All Scholars
ABBOTT, Frank Frost
- Date of Birth: March 27, 1860
- Born City: Redding
- Born State/Country: CT
- Parents: Judge Thaddeus Marvin & Mary Jane A.
- Date of Death: July 23, 1924
- Death City: Montreux
- Death State/Country: Switzerland
- Married: Jane Harrison, 21 June 1888.
- Education:
B.A. Yale, 1882; Ph.D., 1891, honorary A.M., 1912; study at Berlin & Bonn 1888-9, Rome 1889.
- Dissertation:
"Colloquial Latin in the Letters to Cicero" (Yale, 1891).
- Professional Experience:
Tutor Lat. Yale, 1884-91; asst. prof, to prof. Lat. U. Chicago, 1891-1908; Kennedy prof. Lat. Princeton, 1908-24; prof. Lat. ASCSR, 1901-2; asso. ed. CP and Studi Storici; trustee AAR; pres. APA, 1917-8.
- Publications:
Selected Letters of Cicero (Boston & London, 1897); Petronius: A Study in Ancient Realism (New York, 1899); Alberico Gentili, Hispanicae advocationis libri duo (trans.) (Boston & London, 1901; 3d ed., 1911); The Use of Repetition to Secure Emphasis, Intensity, and Distinctness of Impression (Chicago, 1902); The Toledo Manuscript of the Germania of Tacitus (Chicago, 1903); A Short History of Rome (Chicago, 1906); A Handbook for the Study of Roman History (Chicago, 1906); "The Use of Language as a Means of Characterization in Petronius," CP 24 (1907) 43-51; "Notes upon MSS containing Persius and Petrus Diaconus," ibid., 331-8; "The Accent in Vulgar and Formal Latin," ibid., 444-61; Society and Politics in Ancient Rome (New York, 1909); The Common People of Ancient Rome (New York, 1911); "Pronunciation of a Final Consonant in a Latin Word-Group," AJP 38 (1917) 73-81; Roman Politics (Boston, 1923); Municipal Administration in the Roman Empire, with Allan Chester Johnson (Princeton, 1926).
- Notes:
Abbott, the leading authority of his generation on Roman political and historical literature, is known for widely popular books that treat those institutions from Rome that have most influenced our own. Despite a frail constitution, he was an inspiring teacher, especially to older students, and he worked tirelessly as a scholar and an officer of classical organizations both in America and Italy. The first faculty appointment to the University of Chicago, he was largely responsible for drawing up the curriculum for the new university and had great influence on the policies and direction of the institution.
- Sources:
CJ 20 (1924-5) 116-7; H. N. Fowler, DAB 1: 20-1; NatCAB 19:430-1; NYTimes (28 July 1924) 11; WhAm 1:2.
- Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.
