Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve

Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve

Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (born October 23, 1831 in Charleston , South Carolina ; died January 9, 1924 in Baltimore , Maryland ) was an American classical philologist .

life and work

He was the son of Benjamin Gildersleeve (1791-1875), a renowned Presbyterian preacher and publicist. Basil Gildersleeve studied at Princeton University and received his BA in 1849 at the age of eighteen. He went to Germany for further studies, where he studied with Johannes Franz in Berlin, Friedrich Ritschl at the University of Bonn and finally Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin in Göttingen . In 1853 he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD .

On his return to the United States, Gildersleeve became professor of Greek at the University of Virginia in 1856 . He held this chair until 1876, and during the American Civil War he was also professor of Latin. During the war, Gildersleeve also reported for action in the Confederate troops and was assigned a staff position, which he was only able to fill in the lecture-free period in spring and summer. In 1864 he was hit in the leg by a volley of rifles during a skirmish in the Shenandoah Valley ; for the rest of his life he would hobble as a result of this injury. During his time in Virginia he published a grammar (1867) and a textbook of the Latin language ( Latin Series , 1867), in 1875 he edited an edition of the works of Persius .

In 1875, Daniel Coit Gilman , president of the newly formed Johns Hopkins University , approached Gildersleeve and offered him a better-paid professorship in classical languages. Gildersleeve accepted the offer; the years at his new place of work were the most fruitful of his academic career. In 1877 and again in 1908 he was elected president of the American Philological Association elected in 1880, he led the founding of Johns Hopkins University misplaced American Journal of Philology and coined the profile of the magazine to as editor and author. His research and publication activities in these later years focused on the Greek, especially the biblical koine . In 1896 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1903 to the American Philosophical Society , 1906 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and 1907 as a corresponding member of the British Academy . Only in 1915 did he retire after almost sixty years of teaching, during which he had received numerous honorary degrees. Gildersleeve died in 1924. He is remembered at Gildersleeve House , one of the University of Virginia dormitories.

Fonts (selection)

• Latin Grammar . Richardson and Company, New York 1867; numerous reprints.
• The Apologies of Justin Martyr . Harper & Brothers, New York 1877.
• A Latin primer . University Publishing Company, New York 1882.
• Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes . Harper & Brothers, New York 1885.
• Essays and Studies, Educational and Literary . N. Murray, Baltimore 1890.
• A Latin Exercise-Book: Especially Adapted to Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar . University Publishing Company, New York and New Orleans 1897.
• Syntax of Classical Greek from Homer to Demosthenes . American Book Company, New York, Cincinnati and Chicago 1900. Digital copies: First Part ; Second part .
• Hellas and Hesperia: Or, The Vitality of Greek Studies in America; Three lectures . Henry Holt and Company, New York 1909.
• Ward W Briggs, Jr. (Ed.): The Letters of Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1987, ISBN 0801828767 .
• Ward W Briggs, Jr. (Ed.): The Selected Classical Papers of Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve . Scholars Press, Atlanta 1992, ISBN 1555408060 .

literature

• Ward W. Briggs, Jr. and Herbert W. Benario (Eds.): Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve: An American Classicist . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1986, ISBN 0801828767 .
• Ward W. Briggs (Ed.): Soldier and Scholar: Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve and the Civil War. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville and London 1998. ISBN 0-8139-1743-3 .

Web links

• Entry on Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve in the Database of Classical Scholars (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Member History: Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 19, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Members: Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 31, 2019 . 
3. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed June 1, 2020 .