Charles Seltman


Charles Theodore Seltman PhD was an English art historian and writer particularly in the area of numismatics.
Charles Seltman was born in Paddington, London, England on 4 August 1886 to Ernest John Seltman and Barbara Smith Watson from Edinburgh, Scotland. He was educated at Berkhamsted School and during World War I served in the Suffolk Regiment in France. He married Isabel May Griffiths Dane, niece of Sir Louis Dane, on 6 June 1917 and in 1918 was accepted into Cambridge University where he specialized in archaeology. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1945.
He is known for his theory that authoritarian societies produce abstract art while free societies produce realistic art.
He was a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge and a University Lecturer in Classics; he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.
His wife is buried at the Ascension Parish [Burial Ground, Cambridge|Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground] in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. He died on 28 June 1957, in Cambridge, and was cremated in Cambridge Crematorium on 1 July 1957. In accordance with his wishes, his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean Sea near Majorca, Spain.

Works

The Temple Coins of Olympia, Greece, 1921Eros: In Early Attic Legend & Art, 1923Athens, Its History & Coinage before the Persian Invasion, 1924The Cambridge Ancient History, Volumes of Plates, I-V. , , , , Attic Vase Painting Martin Classical Lectures, Volume III, 1933Masterpieces of Greek Coinage, 1946Greek Art, 1947, with Chittenden, JacquelineApproach to Greek Art, 1948A Pictorial History of the Queens' College, Cambridge 1448–1948, with Browne, A.D, 1948A Book of Greek Coins, 1952The Twelve Olympians, Gods and Goddesses of Greece, 1952Greek Coins, 1955Women in Antiquity, 1956Wine in the Ancient World, 1957Riot in Ephesus; Writings on the Heritage of Greece, 1958