sites in the Agrileza valley, Laurion’, 1977–8. ‘Laurion: Agrileza valley’, 1978. ‘Agrileza valley’, 1978. ‘Vallée d’Agrileza’, 1978–9. ‘Laurion: Agrileza’, 1979. ‘Laurion: industrial site in the Agrileza valley’, 1979. ‘Ore-washeries of the Laurium, Attica’, in J.N. Coldstream and M.A.R. Colledge (eds), 1979. ‘Vallée d’Agrileza’, 1979–80. ‘Laurion: Agrileza’, 1980. ‘Vallée d’Agrileza, fouilles de l’École britannique’, 1981. ‘Laurion: the silver-mine site at Agrileza’, 1981. ‘Vallée d’Agrileza, fouilles de l’École britannique’, 1981–2. ‘Laureion, Agrileza’, 1983. ‘An Athenian silver-mine ergasterion in the Laureotike’, in 1984. ‘Agrileza, fouilles de l’École britannique’, 1984–5. ‘Laurion, Agrileza, 1977–83: excavations at a silver-mine site’, 1988. ‘An Athenian silver-mine ergasterion at Agrileza in the Laureotike’, in 1990. ‘Ancient beehives at Thorikos: combed pots from the Velatouri’, in H.F. Mussche, J. Bingen, J.E. Jones and M. Waelkens, 1995–6. ‘Agrileza’, 1996. ‘Agrileza’, 1996–7. (1st author with E. Photos-Jones) ‘Agrileza’, 1997–8. ‘Agrileza’,
1975. ‘Introduction’, ‘Notes’ and ‘Bibliography’, in D. Ellis Evans (ed.), 1975. ‘Town and country houses of Attica in Classical times’, in H.F. Mussche, P. Spitaels and F. Goemaere-De Poerck (eds), 1987. ‘Cities of victory: patterns and parallels’, in E. Chrysos (ed.), 1987. ‘The silver mines of Athens’, in B. Cunliffe (ed.), 1988. ‘The Athenian silver mines of Laurion and the British School at Athens excavations at Agrileza’, in 1991. ‘The planning and construction of Attic ergasteria’, in A. Hoffman, E.L. Schwandner, W. Hoepfner and G. Brands (eds), 1997. ‘Greek and Roman mines’, in B.M. Fagan (ed.), 1998. ‘The three washeries at Agrileza in the Laureotike’, in 2007. ‘ “Living above the shop”: domestic aspects of the ancient industrial workshops of the Laureion area of south-east Attica’, in R. Westgate, N.R.E. Fisher and J. Whitley (eds), 2009. ‘Yr athronwyr Helenistaidd’ [‘The Hellenistic philosophers’], in J. Daniel and W.L. Gealy (eds),
1969. ‘Bryn y Gefeiliau (Caern. SH746572)’, in V.E. Nash-Williams (ed.), rev. M.G. Jarrett, 1976. (2nd author with D.G. Jones) ‘Chwilio am Ewrop’ [‘Looking for Europe’], in 1976. ‘Byd yr Orient Express’ [‘The world of the Orient Express’], in 1979. Contributions to H. Thomas (ed.), 1982. ‘Drama a theatrau’r henfyd a’u dylanwad’ [‘Ancient drama and theatres and their influence’], in 1982. ‘Theatrau’r Adferiad a’r ddeunawfed ganrif ym Mhrydain’ [‘Theatres of the Restoration and the eighteenth century in Britain’], in 1992. ‘Classics in a cold climate: tradition, change, continuity. Bangor, a case study’, in
1970. ‘Imperial guards’, 1974. ‘Δύο ἀττικαὶ ἀγροτικαὶ οἰκίαι—Two Attic country houses’, 1974. ‘Mêl Mynydd Hymettus’ [‘Mount Hymettus honey’], 1975. Illustrations in A.J. Graham, ‘Beehives from ancient Greece’, 1976. ‘Hives and honey of Hymettus’, 1976. ‘Laveries (ἐργαστήρια) sur la pente nord de la Haute Agrileza’, 1978. ‘Datblygiad cymdeithas drefol’ [‘The development of urban society’], 1979. (3rd author with W.W. Phelps and G. Varoufakis) ‘Five copper axes from Greece’, 1979. (2nd author with L.H. Sackett) ‘Knossos: a Roman house revisited’, 1979. ‘Peinture d’une maison romaine à Knossos en Crète [résumé]’, 1981. ‘Archaeoleg diwydiannol yr oes glasurol: