Nan Dunbar (18 July 1928 – 3 April 2005) was Fellow and Tutor in Classics at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

. She is known for her 1995 edition of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

' '' The Birds''.

Early life and education

Dunbar was born in Glasgow in 1928, where she attended Hutcheson's Girls School. She was the first in her family to attend university, graduating from 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 ...

with a first class honours degree and numerous awards including 'Most Distinguished Arts Graduate' in 1950. She then went on to study at Girton College, Cambridge, where she completed a second degree, achieving a first in both part of the Classical tripos.

Career

Dunbar was appointed to a lectureship at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1952. Subsequently, she returned to Girton College, Cambridge, where she was a fellow and lecturer in Classics from 1952 to 1957. In 1957 she moved to 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 ...

, and in 1965 became a fellow of

. At Somerville, she was heavily involved with the running of the college, acting as the tutor for admissions and the steward of the college chapel, serving on the finance committee, and holding the office of Vice-Principal from 1983 until 1985. A portrait of her, bequeathed by her husband, is in the

Somerville College Library Somerville College Library is the academic library, college library of Somerville College, Oxford, Somerville College, one of the 38 colleges of the University of Oxford, colleges of the University of Oxford. The library is one of the largest co ...

. Somerville College also planted a Himalayan birch in its gardens in honour of Dunbar.

Edition of Aristophanes' ''Birds''

Dunbar took almost forty years to produce her "colossal" edition of Aristophanes' Birds with an introduction and commentary. It was finally published in 1995 to great acclaim. Her commentary is notable for its detailed discussion of the ornithological aspects of the play, reflecting detailed knowledge of modern ornithology. An abridged edition for students was published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1997.

Selected publications

* 1970. 'Three Notes on Aristophanes.' ''The Classical Review,'' ''20''(3), 269-273. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00227030 * 1990. The ornithology of Aristophanes' Bird-Wall: Birds 1136-1157. in ed. E. M. Craik 'Owls to Athens: essays on classical subjects presented to Sir Kenneth Dover.' * 1995. (ed.), ''Aristophanes: Birds.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Nan 1928 births 2005 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford British women classical scholars British classical scholars People educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School