John Henry Wright (February 4, 1852 – November 25, 1908)
was an American classical scholar born at
Urumiah (Rezaieh),
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
He earned his Bachelors (1873) and Masters (1876) at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, New Hampshire. After junior appointments (first in Ohio and then at Dartmouth) in 1886 he joined
Johns Hopkins as a professor of
classical philology
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 ...
. In 1887, he became a professor of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
at
Harvard, where, from 1895 to 1908, he was also Dean of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Some of Wright's most notable works are ''A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times'' (1905), a 24–volume history of the world; the translations ''Masterpieces of Greek literature'' (1902); and ''The Origin of
Plato's Cave'' (1906). He was active in the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
, the
American Philological Association, and similar organizations. From 1889 to 1906 he co-edited the ''Classical Review'' (later ''Classical Quarterly'') and from 1897 to 1906 he was chief editor of the ''
American Journal of Archaeology''.
In 1893 Wright met the Indian
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
monk
Swami Vivekananda, who greatly influenced him;
Wright described Vivekananda as "more learned than all our learned professors put together."
Wright received LL.D.s from Dartmouth and
Case Western Reserve University in 1901. He died on 25 November 1908 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
.
Early life
![John Henry Wright young age photo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/John_Henry_Wright_young_age_photo.jpg)
Wright was born on 4 February 1852 in
Urumiah,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. His father, Dr. Austin Hazen Wright (1811-1865) was a medical missionary (Dartmouth alumnus, 1830) in Persia from 1840 to 1865, with an interest in archaeology;
and an Oriental scholar.
Wright's mother was Catherine Myers Wright (1821-1888).
Wright's older sister was the classical archaeologist,
Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell
Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell (March 20, 1845 – March 10, 1888) was an American writer, historian, and expert on ancient art. Mitchell was one of the first Americans to write and publish a book on classical sculpture and was one of the first women ...
.
[
In 1873, Wright obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College and three years later, he obtained his Master of Arts degree from the same school. Afterwards he studied ]Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
for two years (1876–1878) at the University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
. He received LL.D.s from both Dartmouth and Western Reserve University in 1901. His teachers included Georg Curtius
Georg Curtius (April 16, 1820August 12, 1885) was a German philologist and distinguished comparativist.
Biography
Curtius was born in Lübeck, and was the brother of the historian and archeologist Ernst Curtius. After an education at Bonn and ...
and Franz Overbeck.
Career
In 1873, he worked in Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (now known as Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
) as an associate professor of ancient languages (Greek and Latin), being part of the school's first faculty. Teaching graduate studies and doing research in classical antiquity were his forte, which brought him fame. As there was a dearth of faculty to teach his specialization of classical archaeology and Greek history, he created courses on these subjects. He left in 1876. In 1878, he joined Dartmouth College as an associate professor where he taught Greek and German, working at Dartmouth till 1886.
In 1886, he was appointed professor of classical philology and Dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
of the Collegiate Board of Johns Hopkins, and a year later was assigned as professor of Greek at Harvard; in 1895 he became Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He retained the post at Harvard till 1908.
In 1906, he went to Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and worked as an annual professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
, native_name_lang = Greek
, image = American School of Classical Studies at Athens.jpg
, image_size =
, image_alt =
, caption = The ASCSA main building as seen from Mount Lykavittos
, latin_name =
, other_name =
, former_name =
, m ...
until 1907.
Scholarly works
Wright wrote, edited and translated many books, monographs and scholarly papers. Some of his earlier notable works are— ''An Address on the Place of Original Research in Collegiate Education'' (1882), ''The College in the University and Classical Philology in the College'' (1886), translation of Collignon's Manual of Greek Archæology (1886), etc. ''An Address on the Place of Original Research in Collegiate Education'' was a lecture which he delivered on 7 October 1886, at the opening of the eleventh academic year of Johns Hopkins College. In the same year, he translated ''A manual of Greek archaeology'' written by Maxime Collignon
Léon-Maxime Collignon (8 November 1849 in Verdun – 15 October 1917 in Paris) was a French archaeologist who specialized in ancient Greek art and ancient Greek architecture, architecture.
