Colin Wells (historian)
British historian (1933-2010)
Colin Michael Wells (15 November 1933 in West Bridgford – 11 March 2010 in North Wales) was a British historian of ancient Rome, as well as scholar and archaeologist of classical antiquities.
Biography
After studying at Oriel College, Oxford, from 1952 to 1954, he left university for military service. He joined the 41st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and was stationed in Egypt and Germany. He returned to Oxford and gained his B.A. in 1958 and M.A. in 1959. He also served as a lieutenant in the South Nottinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry, Royal Horse Artillery.
Wells moved to Ottawa in 1960, where he taught Latin, Ancient History, and Archaeology at the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Ottawa. He earned his DPhil from University of Oxford in 1965 under the supervision of Ian Richmond. His thesis was titled "The Frontiers of the Empire Under Augustus". He went on to chair the department in Ottawa.
His 1972 work, The German Policy of Augustus, presented new archaeological evidence concerning Augustus' German campaigns.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3682651. VIAF identifies the subject as 57623743. The Library of Congress control number is n83026137. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1933, 2010, 1952 and 1954.
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This entry incorporates text from “Colin Wells (historian)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.