mwyngloddiau arian dinas Athen, I. Daeareg a dull y cloddio’ [‘Industrial archaeology of the Classical age: silver mines of the city of Athens, I. Geology and method of excavation’], 1982. ‘Another Eleusinian kernos from Laureion’, 1982. (1st author with Rhodri C. Ellis Jones) ‘Archaeoleg diwydiannol yr oes glasurol: mwyngloddiau arian dinas Athen, II. Trin y mwyn crai’ [‘Industrial archaeology of the Classical age: silver mines of the city of Athens, II. The treatment of the raw ore’], 1982. ‘The Laurion silver mines: a review of recent researches and results’, 1983. ‘Archaeoleg diwydiannol yr oes glasurol: mwyngloddio arian dinas Athen, III. O’r mwyn i’r metel’ [‘Industrial archaeology of the Classical age: silver mining of the city of Athens, III. From the ore to the metal’], 1983. ‘Berlin conference on “Living in the Classical City”’, 1984. ‘Ancient Athenian silver-mines, dressing floors and smelting sites’, 1987. ‘Eine Erzwaschanlage in Agrileza: britische Ausgrabungen im attischen Silberbergbaugebiet von Laurion’, 1999. (1st author with S. Lambert) ‘Two security horoi from an ore-washery at Agrileza, southern Attica’, 2001. (2nd author with S. Ebbinghaus) ‘New evidence on the von Mercklin class of rhyta: a black-gloss rhyton from Agrileza, Laureion, Attica’, 2001. ‘Yr athronwyr Helenistaidd’ [‘The Hellenistic philosophers’], 2002. (2nd author with V.R. Anderson-Stojanović) ‘Ancient beehives from Isthmia’, 2016. ‘Before the flood: rescue excavations’, 2016. ‘Euripides of Bangor’, 2018. ‘An ancient Maginot Line’,
1977–8. ‘A Roman coin from Dinas near Porth Dafarch, Holyhead’, 1983. ‘A Penmaenmawr quern returned’, 1983. ‘A Roman coin hoard from Menai Bridge’, 1984. ‘Bedd Angharad James o Benamnen, Dolwyddelan’ [‘The grave of Angharad James of Penamnen, Dolwyddelan’], 1984. ‘Sketch and note of the new mace’, 1985. ‘The Museum of Welsh Antiquities: a centenary note’, 1985. ‘The Museum of Welsh Antiquities, Bangor: work on the collections and exhibitions, an archaeological catalogue and recent archaeological accessions’, 1985. ‘A stone axe from Llanddoget, Llanrwst’, 1985. ‘A Roman milestone re-exhibited: the Severan milestone from Rhiwgoch, Aber, and other milestones on the Roman road between Conovium and Segontium’, 1985. ‘A stone axe from Mynydd Bychan, Aberdovey’, 1986. ‘A silver sixpence of Edward VI (1547–1553) found at Bangor’, 1987. ‘Two Romano-British bronze oxhead bucket-handle mounts from Dinas, Holyhead’, 1990. ‘Roman coins from Cemais on the North Anglesey coast’, 1994. ‘Crimean medals: a museum note. A Bangor veteran and the nineteenth-century British army’, 2005. ‘A punch bowl in the ceramic collection of the University of Wales, Bangor: vanished dreams of military glory and the reality of eighteenth-century recruitment’, 2007. ‘Llanrwst Grammar School: a century of clerical and classical headmasters’, 2008. ‘Traddodiad clasurol Bangor: trem ar adrannau clasurol Coleg Prifysgol Gogledd Cymru, Bangor’ [‘Bangor’s classical tradition: a look at the classical departments of University College of North Wales, Bangor’], 2009. ‘Classical one-day schools at Bangor: glimpses at a bye-gone age’, 2009. ‘Ysgolion undydd clasurol Bangor [‘Bangor’s classical one-day schools’] (1959–1986)’, 2010. ‘Classical play productions at UCNW, Bangor’, 2011. ‘Llanrwst