Lewis was a "
student" (that is,
fellow) of
Christ Church, Oxford and Professor of Ancient History at the
University of Oxford. In his obituary in
The Guardian newspaper (16 July 1994), it was stated that Prof. Lewis "has been, for the last two or three decades, the world's leading authority in the field of
Greek epigraphy." He was also an authority in several ancillary fields, "a profoundly learned scholar in Greek history" according to the Princeton Alumni Weekly memorial tribute. A native of
London, he attended the
City of London School, was an undergraduate at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford (where he said he was one of the last people to be allowed to do postgraduate work without registering for a higher degree) and studied for his
PhD in classics at
Princeton University. He also studied at the
Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton, New Jersey, the
British School in
Athens, and at
Christ Church, Oxford. Lewis was a scholar of ancient
Greek history. Much of his work was concerned with
inscriptions, but he insisted (in particular in an address to the epigraphic conference in
University of Cambridge in 1967) that
epigraphy should not be an activity for initiates only, but should be one means among others to the end of understanding the ancient world as fully as possible. He took a particular interest in what could be learnt from texts which even those who venture into the world of inscriptions find intimidating, accounts of expenditure and inventories of temple treasures; and this interest was extended to oriental documents, in particular the fortification tablets from
Persepolis. His
Jewish faith prompted the development of a second area of expertise,
Middle Eastern history. Lewis was very proud of his work in editing three volumes on Archaic and Classical Greek history in the second edition of the
Cambridge Ancient History. He published a book,
Sparta and Persia, in 1977, and a shorter work,
The Jews of Oxford, in 1992. He also edited several Oxford publications in the classics, including
The Decrees of the Greek States published posthumously in 1997. He also published hundreds of book reviews, as many as eighteen appearing in a single year (1977). == Education ==