Ela Polak and Professor of Classics (Edinburgh): Difference between pages
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{{Infobox official post
| post = Professor of Classics<br/>{{small|[[University of Edinburgh]]}}
| body =
| image = Douglas Cairns.jpg
| incumbent = [[Douglas Cairns]]
| incumbentsince = 2004
| department = Classics
| first = Laurence Dundas (1708), William Scott Primus (1708).
| website = https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/douglas-cairns
}}
The '''Professor of Classics''' at the [[University of Edinburgh]] is the established [[List of professorships at the University of Edinburgh|Chair]] in Classics in the [[University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology|School of History, Classics and Archaeology]]. Since 2004 the Chair has been held by [[Douglas Cairns]]. Greek and Latin were compulsory for all students at Edinburgh until 1892, when Latin alone could be substituted for Greek.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=Stuart |title=John Stuart Blackie |publisher=EUP |year=2006 |location=Edinburgh |pages=174}}</ref>
In 1981 the Chair of Greek was left vacant by the retirement of [[Arthur James Beattie|A. J. Beattie]], and in 1982 the Chair of Humanity soon followed with the retirement of Ian Campbell.[https://hca.ed.ac.uk/classics/about/classical-tradition#:~:text=Classical%20languages%20have%20been%20taught,Regent%20of%20Philosophy%2C%20Robert%20Rollock.] In 1987 the Chairs were reconstituted to form the Professor of Classics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Humanity - Our History |url=https://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Humanity |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk}}</ref>
== History ==
[[File:William Carstares about 1700.jpg|thumb|[[William Carstares]], [[List of principals of the University of Edinburgh|Principal of the University]] 1703-15, was the driving force behind the creation of 'Dutch' style Chairs at Edinburgh. ]]
Originally, the Chair was divided between the historical Departments of Humanity (Latin) and Greek, and these two Chairs were established during [[William Carstares]] restructuring of the University along Dutch lines which abolished [[The Regenting System (Edinburgh)|the regenting system]] and created the Faculty of Arts.[https://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/End_of_Regenting_System,_1708]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Dalzell |first=Andrew |title=History of the University of Edinburgh |publisher=Edmonston and Douglas |year=1862 |location=Edinburgh |pages=299–300}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Horn |first=D. B. |title=A Short History of the University of Edinburgh: 1556-1889. |publisher=EUP. |year=1967 |pages=41}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Nicholas Philippson in Robert D. Anderson, Michael Lynch |title=The University of Edinburgh: An Illustrated History |year=2003 |location=Edinburgh |pages=61}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Bower |first=Alexander |title=The history of the University of Edinburgh; chiefly compiled from original papers and records (vol. II) |publisher=Oliphant, Waugh and Innes |year=1817 |location=Edinburgh |pages=299}}</ref> Bower notes that the Universities of [[University of Amsterdam|Amsterdam]], [[Leiden University|Leiden]] and [[Utrecht University|Utrecht]], on which Carsatres' reforms had been based, did not have Chairs of Humanity but, rather, Chairs of Greek (''Gracce Linguae Historiarum et Eloquentiae Professor''), and he highlights the unique foundation of the Humanity chair.<ref name=":8" /> However, Carstares' reforms did not establish the first professorships at Edinburgh, since a Chair of Divinity had existed since 1620, and a Chair of Hebrew was appointed alongside the four Regents in 1642, with a Chair of Mathematics added in 1674 and of Physic (Medicine) in 1685.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mijers |first=Esther |title='The Netherlands, William Carstares, and the Reform of Edinburgh University, 1690–17151' in Feingold, M. (ed.) 2015, History of Universities XXV/2. |publisher=OUP |year=2012 |location=Oxford. |publication-date=2015 |pages=114–5}}</ref>
The former Regents of Humanity, William Scott ''Primus'' appointed as a Regent in 1695 and Laurence Dundas appointed as a Regent in 1690, who had taught Greek and Latin before Carstares' reforms (the first ''regens humaniorum literarum'' were appointed in 1583), were created the inaugural holders of each Chair by Royal Warrant.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Emerson |first=Roger, L. |title=Academic Patronage in the Scottish Enlightenment |publisher=EUP |year=2008 |location=Edinburgh |pages=253–4}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mijers |first=Esther |title='News from the Republick of Letters': Scottish Students, Charles Mackie and the United Provinces, 1650–1750. |publisher=Brill |year=2012 |location=Leiden |pages=112}}</ref> At William Scott's creation he was granted the honorific title 'Regius Professor', which had been similarly given to the new [[Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations|Chair of Law]], since he had: 'obtained a patent from the Crown for the profession of Greek, by which he was constitute her Majesty's sole Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh'.