Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1035

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.4 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

William Nickerson Bates manuscripts on Euripides and Sophocles, 1929-1930, circa 1940, Ms. Coll. 1035, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1929-1930, circa 1940 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bates, William Nickerson

Form:

Typescripts

Abstract:

William Nickerson Bates (1867-1949) was a professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania from 1895 to 1939. He wrote primarily on Attic tragedy, including two major volumes on Euripides and Sophocles, the manuscripts for which can be found in this collection. The volumes, Euripides, a student of Human Nature and Sophocles serve to acquaint the modern reader (one with little or no knowledge of ancient Greek) with the original meaning of the plays since, as Bates stated, no work had theretofore been published for such readers that dealt directly with the original Greek texts.

William Nickerson Bates (1867-1949) was a professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania from 1895 to 1939. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and earned his BA (1890), MA (1891), and PhD (1893) at Harvard University. He wrote primarily on Attic tragedy, including two major volumes on Euripides and Sophocles. Bates is also known to have amassed a significant collection of Greek pottery and other artifacts, which were eventually donated to the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He was known for combining his interests in drama and pottery by using vase-paintings and papyrus to attempt to reconstruct plots of fragmented plays.

In his introduction to Euripides, a student of Human Nature, Bates states that the object of the book is "to try to give the modern reader within reasonable compass a more accurate account and a truer appreciation of the dramatic genius of Euripides than is to be found elsewhere," identifying a need for a comprehensive text based directly on the Greek itself so that "the authority for every statement made can be readily traced." The book covers the life and works of Euripides, including all of his plays, both extant and lost, with respect to plot, dramatic technique, themes, and style.

Sophocles follows much the same structure and serves a similar purpose as Euripides, a student of Human Nature. The date of this manuscript is unclear, but the book itself was published in 1940, so it likely dates from around that time.

This collection might be useful to those studying Classical pedagogy from the late 1920s to the early 1940s and those who are interested in the reception of Classical works around that time.