Biography
From 1868 he studied at the École norma ...
to English. In 1892, Wright wrote ''The Date of Cylon''. Though Wright wrote it in 1892, it remained unpublished until Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
's work on the '' Constitution of the Athenians'' was discovered; this resulted in confirming his recording of the "Chronology of Events in Athens" of the seventh century. In 1893, he wrote a paper named ''Herondaea'', which contained valuable research works on the recently discovered papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
of Herondas
The first column of the Herodas papyrus, showing ''Mimiamb'' 1. 1–15.
Herodas or Herondas (Greek: or - the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), was a Greek poet and the author of short humorous dramatic sc ...
. In 1894, his "Studies in Sophocles" was published.
In 1902, Wright edited and published ''Masterpieces of Greek literature''. In this book, he translated and published selections of most notable Greek literature including works of Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, Tyrtaeus
Tyrtaeus (; grc-gre, Τυρταῖος ''Tyrtaios''; fl. mid-7th century BC) was a Greek elegiac poet from Sparta. He wrote at a time of two crises affecting the city: a civic unrest threatening the authority of kings and elders, later recalled i ...
, Archilochus, Callistratus, Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon
Anacreon (; grc-gre, Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ...
, Pindar
Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar ...
, Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
, Sophocles
Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...
, Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
, Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...
, Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
, Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...
, Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...
, 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 ...
, Theocritus
Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...
and Lucian. The book also included short biographical sketches on these philosophers and writers and explanatory notes and analysis. In 1904, he read a paper "Present Problems of the History of the Classical Literature'" at the Congress of Arts and Sciences at the St. Louis Exposition.
In 1905, he served as editor, translator and supervisor on '' A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times'' in twenty-four volumes. The other notable scholars who were involved in this project were Ferdinand Justi
Ferdinand Justi (2 June 1837 in Marburg, Germany – 17 February 1907 in Marburg) was a German linguist and Orientalist.
He finished his studies of linguistics at the University of Marburg and the University of Göttingen. In 1861 he lived in Ma ...
, Sara Yorke Stevenson, and Morris Jastrow. The ''History of All Nations'' consisted of 24 volumes– five were on Antiquity, five on history of the Middle Ages, ten on history of the modern world, two on history of America, and remaining two volumes were comprehensive index volumes of the series. The scholars wrote, they wanted to write a "history of mankind", which required collaboration of many editors and scholars.
In 1906, Wright published "The Origin of Plato's Cave," an outgrowth of his interest in the archaeological excavations of the Cave of Vari on Mt. Hymettus near Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. In this article he deals with the antecedents of the allegory of the cave that the philosopher introduced in the opening of the seventh book of the ''Republic''. Wright demonstrated that the attributes of the allegorical cave closely matched the actual one; he concluded they were likely based on it, with the possible influence of additional elements from the Empedocles
Empedocles (; grc-gre, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the ...
' poem '' Purifications'' and the Quarry-Grottos of Syracuse.
Other activities
In 1893, he became a fellow of American Association of Arts and Sciences. In the same year he was a member of Archaeological Institute of America. In 1894, he became president of the American Philological Association. He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He was a member of New England Classical Association and was the president at its first annual meeting which was held in Springfield in April, 1906. He worked as a co-editor of ''Classical Review'' from 1889 to 1906 and then of its successor ''Classical Quarterly'' in 1907. From 1897 to 1906 he was the chief editor of the ''American Journal of Archaeology''.
He was also one of the notable contributing editors to the classical section of the Twentieth Century Text Books.
Personal life
He married, on 2 April 1879 in Gambier, Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, Mary Tappan Wright, the daughter of Eli Todd Tappan, president of Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...
. Mary was a prominent novelist, author of ''Aliens'' (1902), ''The Test'' (1904), ''The Tower'' (1906), and ''The Charioteers'' (1912). The couple had three children, Elizabeth Tappan Wright (who died at a young age); legal scholar and utopian
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
author Austin Tappan Wright; and the geographer John Kirtland Wright John Kirtland Wright (1891–1969) was an American geographer, notable for his cartography, geosophy, and study of the history of geographical thought. He was the son of classical scholar John Henry Wright and novelist Mary Tappan Wright, and the ...
. They resided in Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
, Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, in that order with their residency in the last interrupted by a period in Athens.["Among the Authors" – article, ''New York Times'', July 14, 1912, p. BR412.] Wright died on 25 November 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife and sons.
