William Roger Paton, usually cited as W. R. Paton (9 February 1857 – 21 April 1921),Paton, William Roger (1857–1921), epigraphist and classical scholar
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (David Gill, "Paton, William Roger (1857–1921)", first published 2004) was a Scottish author and translator of ancient Greek texts, mostly known for his translation of the

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Pa ...

Early life and family

Paton was born at

Old Machar Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

(

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland), son of John Paton (1818-1879) and Eliza Deborah Burnett (died 1860). His father, John Paton (Esq., of Ferrachie and Grandholme or Grandhome), was educated in

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and was in military, initially in the Aberdeenshire militia as major and later colonel and deputy lieutenant of

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 ...

, as well as a magistrate. His mother Eliza Deborah Burnett was the daughter of Thomas Burnett of Kepplestone, also from Aberdeenshire. They married on 11 June 1844 and they had five children, four daughters (Mary-Louisa, Ida-Margaret-Helen, Sarah-Matilda and Elisabeth-Bertha) and one son (the fourth child), William Roger, born at 10 Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, on 9 February 1857. His mother died three years later on 24 February 1860 at the age of 37. In 1862, his father married Catherine Margaret, daughter of Col. Lumsden.

Education

He was educated at the same school as his father,

, Windsor, where he studied from 1871 to 1873, boarding at Edward Peake Rouse's house and later on at Oscar Browning's. On 23 October 1876, at the age of 19 he became a student at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

, where he took a first in "

Classical Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...

" in 1877. The following year, he changed direction, starting legal studies for the bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, London. Later on he returned to Oxford and obtained a third in Classics « Literae Humaniores» in 1880. Even though he was not called to the bar, he continued to be involved with Middle Temple until 1884. Later on, in 1900, the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

awarded Paton an honorary PhD.

Marriage and life in the South

He was married in 1885 to Irene Olympitis (1869/70–1908 Paris, daughter of Emmanuel Olympitis, mayor of Kalymnos), a woman from the island of

Kalymnos Kalymnos ( el, Κάλυμνος) is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese island chain, between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of ) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than ): t ...

who had a plot of land in

Myndos Myndus () or Myndos ( el, ) was an ancient Dorian colony of Troezen, on the coast of Caria in Asia Minor, (Turkey), sited on the Bodrum Peninsula, a few miles northwest of Halicarnassus. The site is now occupied by the modern village of Güm� ...

(Gümüşlük) but he later moved to

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...

and

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

so that his sons could attend high school there.

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature ...

, Erinnerungen 1848-1914 (Leipzig: K. F. Koehler, 1929), pp. 227–8, as mentioned i
Andrew Rickard: W. R. Paton, 24 January 2012
/ref> He had two sons and two daughters: George Paton (13 August 1886 – ?), unmarried, Thetis Paton (21 November 1887, Woodside – ?

who married Costakis Svinos in Smyrna, John David Paton, (1890 – 1922), who married Fenella Crombie from Scotland, and Sevastie or Augusta Paton (1900, Myndos – 1989), who married Baron János Kemény, Hungarian author, theater director and dramatist. He appears as a resident of

Vathy, Samos Vathy ( el, Βαθύ, ''Vathý'') also known as Ano Vathy (Άνω Βαθύ, upper Vathy) is an old hillside suburb of Samos Town on the island of Samos, North Aegean, Greece. Before 1958, Samos Town was known as Kato Vathy (lower Vathy) hence man ...

from 1897 to his death, 1921, from a number of periodicals which show this address and some of his published letters. He was a resident in Samos since he got married again with Clio, a woman from Samos, after the death of his first wife. He died on 21 April 1921 in the town of Vathy, Samos.

Timeline

*1857 birth at Old Machar, Aderbdeen *Oxford for studies *1885 (28 y. old) married Irene Olympitis *1886 (29 y. old) birth of his son George *1887 (30 y. old) birth of his daughter Thetis, Woodside, Aberdeen *1890 (33 y. old) birth of his son David *1890 signs letter from Aberdeen *1897 Vathy, Samos *1900 (43 y. old) birth of his daughter Sevastie or Augusta, Myndos *Chios/Lesvos for high school for his sons *1921 (64 y. old) died at Vathy Samos

Works

He published the following books: * The inscriptions of Cos (with E.L. Hicks), Oxford, Clarendon Press, 189

i

* Plutarchi Pythici Dialogoi tre

1893 * Anthologiae Grecae Erotica, London, David Nutt, 1898

* Inscriptiones insularum maris Aegaei praeter Delum, 2. Inscriptiones Lesbi, Nesi, Tenedi, Berlin 1899 * The Greek anthology with an English translation, The Loeb Classical Library
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. I
by W. R. Paton, published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1916 (edition 1927) see als

(contains books I–VI of the Greek Anthology). Also available i

κα�

The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. II
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1917 (edition 1919) also se

(contains books VII–VIII of the Greek Anthology)
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. III
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1915 (έκδοση 1925) δες κα�

(contains book IX of the Greek Anthology)
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. IV
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1918. see als

(contains books X-XII of the Greek Anthology)
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. V
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1918 also se

(contains books XIII–XVI of the Greek Anthology) * The Histories (Polybius), Histories of Polybius,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

, "Polybius, The Histories", six volumes: Greek text with English translation by W. R. PatonThe English text of Histories of Polybius by W. R. Paton
/ref> **I (L128) Books I-II (1922)

https://archive.org/details/historieswitheng01poly] **II (L137) Books III-IV (1922)

**III (L138) Books V-VIII (1923)

**IV (L159) Books IX-XV (1925) **V (L160) Books XVI-XXVII (1926)

**VI (L161) Books XXVIII-XXXIX (1927)

*Plutarchi Moralia (translation), with other authors, in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1925 His works are extensively quoted as the main references both for the ''

'' as well as for

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, William Roger 1857 births 1921 deaths Scottish translators Hellenic epigraphers