Arthur Bernard Cook (22 October 1868 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

– 26 April 1952 in Cambridge) was a British archeologist and classical scholar, best known for his three-part work, ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion''.

Early life and education

Arthur Bernard Cook was born in Hampstead, London on 22 October 1868. He was the son of William Henry Cook MD (1825-1882) and Harriet Bickersteth (1830-1918) His mother's family were leading ecclesiastical scholars of the time, including Edward Bickersteth (Dean of Lichfield) (1814-1892),

Edward Bickersteth (bishop of Exeter) Edward Henry Bickersteth (25 January 1825 – 16 May 1906) was a bishop in the Church of England and he held the office of Bishop of Exeter between 1885 and 1900. Life Edward Henry Bickersteth was born in Islington, the son of Edward Bickers ...

(1825-1906) and Edward Bickersteth (bishop of South Tokyo). (1850-1897) Cook was educated at St. Paul's School, where he won several academic prizes. He received an MA from the Trinity College, Cambridge. The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a distinguished annual award at Cambridge University for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate prize. Cook's poem ''Windsor Castle'' won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for poetry at Cambridge in 1889. In 1893, he was awarded a prestigious fellowship at Trinity College.

Career

From 1892-1907, Cook was professor of Greek at

Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...

. In 1900, he became Fellow of

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

. From 1907 to 1931 he was Reader of

Classical Archaeology Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth-century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about i ...

at University of Cambridge. He became Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at Cambridge in 1931, where he had held the position as Reader, until 1934. From 1935 to 1952, Cook was Vice-President of Queens' College. Cook was elected as a fellow of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences in 1941. Professor Cook died in Cambridge on 26 April 1952.

Legacy

Cook is often considered one of the Cambridge Ritualists, and although he did not produce theoretical works, he has been called "perhaps the most typical disciple" of J. G. Frazer.Lowell Edmonds, ''Approaches to Greek Myth'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), p. 72.

Works

*The Metaphysical Basis of Plato's Ethics (1895) *Zeus. A Study In Ancient Religion. (1914-1925) ** Volume 1: Zeus, God of the Bright Sky, Biblo-Moser, June 1, 1964, (reprint) ** Volume 2: Zeus, God of the Dark Sky (Thunder and Lightning), Biblo-Moser, June 1, 1964, ** Volume 3: Zeus, God of the Dark Sky (earthquakes, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorites)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Arthur Bernard British classical scholars 1868 births 1952 deaths Laurence Professors of Classical Archaeology British archaeologists Academics of Bedford College, London Classical scholars of the University of London Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge