John Watson McCrindle (16 May 1825 - 16 July 1913, West Cliff-on-Sea) was a Scottish classical philologist and educator who wrote several major works on references to India in ancient classical writings.

Life

McCrindle was the son of John McCrindle and was born near

Maybole Maybole is a town and former burgh of barony and police burgh in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It had an estimated population of in . It is situated south of Ayr and southwest of Glasgow by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The town is bypass ...

, Ayrshire and went to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

where he received the Stratton Gold Medal in 1853. He graduated BA in 1854 and MA in 1855 and taught for a while in Edinburgh schools before moving to India in 1859 to become Principal of the Doveton College in Calcutta. He became a professor at Patna College and later at Krishnagar College. He became the first principal of Patna College from 1867 and retired in 1880. He founded a school for girls in Patna. He wrote a number of works (first in the ''Indian Antiquary'' and later as books) on ancient India as described in the works of

Ctesias Ctesias (; grc-gre, Κτησίας; fl. fifth century BC), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fi ...

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; grc, Μεγασθένης, c. 350 BCE– c. 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but has ...

and

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period. ''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...

; the ''Periplus Maris Erythraei'' ("Coastal Cruise of the Red Sea");

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

's geography of India and the invasion of India by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

References

External links

Ancient India as described in classical literature (1901)

Ancient India as described by Ptolemy (1885)

Ancient India as described by Ktesias the Knidian (1882)

Commerce and navigation of the Erythraean sea (1879)

Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian (1877)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCrindle, J. W. 19th-century British historians Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 1825 births 1913 deaths