Edith Hamilton - Works by Edith Hamilton

Classicist and writer, born in Dresden, Germany, the sister of Alice Hamilton. Born to Americans visiting abroad, she learned Latin and Greek while a child. She was educated at Bryn Mawr (BA; MA 1894), then served as the headmistress (1896–1922) of the Bryn Mawr School (Baltimore, MD), the first US school designed to prepare young women for college. Under considerable strain, she retired to what would be a life devoted to literature and writing. She began with a series of articles on ancient drama in Theatre Arts Monthly (1927–9), then made a sudden impact with The Greek Way (1930). She continued to publish articles and other books, such as Mythology (1942) that, if not taken that seriously by scholarly specialists, made her one of the 20th-c's best-known popularizers of the classical tradition. In her late years she was the recipient of many honours, such as honorary citizenship of Athens and an invitation from President Kennedy to his inauguration.

Edith Hamilton (August 12, 1867 - May 31, 1963) was a classicist and educator before she became a writer on mythology. Her most famous books are The Greek Way (1930) and Mythology (1942).

Edith Hamilton was born in Dresden, Germany and grew up with her parents in Fort Wayne, Indiana. When she was seven, her father began to teach her Latin and soon added French, German, and Greek to her curriculum.

Upon her return to the United States in 1896, Edith Hamilton became the headmistress of Bryn Mawr School for Girls in Baltimore, Maryland, to which she devoted all her energies until her retirement in 1922. Upon retiring, she moved to New York City with her life partner Doris Fielding Reid, and wrote and published various articles about Greek drama. The Greek Way appeared in 1930, and drew informative comparisons between life in ancient Greece and current Greek life. 1932's The Roman Way provided similar contrasts between daily life in ancient Rome and the current life.

Edith Hamilton's correspondence and papers are at Princeton University. "It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life.

Works by Edith Hamilton

The Greek Way (1931) It was such a perennial best-seller that it was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection in 1947
The Roman Way (1932)
The Prophets of Israel (1936)
Three Greek Plays (1937)
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes (1942)
The Golden Age of Greek Literature (1943)
Spokesmen for God (1949)
Witness to the Truth: Christ and His Interpreters (1949)
Echo of Greece (1957)
Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters, ed. by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, Bollingen Series LXXI, Princeton University Press, 1961, fifth printing 1969.
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