Anthony Arthur Barrett (born July 30, 1941) is a British-Canadian Classical scholar and the author of several books on Roman antiquity.

Barrett attended Hookergate Grammar School, near Rowlands Gill,[1] then the University of Durham (King’s College), where he graduated in Latin in 1963.

He argues that although the archaeological evidence suggests that the fire was less extensive than is popularly believed, the economic and political repercussions were enormous and contributed substantially to the demise of Rome’s first ruling dynasty, the Julio-Claudians.

He showed that a supposedly modern standard observation technique, “averted vision,” was recorded nearly two and half thousand years ago by Aristotle.

[12] He also developed an interest in the architect Francis Rattenbury, designer of some of the major landmarks of British Columbia, and co-authored a major study of his career,[13] as well as a Penguin volume on Rattenbury and the murder trial that followed his death, co-authored with the Attorney General of England and Wales, Sir Michael Havers (Baron Havers).