David Butterfield works primarily on Latin literature, particularly poetry of the Late Republic and Augustan periods. His research has focused especially on the Roman philosopher-poet Lucretius, whose six-book De rerum natura attempts to explain humans and their society, nature and our planet, and indeed the entirety of the universe, through the then-controversial lens of Epicurean atomism. In addition, he is fascinated by the transmission of knowledge and literature from antiquity to the modern world, and has studied and taught palaeography and codicology, the history of the book, the evolution of the Latin language, and the long and complex history of scholarship.

Before joining Ralston he spent two decades at the University of Cambridge as a student and University Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics, as well as a Fellow of Christ’s College (2008–11) and Queens’ College (2011–23), where he was Director of Studies in Classics, Praelector and Archivist. His teaching covered Latin and Greek literature, prose and verse composition, and textual criticism of the Classics.

He believes that the Humanities stand at the very heart, beating and immovable, of all education, since the whole process of human enquiry, whatever the subject, is inevitably and inextricably linked with understanding the human condition. He is delighted beyond all expectation to have found, and now to be helping foster, an environment so fundamentally committed to the Humanities as Ralston College. As Director of the Latin Program, he had the pleasure of co-ordinating and delivering the first Summer Residency in Italy, held from July to September 2024.

Dr Butterfield took his BA and MA, MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is also Literary Editor of The Critic, Contributing Editor of The Spectator, and Editor-in-chief of Antigone.