Augustus C. Merriam

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Augustus Chapman Merriam (born May 30, 1843 in Leyden , New York , † January 19, 1895 in Athens ) was an American classical philologist , archaeologist and epigraphist who worked at Columbia University from 1868 . He was the first professor of archeology and epigraphy at Columbia University and a major exponent of this branch of ancient studies in the United States.

Life

Augustus Chapman Merriam was the youngest child of Ela Merriam (1794–1873) and Lydia Sheldon Merriam (1800–1886). He grew up with twelve siblings on a farm in Leyden (New York), which his father had moved in 1821 and which was called Locust Grove . His father was a farmer, commander of the local militia and from 1824 to 1850 head of the postal system in the region.

Augustus C. Merriam studied from 1862 to 1866 at Columbia College (later Columbia University ) in New York (with Charles Anthon and Henry Drisler ), where he received his bachelor's degree (A. B.) in 1866 . From 1867 to 1868 he taught at Columbia Grammar School (an academic preschool) before he was hired as a tutor of Greek and Latin (from 1876: only Greek) at Columbia College in 1868. At this university he spent his entire subsequent career. After he received an honorary doctorate (Ph. D. hon.) From Hamilton College in 1879 , Columbia College appointed him Adjunct Professor of Greek Language and Literature in 1880.

Merriam was one of the first ancient scholars in the United States to study epigraphy . He was a life member of the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Philological Association and participated in the joint project of the two societies to set up a study center for American students in Greece. This was the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA), founded in 1881. Merriam served on its governing body from 1885. In 1886/87 he was President of the American Philological Association, in the following year 1887/88 Director of the ASCSA. In this function he led the archaeological excavations of the school in Sikyon and Dionyso, during which the location of the Attic demos Ikaria was confirmed for the first time .

Upon his return to the United States, Merriam was appointed Professor of Greek Archeology and Epigraphy at Columbia College in 1890. He was the first to hold this newly created chair. In addition, he continued to participate in the work of the governing body of the ASCSA (also as chairman of the committee for the publications of the school) and was from 1891 to 1894 President of the Archaeological Institute of America.

In July 1894, Merriam went on a long study trip to Europe, for which he took a year off. He stayed in England until December 1894, then traveled on to Greece and reached Athens on December 25, 1894. During a visit to the Acropolis , he caught a severe cold, which turned into one after another visit to the Acropolis in January developed acute pneumonia . He died four days later, on January 19, 1895, at the age of 51.

Merriam was buried in the First Athens Cemetery (Protestant Section). His name is also recorded on his family's grave in Locust Grove.

Scientific work

The Obelisk ( Cleopatra's Needle ) before its transfer to New York. Contemporary photography

Merriam's research focus was originally (in line with his academic teaching post) on Greek literature. He published some studies on the Homeric epics and an edition of the Phaiaken episode of the Odyssey (1880). His studies in the history of literature gradually led him to archeology and epigraphy, which in the 19th century made possible a new evaluation of various issues through numerous finds.

Current events also led Merriam to archeology. In 1880 an Egyptian obelisk , the so-called Cleopatra's needle , was transported from Alexandria to New York. While the obelisk was on display in Central Park , the inscription plates ended up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . Merriam carefully examined the Greek inscriptions on the obelisk and re-dated the obelisk. In his research, Merriam found out, for example, that the dedication inscription did not (as Theodor Mommsen had assumed) refer to Gaius Iulius Caesar , but to his nephew Caesar Augustus . The consequences of this discovery for Roman constitutional law were explained by Merriam in 1883 in his book The Greek and Latin Inscriptions on the Obelisk-Crab in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and in an essay of the same year that was received internationally.

Other publications by Merriam were, on the one hand, a selection edition of Herodotus Histories (1885), on the other hand, individual studies on archaeological and epigraphic topics. He published, for example, on inscriptions on vases, on the town charter of Gortys discovered in 1884 , on painted grave inscriptions and on mythological representations on vases ( Heracles , Geryon , Hydra ). He examined the telecommunications system of the ancient Greeks in a treatise entitled Telegraphing Among the Ancients (1890).

Fonts (selection)

  • The Phaeacian Episode of the Odyssey. Harper & Brothers, New York NY 1880, ( digitized ).
  • The Greek and Latin Inscriptions on the Obelisk-Crab in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. A monograph. Harper & Brothers, New York NY 1883, ( digitized ).
  • The Sixth and Seventh Books of Herodotus. Harper & Brothers, New York NY 1885.
  • Telegraphing Among the Ancients (= Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America. Classical Series. 3). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge MA 1890, ( digitized version ).

literature

  • Clarence H. Young: Necrology: Augustus Chapman Merriam. In: The American Journal of Archeology and of the History of the Fine Arts. Volume 10, No. 2, 1895, pp. 227-229, JSTOR 496576 .
  • Meyer Reinhold : Merriam, Augustus Chapman. In: Ward W. Briggs (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists. Greenwood, Press Westport CT / London 1994, ISBN 0-313-24560-6 , pp. 405f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Merriam Family Tree: Merriam, Ela, b. September 25, 1794 ( en ) Retrieved on May 12, 2015.
  2. ^ Merriam Family Genealogy ( en ) 1910. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  3. ^ Find A Grave Memorial: Augustus Chapman Merriam (1843–1895) ( en ) October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  4. ^ Augustus C. Merriam: The Caesareum and the Worship of Augustus at Alexandria. In: Transactions of the American Philological Association. Volume 14, 1883, pp. 5-35, JSTOR 2935824 .
  5. ↑ See annual report on the progress of classical antiquity. Volume 25, 1891, p. 448 .
personal data
SURNAME Merriam, Augustus C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merriam, Augustus Chapman (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American classical philologist, archaeologist, and epigraphist
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Leyden , New York
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1895
Place of death Athens