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> However, ultimately, Scott failed to get a direct grant from the Crown, he was not made Professor under his specific royal patent, and the honorific has not been retained.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Sir Alexander |title=The story of the University of Edinburgh during its first three hundred years (vol. 1). |location=London |publication-date=1884 |pages=318–19}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=M. A. |title='The Origins of the Scottish Greek Chairs' in Craik, E. M. (ed.), Owls to Athens: Essays on Classical Subjects presented to Sir Kenneth Dover |publisher=OUP |year=1990 |location=Oxford |pages=395}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cairns |first=J. W. |date=207 |title=The Origins of the Edinburgh Law School: the Union of 1707 and the Regius Chair |journal=[[Edinburgh Law Review]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=300–48|doi=10.3366/elr.2007.11.3.300 |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/11824601/The_Origins_of_the_Edinburgh_Law_School_The_Union_of_1707_and_the_Regius_Chair.pdf }}</ref>
Unless candidates for the professorships already held Chairs they were subject to a 'trial', that is, an examination of their Greek and Latin before their appointment. However, John Ker, already Professor of Greek at [[University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] and John HIll, Professor of Greek at [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews]], avoided such ordeals for it would have been considered insulting to have tested the Professor of another university.<ref name=":8" /> Further, this practice led to something of a curiosity during the election of George Stuart in 1741 to the Chair of Humanity when both candidates:<blockquote>'agreed to transmit a message to the electors, stating that each believed the other to be qualified, and that they were rather inclined to refer it to their own choice, without putting them to additional trouble.'<ref name=":5" /></blockquote>
The Chairs in Greek and Humanity at the ancient [[Ancient universities of Scotland|Scottish universities]], whose incumbent professors 'occupied an especial place in the culture of these cities',<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=M. |title='The Democratic Intellect Preserved' in Hallett, J. P., & Stray, C. (eds) British Classics Outside England: The Academy and Beyond |publisher=Baylor University Pres |year=2008 |location=Baylor, Texas |pages=15–6}}</ref> all came to be quite distinct, and Morris writes (concerning their foundation and holders in the 19th century):<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=M. J. |title='A Manly Desire to Learn ': the Teaching of the Classics in Nineteenth Century Scotland |date=2008 |publisher=PhD Thesis, OU. |pages=70–1}}</ref><blockquote>'In terms of appointments to chairs in Greek or Humanity each Scottish university seemed to follow a different tradition: the chair of Greek at Glasgow was the preserve of [[Oxbridge]] educated scholars [e.g., [[Daniel Sandford (scholar)]], [[Edmund Law Lushington]], [[Richard Claverhouse Jebb]]]; at Edinburgh no Englishman was successful in applying for either chair [until [[Harry Goodhart]] in Humanity and [[Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge]] in Greek], whilst at [[University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] the successful applicants were invariably graduates from that very university.'</blockquote>Election to the Chairs in the contentious years surrounding [[Disruption of 1843|the Disruption of 1843]] became a proxy for Scotland's religious politics. When [[John Stuart Blackie|J. S. Blackie]] sought the Chair of Greek he was in competition with the Reverend Charles McDouall, who was prevented from taking the [[List of professorships at the University of Edinburgh|Chair in Hebrew]] owing to the influence of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Sir Wiliam Smith]], a [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] [[English Dissenters|Dissenter]] who could not, as a result, teach at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] or [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], [[Edmund Law Lushington|Edmund Lushington]], [[John Conington]] an avowed [[Oxford Movement|Anglo-Catholic]], and [[Leonhard Schmitz]], then [[Rector (academia)|Rector]] of the [[Royal High School, Edinburgh|Royal High School]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hebrew - Our History |url=https://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Hebrew |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> McDouall was viewed as the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900)|Free Church]] candidate, and Schmitz the [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopalian]] candidate, meanwhile the maverick Blackie had refused to unreservedly sign the [[Westminster Confession of Faith|Confession of Faith]] at [[Marischal College|Marischal]] owing to his sympathies with German [[rationalism]]. Indeed, Blackie and his supporters had actually worried that a charge of heresy might be raised against him during the campaign. Blackie eventually won by a single vote -- the casting vote of the [[Lord Provost of Edinburgh|Lord Provost]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
== Professors of Classics ==
* 1987-2004:* [[Reverend Canon John Richardson|'''Reverend Canon''' '''John Richardson''']]
* 2004-Present: '''[[Douglas Cairns]]'''
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Now Emeritus Professor.
