Editing Edith Hamilton (section)

{{Short description|American teacher and writer (1867–1963)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
 | name        = Edith Hamilton
 | image       = Edith Hamilton.jpg
 | imagesize   = 
 | caption     = Hamilton {{circa}} 1897
 | pseudonym   = 
 | birth_date  = {{birth date|1867|8|12}}
 | birth_place = [[Dresden]], [[North German Confederation]]
 | death_date  = {{Death date and age|1963|5|31|1867|8|12}}
 | death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]]
 | occupation  = {{flatlist|
* Classical scholar
* author
* educator
}}
 | nationality =American<ref name=Hallett150>[[Judith P. Hallett]], "Edith Hamilton" in {{cite book | editor=Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair | title =Indiana's 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State | publisher =Indiana Historical Society Press| year =2015 | location =Indianapolis | page=150  | isbn =978-0-87195-387-2}}</ref> 
 | education        = [[Bryn Mawr College]]
 | period      = 1930–1957
 | genre       = 
 | subject     = [[Ancient Greece]]<br/>[[Greek philosophy]]<br/>[[Mythology]]
 | movement    =
 | notableworks = ''The Greek Way'', ''The Roman Way'', ''The Prophets of Israel'', ''[[Mythology (book)|Mythology]]''
 | signature   = 
 | website     = 
}}

'''Edith Hamilton''' (August 12, 1867 – May 31, 1963) was an American educator and internationally known<ref name="Kelly2010">{{cite book|author=Kate Kelly|title=Medicine Becomes a Science: 1840-1999|url={{Google books|3L7_b_wrBXAC|page=35|plainurl=yes}}|year=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2752-1|page=35}}</ref> author who was one of the most renowned [[classicist]]s of her era in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zuckerberg |first1=Donna |title=Why the work of Edith Hamilton is worth revisiting|journal=[[The Times Literary Supplement]] |date=8 November 2017 |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/edith-hamilton-zuckerberg/ |access-date=16 September 2018}}</ref> A graduate of [[Bryn Mawr College]], she also studied in [[Germany]] at the [[University of Leipzig]] and the [[University of Munich]]. Hamilton began her career as an educator and head of the [[Bryn Mawr School]], a private college preparatory school for girls in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]; however, Hamilton is best known for her essays and best-selling books on ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.

Hamilton's second career as an author began after she retired from the Bryn Mawr School in 1922. She was sixty-two years old when her first book, ''The Greek Way,'' was published in 1930. It was an immediate success and a featured selection by the [[Book-of-the-Month Club]] in 1957. Hamilton's other notable works include ''The Roman Way'' (1932), ''The Prophets of Israel'' (1936), ''[[Mythology (book)|Mythology]]'' (1942), and ''The Echo of Greece'' (1957).

Critics have acclaimed Hamilton's books for their lively interpretations of ancient cultures. She is described as the classical scholar who "brought into clear and brilliant focus the Golden Age of Greek life and thought&nbsp;... with Homeric power and simplicity in her style of writing".<ref name=NYT/> Her works are said to influence modern lives through a "realization of the refuge and strength in the past" to those "in the troubled present."<ref name=Anniston/> Hamilton's younger sister was [[Alice Hamilton]], an expert in industrial [[toxicology]] and the first woman appointed to the faculty of [[Harvard University]].