Hamilton, Edith

Hamilton, Edith

(born Aug. 12, 1867, Dresden, Saxony—died May 31, 1963, Washington, D.C., U.S.) U.S. scholar and educator. Born in Germany of American parents, Hamilton grew up in Fort Wayne, Ind., U.S. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College and at age 29 headed its preparatory school. Ultimately preferring classical studies to school administration, she retired in 1922 to write such historical works as The Greek Way (1930) and The Roman Way (1932). Her Mythology (1943) was studied by millions as a textbook.

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Hamilton, Edith (1867–1963) classicist, author; born in Dresden, Germany (sister of Alice Hamilton). Born to Americans visiting abroad, she learned Latin and Greek while a child. She was educated at Bryn Mawr (B.A., M.A. 1894) and then served as the headmistress of the Bryn Mawr School (Baltimore, Md.), the first U.S. school designed to prepare young women for college (1896–1922). Under considerable strain, she retired to what would be a life devoted to literature and writing. She began with a series of articles on ancient drama in Theatre Arts Monthly (1927–29) and then made a sudden impact with The Greek Way (1930). She continued to publish articles and other books such as Mythology (1942) that, if not taken that seriously by scholarly specialists, made her one of the 20th century's best-known popularizers of the classical tradition. In her late years she was the recipient of many honors such as honorary citizenship of Athens and an invitation from President Kennedy to his inauguration.