Grammar School: a postscript’, 2012. ‘Arysgrif: nodyn am ddechrau achos crefyddol ym mhentref Tregarth, ger Bangor, a’i ddiwedd’ [‘Inscription: note about the beginning and end of a religious cause in the village of Tregarth, near Bangor’], 2012. ‘Two late seventeenth-century Welsh chests, one pair of hands?’, 2013–14. ‘Dau gastell Dolwyddelan [Two Dolwyddelan castles]: in memoriam fratris, W.G.J. (1927–2000)’, 2014. (1st author with Angharad Stockwell) ‘Tomen Castell, Dolwyddelan, Gwynedd, North Wales: excavations at an early castle site’, 2015. ‘Bangor’s first theatre?’, 2015. ‘Hanes diwedd yr achos yn Nhanycelyn M.C., Dyffryn Conwy’ [‘The story of the end of the cause in Tanycelyn M.C., Dyffryn Conwy’], 2018–19. ‘Pen-y-Gwryd: y gaer Rufeinig wrth odre’r Wyddfa’ [‘Pen-y-Gwryd: the Roman camp at the foot of Snowdon’], 2019. ‘Llanrwst Grammar School: headmasters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’, 2020. ‘The Roman “marching camp” at Pen-y-Gwryd at the foot of Snowdon: investigations 1960–1962. In mem. fratris, Hywel Wyn Jones (1944–2019)’, 2023. ‘A roll-call of classicists: a shorter history of classical staff at the University College of North Wales, Bangor, 1884–1995’,
1996. ‘Bee-keeping’, 1996. ‘Laurium’, 1996. ‘Metallurgy, Greek’, 1996. ‘Mines and mining, Greek’, 1996. ‘Thoricus’, 1998. ‘Mines and mining, Greek’, in S. Hornblower and A.J.S. Spawforth (eds),
1975. Sinos, 1976. Ward Perkins, 1980. Spitaels et al., 1983. Papageorgiou-Venetas, 1983. Spitaels, 1984. Crane, 1989. Osborne, 1990. Hoepfner and Schwandner, 1990. Kolb, 1991. Tomlinson, 1995. Crouch, 1996. Tölle-Kastenbein, 1996. Shepherd,
1985–6. Obituary notice of Professor R.E. Wycherley. 1987–8. Dr R.A. Browne. 1989. Dr C. Bullock-Davies. 2006. A.J. Graham.
The note in
Sekunda, N.V. (ed.) 2010.
Davies, Ceri. 2010. ‘Cambrian Euripides: three Welsh-language versions of the Alcestis’, in Sekunda 2010 [above], 178–88, esp. p. 178.
Davies, Ceri. 2023. ‘John Ellis Jones: 1929–2023. Ysgolhaig clasurol ac archeolegydd a gydnabyddid yn gydwladol ac a fu’n lladmerydd egnïol i’w bwnc yng Nghymru’ [‘… Internationally recognised classical scholar and archaeologist who was a vigorous advocate of his subject in Wales’],
Ellis Jones, Angharad. 2023. ‘John Ellis Jones obituary’,
Ellis Jones, Angharad, Ellis Jones, Catrin and Ellis Jones, Rhodri C. 2022. ‘Hugh and John Ellis Jones’, in J.M. Driessen and C. Knappett (eds),
Ellis Jones, Rhodri C., Price, Angharad and Ros, Manon Steffan (eds). 2024.
Sackett, L. Hugh. 2010. ‘A tribute to John Ellis Jones’, in Sekunda 2010 [above], 5–9.
Shipley, D. Graham J. 2023. ‘John Ellis Jones’, University of Leicester website (available online <
Shipley, D. Graham J., Davies, Ceri and Ellis Jones, Angharad. forthcoming. ‘Mr John Ellis Jones’,
* This memoir,
The assistance of Catrin Ellis Jones and Rhodri Ellis Jones; of Amalia Kakissis (British School at Athens Archive) and Evgenia Villioti (British School at Athens Library); and especially of Elen Simpson (Archives & Special Collections Manager, Bangor University) and Lynne Edwards (friend, and typist for over 25 years, who shared his interests in Classical history) is gratefully acknowledged. Several correspondents’ memories of John have been incorporated anonymously.
See John’s obituary of Wycherley at