Lewis Campbell (; 3 September 1830 – 25 October 1908) was a Scottish writer and classical scholar. He was best known for his works on

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

and

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 ...

. His edition of Plato's

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

was well received and is still widely read today. He is also well known for his biography of the physicist

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism an ...

Biography

Campbell was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. His father, Robert Campbell, RN, was a first cousin of Thomas Campbell, the poet. His mother was the author Eliza Constantia Campbell. His father died when he was two years of age. In 1844 his mother married Col. Hugh Morrieson. Campbell was educated at Edinburgh Academy, the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. He was fellow and tutor of Queen's College, Oxford (1855–1858), vicar of Milford, Hampshire (1858–1863), and professor of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

(1863–1894). An advocate for the higher education for women, he was closely involved in the foundation of St Leonards School for Girls and was the chairman of the school council from 1886 to 1903. In 1894, he was elected an honorary fellow of

. From 1894 to 1896 at St Andrews, he gave the Gifford Lectures, which were published in 1898. An

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

vicar, in October 1893 Campbell was reportedly preaching at the University of St Andrews' College Church which maintains links with the Scottish Episcopalian denomination.

Works

As a scholar he is best known by his work on

and

. His published works include: *''Sophocles'' Greek text with English notes in two volumes (2nd ed., 1879)
''The Sophistes and Politicus of Plato''
Greek text with English notes (1867) * ''Sophocles, The Seven Plays in English Verse'' (1883) *''The Theaetetus of Plato'' Greek text with English notes (2nd ed., 1883) *''Republic'', the Greek text, in three volumes (with Benjamin Jowett, 1894) *''Life and Letters of Benjamin Jowett'' in two volumes (with Evelyn Abbott, 1897) *''Letters of B. Jowett'' (1899) *''Life of

'', with William Garnett
1st ed., 1882
(new ed. revised and abridged, 1884) *''A Guide to Greek Tragedy for English Readers'' (1891) * ( Gifford Lectures for 1894–1896) *''On the Nationalisation of the Old English Universities'' (1901) *''Verse translations of the plays of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

'' (1890) *''Sophocles'' (1896)
''Plato's Republic''
Oxford lectures (1902)
''Tragic Drama in Aeschylus, Sophocles and Shakespeare''
(1904) *''Paralipomena Sophoclea'' (1907). Sir W.D. Ross had recognized the importance of stylometric methods in Plato chronology which Campbell had introduced in his editions of the Sophistes and Politicus of 1869. Recent scholars such as Charles H. Kahn and Diskin Clay, have each advanced the ordering and grouping of Plato's dialogues according to the same method.

Notes

References

* *

External links

*
''Lewis Campbell''
biographical notes and Lectures available from the Gifford Lectures website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Lewis 1830 births 1908 deaths Academics from Edinburgh People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Academics of the University of St Andrews Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Scottish biographers Scottish classical scholars Scottish literary critics 19th-century Scottish translators Writers from Edinburgh