William Roger Paton, usually cited as W. R. Paton (9 February 1857 – 21 April 1921),Paton, William Roger (1857–1921), epigraphist and classical scholar
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (David Gill, "Paton, William Roger (1857–1921)", first published 2004) was a Scottish author and translator of ancient Greek texts, mostly known for his translation of the

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' () is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical Greece, Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Palatine ...

Early life and family

William Roger Paton was born at Old Machar,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Scotland, son of John Paton (1818 – 1879) and Eliza Deborah Burnett (died 1860). His father, John Paton (Esq., of Ferrachie and Grandholme or Grandhome) was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. He was in the military, initially in the Aberdeenshire militia as major and later colonel and deputy lieutenant of

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 ...

, and was also a magistrate. His mother Eliza Deborah Burnett was the daughter of Thomas Burnett of Kepplestone, also from Aberdeenshire. They married on 11 June 1844, and they had five children: four daughters (Mary-Louisa, Ida-Margaret-Helen, Sarah-Matilda and Elisabeth-Bertha) and one son (the fourth child), William Roger, born at 10 Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, on 9 February 1857. His mother died three years later on 24 February 1860 at the age of 37. In 1862, his father married Catherine Margaret, daughter of Colonel Lumsden.

Education

He was educated at the same school as his father,

, Windsor, where he studied from 1871 to 1873, boarding at Edward Peake Rouse's house and later on at

Oscar Browning Oscar Browning (17 January 1837 – 6 October 1923) was a British educationalist, historian and ''bon viveur'', a well-known Cambridge personality during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. An innovator in the early development of prof ...

's. On 23 October 1876, at the age of 19 he became a student at

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

, where he took a first in

Classical Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ...

in 1877. The following year, he changed direction, starting legal studies for the bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, London. Later on he returned to Oxford and obtained a third in Classics '' Literae Humaniores'' in 1880. Even though he was not called to the bar, he continued to be involved with Middle Temple until 1884. Later on, in 1900, the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

awarded Paton an honorary PhD.

Marriage and life in the South

He was married in 1885 to Irene Olympitis (1869/70 – 1908, Paris, daughter of Emmanuel Olympitis, mayor of Kalymnos), a woman from the island of

Kalymnos Kalymnos (; ) is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese island chain, between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of ) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than ): the latter is lin ...

who had a plot of land in Myndos (Gümüşlük) but he later moved to

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

and

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

so that his sons could attend high school there.

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literatur ...

, Erinnerungen 1848-1914 (Leipzig: K. F. Koehler, 1929), pp. 227–8, as mentioned i
Andrew Rickard: W. R. Paton, 24 January 2012
/ref> He had two sons and two daughters: George Paton (13 August 1886 – ?), unmarried, Thetis Paton (21 November 1887, Woodside – ?), who married Costakis Svinos in Smyrna, John David Paton, (1890 – 1922), who married Fenella Crombie from Scotland, and Sevastie or Augusta Paton (1900, Myndos – 1989), who married Baron János Kemény, Hungarian author, theater director and dramatist. He appears as a resident of

Vathy, Samos Vathy (, ''Vathý'') is a community and a former municipality on the island of Samos, North Aegean, Greece. Since 2019, it has been a municipal unit of the municipality of East Samos. The town proper, also known as Ano Vathy (Άνω Βαθύ, upp ...

from 1897 to his death, 1921, from a number of periodicals which show this address and some of his published letters. He was a resident in Samos since his second marriage, to Clio, a woman from Samos, after the death of his first wife. He died on 21 April 1921 in the town of Vathy, Samos.

Timeline

*1857 birth at Old Machar, Aderbdeen *1871–1873 (aged 14–16) Oxford for studies *1885 (aged 28) married Irene Olympitis *1886 (aged 29) birth of his son George *1887 (aged 30) birth of his daughter Thetis, Woodside, Aberdeen *1890 (aged 33) birth of his son David *1890 signs letter from Aberdeen *1897 (aged 40) Vathy, Samos *1900 (aged 43) birth of his daughter Sevastie or Augusta, Myndos *Chios/Lesvos for high school for his sons *1921 (aged 64) died at Vathy Samos

Works

He published the following books: * The inscriptions of Cos (with E.L. Hicks), Oxford, Clarendon Press, 189

i

* Plutarchi Pythici Dialogoi tre

1893 * Anthologiae Grecae Erotica, London, David Nutt, 1898

* Inscriptiones insularum maris Aegaei praeter Delum, 2. Inscriptiones Lesbi, Nesi, Tenedi, Berlin 1899 * The Greek anthology with an English translation, The Loeb Classical Library
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. I
by W. R. Paton, published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1916 (edition 1927) see als

(contains books I–VI of the Greek Anthology). Also available in κα�

The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. II
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1917 (edition 1919) also se

(contains books VII–VIII of the Greek Anthology)
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. III
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1915 (edition 1925) see als

(contains book IX of the Greek Anthology)
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. IV
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1918. see als

(contains books X–XII of the Greek Anthology)
The Greek anthology with an English translation, vol. V
by W. R. Paton, Published by W. Heinemann (London), G.P. Putnam's sons (New York) 1918 also se

(contains books XIII–XVI of the Greek Anthology) * The Histories (Polybius), Histories of Polybius,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

, "Polybius, The Histories", six volumes: Greek text with English translation by W. R. PatonThe English text of Histories of Polybius by W. R. Paton
/ref> **I (L128) Books I–II (1922)

https://archive.org/details/historieswitheng01poly] **II (L137) Books III–IV (1922)

**III (L138) Books V–VIII (1923)

**IV (L159) Books IX–XV (1925) **V (L160) Books XVI–XXVII (1926)

**VI (L161) Books XXVIII–XXXIX (1927)

*Plutarchi Moralia (translation), with other authors, in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1925 His works are extensively quoted as the main references both for the ''

'' as well as for

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, William Roger 1857 births 1921 deaths Scottish translators Hellenic epigraphers