Legacy
Wright is considered as one of the most eminent American scholars of the nineteenth century. According to C. B. Gullick "His range in teaching was encyclopaedic, and a keen critical sense, fortified with wide reading, gave him what seemed like the power of divination in interpreting difficult texts". He maintained excellent rapport with his students and was well known for his humour, catholicity and unbiased assessments. Wright's American contemporaries included Henry Simmons Frieze, Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve
Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (October 23, 1831January 9, 1924) was an American classical scholar. An author of numerous works, and founding editor of the ''American Journal of Philology'', he has been credited with contributions to the syntax of Gre ...
, William Watson Goodwin
William Watson Goodwin (May 9, 1831June 15, 1912) was an American classical scholar, for many years Eliot professor of Greek at Harvard University.
Biography
He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, the son of Hersey Bradford Goodwin and Lucretti ...
, William Gardner Hale, William Sanders Scarborough
William Sanders Scarborough (February 16, 1852 – September 9, 1926) is generally thought to be the first African American classical scholar. Born into slavery, Scarborough served as president of Wilberforce University between 1908 and 1920. He wr ...
, and Thomas Day Seymour
Thomas Day Seymour (April 1, 1848December 31, 1907) was an American classical scholar. He spent most of his career as a Professor of Greek at Yale University and published primarily on the works of Homer.
Life
Born in Hudson, Ohio, Seymour gradu ...
, some of whom allied themselves with other academics which ultimately developed the discipline of the "humanities". Wright and his contemporaries wrote memorable works which gained international attention for American classicists of this era. Because of his contributions to Maxime Collignon
Léon-Maxime Collignon (8 November 1849 in Verdun – 15 October 1917 in Paris) was a French archaeologist who specialized in ancient Greek art and ancient Greek architecture, architecture.
Biography
From 1868 he studied at the École norma ...
's ''Manuel d'Archeologie Grecque'' and the classes he offered at Harvard, White was considered a pioneer in the US in the teaching of classical archaeology.
Relationship with Swami Vivekananda
In 1893, Swami Vivekananda went to the United States to the Parliament of the World's Religions
There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...
as a delegate of Hinduism and India. After reaching Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
on 30 July 1893 he learned that no one could attend the Parliament as delegate without credential or bona fide. He did not have one at that moment and he felt utterly disappointed. He also learned the Parliament would not open till first week of September. But, Vivekananda did not give up his hope. To cut his expenditure he decided to go to Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
which was less costly than Chicago.
On August 25, 1893, at Boston, Vivekananda met Wright for the first time. Wright was amazed by Vivekananda's profound knowledge and urged him to attend the upcoming Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
as a speaker. He was so much astonished that he invited Vivekananda to stay in his house as a guest. From August 25 to 27, 1893, Vivekananda stayed at Wright's house at 8 Arlington Street.
When Vivekananda told Wright that he did not have any credential or bona fide to attend the Parliament he reportedly told him— "To ask you, Swami, for your credentials is like asking the sun about its right to shine." Then Wright himself wrote a letter of introduction to the chairman of the Parliament of the World's Religion and suggested to him to invite Vivekananda as a speaker stating — "Here is a man who is more learned than all our learned professors put together." Wright also learned that Vivekananda did not have enough money to buy a railway ticket, so, he bought him a railway ticket too. Even after the conclusion of the Parliament, they kept in touch with each other through correspondence. Vivekananda remained ever thankful to Wright for his help and kindness. In a letter written on 18 June 1894, Vivekananda addressed Wright as brother and wrote — "Stout hearts like yours are not common, my brother. This is a queer place — this world of ours. On the whole I am very very thankful to the Lord for the amount of kindness I have received at the hands of the people of this country — I, a complete stranger here without even 'credentials'. Everything works for the best."
References
Sources
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
; Wright's books
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
The Papers of the Wright Family
at Dartmouth College Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, John Henry
American non-fiction writers
American classical scholars
1852 births
1908 deaths
Dartmouth College alumni
Ohio State University faculty
Classical scholars of Johns Hopkins University
Dartmouth College faculty
Classical scholars of Harvard University
Writers from Massachusetts
Writers from Ohio
Greek–English translators
19th-century translators