Richmond Alexander Lattimore (May 6, 1906 – February 26, 1984) was an American poet and

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 ...

known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' and ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''.

Biography

Richmond Alexander Lattimore was born to David and Margaret Barnes Lattimore in Paotingfu,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. His parents were working as English teachers for the Chinese government. His family returned to the United States in 1920. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1926. His brother

Owen Lattimore Owen Lattimore (July 29, 1900 – May 31, 1989) was an American Orientalist and writer. He was an influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of '' Pac ...

was a

Sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...

who was blacklisted for his association with China during the McCarthy era, but subsequently rehabilitated when none of the charges against him proved to be true. Their sister Eleanor Frances Lattimore was an author and illustrator of children's books. Richmond was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, and received his B.A. in 1932, and subsequently, under the direction of William Abbott Oldfather, received a Ph.D. from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1934. He joined the Department of Greek at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

the following year, and married Alice Bockstahler, with whom he later had two sons, Steven and Alexander; Steven also became a classical scholar and professor at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. From 1943 to 1946, Lattimore was absent from his professorial post to serve in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

but returned after the war to remain at Bryn Mawr College, with periodic visiting positions at other universities, until his retirement in 1971. He continued to publish poems and translations for the remainder of his life, with two poems appearing in print posthumously. From 1953 to 1960, he partnered with David Grene to co-edit a complete translation of the Greek tragedies 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 ...

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

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

for

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

. He translated the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

in 1962. A 1979 edition by McGraw-Hill Ryerson included the four Gospels. Lattimore completed his translation of the entire New Testament, which was published posthumously in 1996 with the title ''The New Testament''. For many years, Lattimore accompanied his wife Alice to services at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, near Bryn Mawr College, a church with an Anglo-Catholic worship tradition. He chose to be baptized on Easter Eve 1983 and confirmed as a communicant there. He stated that his doubts about his faith had disappeared "somewhere in he Gospel ofSaint Luke," which he had recently translated. Lattimore died from cancer in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, on February 26, 1984, aged 77.

Memberships and awards

Lattimore was a Fellow of the Academy of American Poets, and a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

, the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA), is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the pree ...

, and the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America, North America's oldest learned society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and ...

, as well as a Fellow of the American Academy at Rome and an Honorary

Student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

at Christ Church, Oxford. Lattimore's translation 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 Frogs'' won the Bollingen Poetry Translation Prize in 1962.

Books

Translations

*''The Odes of Pindar''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1947. *''Greek Lyrics''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. Revised 1960. *''The Iliad of Homer''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951. *''The Works and Days; Theogony; The Shield of Herakles''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1959. *''The Frogs''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1962. * ''The Odyssey'' ''of Homer''. New York: Harper & Row, 1965. *''The Four Gospels and the Revelation, Newly Translated from the Greek.'' New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1979. *''Acts and Letters of the Apostles, Newly Translated from the Greek.'' New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1982. *''The New Testament''. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996.

Poetry

* ''The Stride of Time''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966. * ''Poems from Three Decades''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

*
Richmond Lattimore
a brief biography from the Poetry Foundation with online poems {{DEFAULTSORT:Lattimore, Richmond 1906 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American translators Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Bryn Mawr College faculty Dartmouth College alumni Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania Episcopalians from Pennsylvania Greek–English translators People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Translators of Homer Translators of the Bible into English University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 20th-century American Episcopalians Members of the American Philosophical Society