Henry W. Prescott

Henry W. Prescott (born July 30, 1874 in Boston , † June 8, 1943 in Berkeley ) was an American classical philologist who was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1909 to 1940 .

Life

Henry Washington Prescott studied at Harvard University , where he received a bachelor's degree in 1895 and a master's degree in 1896. From 1898 he worked as a lecturer in Latin, from 1898 to 1899 at Trinity College in Hartford , then at Harvard. Here he wrote his dissertation De Daphnide Commentatio with which he 1901 doctorate was. He then went on to teach at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was promoted to Associate Professor of Comparative Philology . In the fall of 1909 he moved to the University of Chicago , where after a few years he was appointed Full Professor of Classical Philology . He stayed in Chicago until his retirement in 1940. During this time he only interrupted his teaching activities here: In the winter semester of 1914/1915 he gave lectures on the Greek epic as a Sather Professor at Berkeley University. He was also president of the American Philological Association from 1930 to 1931 . In 1935 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

When Prescott retired in 1940, he was made a visiting professor at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome , but was unable to take up the position because of World War II . Instead, he went to Princeton University in 1941 as a fellow of the Andrew F. West Foundation , where he researched until his death.

Prescott's research interests were the New Attic and Roman Comedy, on which he published numerous essays, as well as the Roman epic and lyrical poetry. Here he dealt with Horace , Catullus and especially Virgil . His book The Development of Virgil's Art (Chicago 1927; reprinted 1963) was based on the work of Richard Reitzenstein .

literature

• John Francis Latimer : Prescott, Henry Washington . In: Ward W. Briggs (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists. Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 1994, ISBN 0-313-24560-6 , pp. 510-512.

Web links

• Entry on Henry W. Prescott in the Database of Classical Scholars (English)