== Professors of Humanity ==
# 1708-34:* '''[[Laurence Dundas]]'''
# 1728-34:* '''[[Adam Watt (classicist)|Adam Watt]]'''
# 1734-41: '''[[John Ker (classicist)|John Ker]]'''
# 1741-75: '''[[George Stuart (classicist)|George Stuart]]'''
# 1775-1805: '''[[John Hill (classicist)|John Hill]]'''
# 1806-20: '''[[Alexander Christison]]'''
# 1820-63: '''[[James Pillans]]'''
# 1863-90: '''[[William Young Sellar]]'''
# 1890-95: '''[[Harry Goodhart|Harry Chester Goodhart]]'''
# 1895-1916:** '''[[William Hardie|William Ross Hardie]]'''
# 1919-48: '''[[Oliffe Legh Richmond]]'''
# 1948-59: '''[[Michael Grant (classicist)|Michael Grant]]'''
# 1959-1982: '''[[Ian Campbell (classicist)|Ian M. Campbell]]'''
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chair shared (Watt predeceased Dundas).<ref name=":2" />
<nowiki>**</nowiki>Chair vacant from 1916-19.<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="150">
File:John Hill (Raeburn).jpg|John Hill by [[Henry Raeburn]].
File:Alexander Christison, 1753 - 1820. Professor of Humanity, University of Edinburgh.jpg|Alexander Christison.
File:Bust of Prof James Pillans by Peter Slater, 1852, Old College, University of Edinburgh.jpg|James Pillans (bust in the Playfair Library)
File:William Young Sellar - Imagines philologorum.jpg|Wiliam Young Sellar.
File:Ian M. Campbell.jpg|Ian M. Campbell
</gallery>Literary forger [[William Lauder (forger)|William Lauder]] applied unsuccessfully to succeed Adam Watt, having previously been his assistant, but he was instead succeeded by John Ker, who until then held the Chair of Greek at [[King's College, Aberdeen]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> William Sellar who, along with Harry Goodhart, gives his name to the Sellar, Goodhart and Giles Classical Library of the Department of Classics which was instituted by private subscription in 1897.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=Margaret, B. |title='Faculty and Class Libraries' in Edinburgh University Library 1580-1980: A Collection of Historical Essays |publisher=Edinburgh University Library. |year=1982 |pages=166–7}}</ref><gallery mode="packed-overlay" heights="150">
File:Sellar and Goodhart Library upstairs.jpg|alt=Sellar and Goodhart Library, named for the Professors of Humanity.
File:Sellar and Goodhart Library.jpg
File:Sellar and Goodhart Sign.jpg
</gallery>
==
# 1708-1729: '''[[Willam Scott Primus|Willam Scott ''Primus'']]'''
# 1729-1730: '''[[William Scott Secundus|William Scott ''Secundus'']]'''
# 1730-1753:* '''[[Colin Drummond (classicist)|Colin Drummond]]'''
# 1738-41:* '''[[Robert Law (classicist)|Robert Law]]'''
# 1741-1772:** '''[[Robert Hunter (classicist)|Robert Hunter]]'''
# 1772-1805: '''[[Andrew Dalzell]]'''
# 1805-1851: '''[[George Dunbar (classical scholar)|George Dunbar]]'''
# 1852''-''1882'':'' '''[[John Stuart Blackie]]'''
# 1882-1903: '''[[Samuel Butcher (classicist)|Samuel H. Butcher]]'''
# 1902-28: '''[[Alexander William Mair|Alexander Wiliam Mair]]'''
# 1928-30: [[Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge|'''Sir''' '''Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge''']]
# 1930-51: '''[[William Moir Calder|Sir William Moir Calder]]'''
# 1951-81: '''[[Arthur James Beattie|Arthur J]]'''[[Arthur James Beattie|'''ames Beattie''']]
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chair shared from 1738-53.
