All Scholars
MERRIAM, Augustus Chapman
- Date of Birth: May 30, 1843
- Born City: Leyden
- Born State/Country: NY
- Parents: Ela & Lydia Sheldon
- Date of Death: January 19, 1895
- Death City: Athens
- Death State/Country: Greece
- Married: Louise Oley, 23 June 1869.
- Education:
A.B. Columbia Coll., 1866; Ph.D. (hon.), 1879.
- Professional Experience:
Tchr. Columbia Grammar Sch., 1867-8; tutor Gk. & Lat. Columbia, 1868-80; adj. prof. Gk., 1880-90; prof. Gk. arch. & epig., 1890-95; pres. APA, 1886-7; dir. ASCSA, 1887-8.
- Publications:
"Troy and Cyprus," PAPA 6 (1875) 19-21; "On Some Passages of the Odyssey," PAPA 10 (1879) 8-10; The Phaeacian Episode in the Odyssey (New York, 1880); "Alien Intrusion between Article and Noun in Greek," TAPA 13(1882) 34-49; "The Caesaraeum and the Worship of Augustus at Alexandria," TAPA 14 (1883) 5-35; The Greek and Latin Inscriptions on the Obelisk-Crab in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (New York, 1883); The Sixth and Seventh Books of Herodotus (New York, 1885); "The Ephebic Inscription of C.I.G. 282, Lebas, Attique 560, and C.I.A. iii.1079," AJP 6 (1885) 1-6; "A Greek Tunnel of the Sixth Century, B.C.," School of Mines Quarterly 6 (Mar. 1885) 264-75; "Inscribed Sepulchral Vases from Alexandria," AJA 1 (1885) 18-33; "Law Code of the Kretan Gortyna: Text, Translation, Commentary," ibid., 324-50, 2 (1886) 24-45; "Aesculapia as Revealed by Inscriptions," Gaillard's Medical Journal 2 (1886) 24-45; "Painted Sepulchral Stelai from Alexandria," AJA 3 (1887) 261-8; "Greek Inscriptions Published in 1886-87" (pres. address), ibid., 303-21; "Geryon in Cyprus," Studies Drisler, 204-17; "Hercules, Hydra and Crab," ibid., 218-25.
- Notes:
Augustus Chapman Merriam was the first American scholar to specialize in archaeology and epigraphy. He was a student of Charles Anthon and Henry Drisler at Columbia, where he spent his entire professional career. His early work on Homer drew him to recent work in epigraphy and archaeology, after which he devoted himself to these disciplines and was ultimately given the first professorship of archaeology and epigraphy at Columbia. He established a new date for the Obelisk-Crab that comported with the historical record. This work and his disagreement with Mommsen led to his definitive paper on the Caesaraeum.
- Sources:
Columbia University Bulletin 10 (Mar. 1895) 64-76; Nelson G. McCrea, DAB 12:551-2; NatCAB 8:397; Sandys 408; WhAmHS 425; Clarence H. Young, AJA 10 (Apr.-June 1895) 227-9;.
- Author: Meyer Reinhold