James Adam (7 April 1860 – 30 August 1907) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

who taught classics at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

Life

James Adam was born on 7 April 1860 in Kinmuck in the parish of Keithhall near

Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and River Don, Aberdeenshire, Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

. He was the second son of James Adam, a shopkeeper and former farm servant, and of Adam's wife Barbara (''née'' Anderson), a farmer's daughter. The younger James was educated at the Old Grammar School in

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the sta ...

, at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

where he studied under William Geddes and gained his B.A. as Senior Classic in 1880. He subsequently moved to

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

in the same year, receiving his Cambridge B.A. in 1884. In 1884 Adam was appointed Junior Fellow and soon thereafter Senior Lecturer in the Classics at Emmanuel College. He began lecturing on Greek poetry and philosophy in December 1884. He was awarded his M.A. by Emmanuel in 1888, and his Litt. D. in 1903. He later became Senior Tutor at the college; he moved into the Senior Tutor's house in 1900. One of Adam's duties at Cambridge was to teach the students of

Girton College Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the univ ...

, which was then open only to women. In 1890, a former Girton student of his, Adela Marion (''née'' Kensington) (1866–1944), became his wife and lifelong collaborator. Their daughter, Barbara Frances (1897–1988), was the British sociologist and criminologist Lady Barbara Wootton; one of their sons, Captain Arthur Innes Adam, was killed in France on 16 September 1916; and another son, Neil Kensington Adam, became a noted chemist. Adam was "one of the greatest Platonists of his generation". His editions and commentaries on

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's ''Apology'', ''Crito'', ''Euthyphro'', ''Protagoras'', and the ''Republic'' are widely respected even today:

istwo-volume critical edition of the ''Republic'' was another major contribution to the field. Though his preface claims 'an editor cannot pretend to have exhausted its significance by means of a commentary,' Adam's depth of knowledge and erudite analysis of the Greek text ensured that his edition remained the standard reference for decades to follow, and it remains a thought-provoking evaluation of one of the great works of Western thought.

He was a "strong defender of the importance of Greek philosophy in a well-rounded education" and "a resolute opponent of all attempts to make Greek an optional study". He was also a "keen supporter of the claims of women to degrees, when the question came before the senate of the university in 1897" In 1904 and 1905 Adam delivered the

Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford at the four ancient universities of Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Their purpose is to "pro ...

at Aberdeen, choosing for his subject "The Religious Teachers of Greece". He died in Aberdeen on 30 August 1907.

Editions and commentaries on Plato

*
Platonis Apologia Socratis
'. Cambridge University Press, 1887. New edition, 1891. *
Platonis Crito
'. Cambridge University Press, 1888. 2nd edition, 1893. *
Platonis Euthyphro
'. Cambridge University Press, 1890. *
Platonis Protagoras
'. Cambridge University Press, 1893 with Adela Marion Adam.
''The Republic of Plato''
Cambridge University Press, 1897. 2nd edition edited by D. A. Rees, 1965.

Other writings

*
The Nuptial Number of Plato: its Solution and Significance
'. 1891. *
The Intellectual and Ethical Value of Classical Education
'. Cambridge, 1895. *
The Religious Teachers of Greece: Being Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at Aberdeen
'. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1908. Edited, with a memoir, by Adela Marion Adam from the

delivered in 1904–06. *
The Vitality of Platonism, and Other Essays
'. Edited and published by A.M. Adam in 1911.

References

External links

*
Gifford Lecture Series - Authors
includes short bio and a link to view Adam's ''Religious Teachers of Greece''.
J. Adam & A.M. Adam's Commentary on the Protagoras at Perseus Adam's Commentary on the Republic at PerseusThe Republic of Plato, edited with critical notes and introduction on the text by James Adam.
Cambridge: University Press, 1900 (reprint of the first edition of 1899). {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, James Scottish classical scholars Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1860 births 1907 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 20th-century Scottish writers People from Inverurie