<nowiki>**</nowiki>In 1772 Hunter sold the Chair to Dalzell for £300 'and a liferent of the salary' as sanctioned by the Town Council, since without pensions the aging professors often only had their Chairs as assets in old age.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="150">
File:The Successful Candidate (Andrew Dalziel. Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh).jpg|Andrew Dalzell.
File:Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) - Professor Andrew Dalzel (1742–1806), Classical Scholar - PG 199 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|Andrew Dalzell by [[Henry Raeburn]]
File:Bust of Prof George Dunbar by Peter Slater 1851, Old College, University of Edinburgh.jpg|George Dunbar (bust in the Playfair Library)
File:Blackie, by Reid.jpg|J. S. Blackie.
File:Samuel Henry Butcher - The illustrated London news. v. 138 pt.1 scan page 8 (cropped).png|S. H. Butcher
File:Sir Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge.png|Sir A. W. Pickard-Cambridge.
File:A J Beattie.jpg|A. J. Beattie
</gallery>
[[File:The Strand Magazine vol. 3, no. 15, pg. 232 - The Professor in a Kilt.png|thumb|Caricature of Blackie before the Greek class in ''[[The Strand Magazine|The Strand]]''.|280x280px]]
Colin Drummond (brother of [[Adam Drummond (surgeon)|Adam Drummond]]) was first appointed as a Regent of Philosophy in 1707, and then to the [[List of professorships at the University of Edinburgh|Chair of Logic and Metaphysics]] in 1708 where he taught [[David Hume]], before he took up the Chair of Greek in 1730.<ref name=":5" /> During J. S. Blackie's tenure of the Greek Chair, he taught [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], and Stevenson would later write:<blockquote>'Although I am the holder of a certificate of attendance in the Professor's own hand, I cannot remember to have been present in the Greek class above a dozen time. Professor Blackie was even kind enough to remark (more than once) while in the very act of writing the document above referred to, that he did not know my face.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=R. L. |title='Some College Memories' in The New Amphion |publisher=EUP |year=1886 |location=Edinburgh}}</ref> </blockquote>Comparably, [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]], who was taught by Dalzell, records angering the Professor: <blockquote>'I had the audacity to produce a composition in which I weighted Homer against Ariosto and pronounced him wanting in the balance[...] The wrath of the Professor was extreme[...] He pronounced upon me the severe sentence that dunce I was and dunce I would remain[...] which however, my excellent and learned friend lived to revoked over a bottle of Burgundy, at our Literary Club at Fortune's, of which he is a distinguished members'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lockhart |first=J. G. |title=Memoir of the Early Life of Sir Walter Scott |year=1893 |pages=12}}</ref></blockquote>In 1983, E. K. Borthwick was appointed to a personal chair in Greek at Edinburgh, but this is not to be confused with the established Chair.
== Prizes named for the professors ==
S. H. Butcher gives his name to the Butcher Memorial Prize in Greek, awarded to the best student in Greek 1, and William Scott and George Dunbar to the Scott and Dunbar Prize in Greek, awarded to the most deserving student in the Greek class.[https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/student-funding/current-students/university-prizes-awards/humanities/classics]
At Laurence Dundas' death in 1734 he 'bequeathed 9000 merks (£500) as a perpetual fund for educating three bursars, with a preference to persons with the surname of Dundas'.<ref name=":5" />
== See also ==
* [[Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford)]]
* [[Regius Professor of Greek (Cambridge)]]
* [[MacDowell Professor of Greek|MacDowell Professor of Greek (Glasgow)]]
* [[Professor of Humanity|Professor of Humanity (Glasgow)]]
* [[Regius Professor of Humanity|Regius Professor of Humanity (Aberdeen)]]
* [[Professor of Greek (University College London)]]
* [[Professor of Latin (University College London)]]
== References ==
<references />
[[Category:University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Professorships at the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:1700s establishments in Scotland]]
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