Philip Humphrey Vellacott (16 January 1907 – 24 August 1997) was an English

classical scholar 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 ...

, known for his numerous translations of

Greek tragedy Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy. Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...

. He was born at

Grays, Essex Grays (or Grays Thurrock) is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. The town which is both a former civil parish and one of Thurrock's traditional Church of England parishes is located on the north ...

and educated at

St Paul's School, London (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent school Public school , religion = Church of England , president = , h ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Ma ...

, where he was awarded a double first in the Classics

Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mat ...

.Obituary by Richard Luckett
''The Independent'', 3 September 1997. During the 1930s, Vellacott taught at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, and schools including Dulwich College, London. He carried on teaching through the Second World War, as he was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...

. It was during his time as a teacher that he completed most of his

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.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 Gree ...

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 ...

and

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...

. Vellacott lectured on Greek drama on four tours in the US and spent time as a visiting lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz.''Euripides: The Bacchae and other plays'' (Ion, The Women of Troy, Helen, The Bacchae) (1954) He retired in 1967 to

Radnorshire , HQ = Presteigne , Government = Radnorshire County Council (1889–1974) Radnorshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin = , Status = historic county, administrative county , Start ...

, where he carried on writing until his death in 1997. In 1939 he married Nancy Agnew. The artist

Elisabeth Vellacott Elisabeth Jessie Vellacott (28 January 1905 – 21 May 2002) was an English painter working on figures and narrative landscapes. In her later work she often painted on wooden board rather than canvas and she had her first solo exhibition at the ...

was his sister.

Works, other than translations

*''Ordinary Latin'' (1962) *''Writing in Latin'' (1970) with D. P. Simpson *''Sophocles and Oedipus: A Study of Oedipus Tyrannus with a New Translation'' (1971) *''Ironic drama. A study of Euripides' method and meaning'' (1975) *''Logic of Tragedy: Morals and Integrity in Aeschylus' Oresteia'' (1984) *''The English Reader's Guide to Sophocles' Two Oedipus Plays'' (1993)

Translations

*''Aeschylus: The Oresteian Trilogy'' (Agamemnon, The Choephori, The Eumenides) (1956) *''Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound and other plays'' (Prometheus Bound, The Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes, The Persians) (1961) *''Euripides: Alcestis and other plays'' (Hippolytus, Iphigenia in Tauris, Alcestis) (1953) (republished as ''Three Plays'' (1972)) *''Euripides: The Bacchae and other plays'' (Ion, The Women of Troy, Helen, The Bacchae) (1954) *''Euripides: Medea and other plays'' (Medea, Hecabe, Electra, Heracles) (1963) *''Euripides: Orestes and other plays'' (The Children of Heracles, Andromache, The Suppliant Women, The Phoenician Women, Orestes, Iphigenia in Aulis) (1972) *''Theophrastus: The Characters, and Menander: Plays and Fragments'' (1967)

References

External links

*Schmiel, Rober
"Review of ''Ironic Drama: A Study of Euripides' Method and Meaning'' by Philip Vellacott"
The American Journal of Philology Vol. 97, No. 2 (Summer, 1976), pp. 183–185 1907 births 1997 deaths People from Grays, Essex People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge English classical scholars Academics of the University of Liverpool Greek–English translators 20th-century translators Translators of Ancient Greek texts {{England-academic-bio-stub