James Adam (7 April 1860 – 30 August 1907) was a Scottish

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

who taught Classics at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

Life

He was born on 7 April 1860 in Kinmuck in the parish of Keithhall near

Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography Inverurie is in the vall ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

. He was educated at the Old Grammar School in

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It ret ...

, at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

where he studied under William Geddes and gained his B.A. as Senior Classic in 1884, and at

where he graduated as M.A. in 1888. In 1884 Adam was appointed Junior Fellow and soon thereafter Senior Lecturer in the Classics at Emmanuel College. In 1890, a former student of his, Adela Marion (''née'' Kensington) (1866–1944), became his wife and lifelong collaborator. Their daughter, Barbara Frances (1897–1988), was the British sociologist and criminologist Lady

Barbara Wootton Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger, CH (14 April 1897 – 11 July 1988) was a British sociologist and criminologist. She was the first of four women to be appointed as a life peer, entitled to serve in the House of Lords, under the ...

; one of their sons, Captain Arthur Innes Adam, was killed in France on 16 September 1916; and another son,

Neil Kensington Adam Neil Kensington Adam (5 November 1891 – 19 July 1973) was a British chemist. Education Adam was born in Cambridge, the first of three children of James Adam (1860–1907), a Classics don, and his classicist wife Adela Marion (née Kensingto ...

, became a noted chemist. Adam was "one of the greatest Platonists of his generation". His editions and commentaries on

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's ''Apology'', ''Crito'', ''Euthyphro'', ''Protagoras'', and the ''Republic'' are widely respected even today:

istwo-volume critical edition of the ''Republic'' was another major contribution to the field. Though his preface claims 'an editor cannot pretend to have exhausted its significance by means of a commentary,' Adam's depth of knowledge and erudite analysis of the Greek text ensured that his edition remained the standard reference for decades to follow, and it remains a thought-provoking evaluation of one of the great works of Western thought.

He was a "strong defender of the importance of Greek philosophy in a well-rounded education" and "a resolute opponent of all attempts to make Greek an optional study". He was also a "keen supporter of the claims of women to degrees, when the question came before the senate of the university in 1897" In 1904 and 1905 Adam delivered the

Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford. Their purpose is to "promote and diffuse the study of natural theology in the widest sense of the term – in o ...

at Aberdeen, choosing for his subject "The Religious Teachers of Greece". He died in Aberdeen on 30 August 1907.

Editions and commentaries on Plato

*
Platonis Apologia Socratis
'. Cambridge University Press, 1887. New edition, 1891. *
Platonis Crito
'. Cambridge University Press, 1888. 2nd edition, 1893. *
Platonis Euthyphro
'. Cambridge University Press, 1890. *
Platonis Protagoras
'. Cambridge University Press, 1893 with Adela Marion Adam.
''The Republic of Plato''
Cambridge University Press, 1897. 2nd edition edited by D. A. Rees, 1965.

Other writings

*
The Nuptial Number of Plato: its Solution and Significance
'. 1891. *
The Intellectual and Ethical Value of Classical Education
'. Cambridge, 1895. *
The Religious Teachers of Greece: Being Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at Aberdeen
'. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1908. Edited, with a memoir, by Adela Marion Adam from the

delivered in 1904-06. *
The Vitality of Platonism, and Other Essays
'. Edited and published by A.M. Adam in 1911.

References

External links

*
Gifford Lecture Series - Authors
includes short bio and a link to view Adam's ''Religious Teachers of Greece''.
J. Adam & A.M. Adam's Commentary on the Protagoras at Perseus Adam's Commentary on the Republic at PerseusThe Republic of Plato, edited with critical notes and introduction on the text by James Adam.
Cambridge: University Press, 1900 (reprint of the first edition of 1899). {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, James Scottish classical scholars Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1860 births 1907 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 20th-century Scottish writers People from Inverurie