• Date of Birth: May 05, 1883
  • Born City: Orillia
  • Born State/Country: ON
  • Parents: S.P., a Methodist clergyman, & Jean Andrews R.
  • Date of Death: July 31, 1961
  • Death City: St Andrews
  • Death State/Country: Scotland
  • Married: Eliza Harriet Plimsoll, 1911.
  • Education:

    B.A. McGill, 1904; B.A. Oxford (Balliol Coll.) (Rhodes Scholar), 1907; Ireland & First Craven Scholar, 1904; Chancellor's Latin Essay Prize, 1907; Passmore Edwards Scholar, 1908; LL.D. (hon.) St. Andrews, 1954.

  • Professional Experience:

    Fell. & lctr. Exeter Coll., Oxford, 1907-11; asso. prof, class. McGill, 1911-5; prof. Lat. University Coll. of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1919-27; prof. Gk. United Coll. of St. Salvator & St. Leonard, St. Andrews, 1927-53; pres. Folklore Soc, 1932-5; Scottish Anthrop. Soc., 1932-52; fell., 1935; Class. Assoc. Scotland, 1955; Socio corrispondente, R. Istituto lombardo di scienze e lettere, 1932; fell. British Acad., 1934; vis. prof. Harvard, 1935; for. mem. Royal Soc. Letters, Lund, 1935; Sather prof., 1939; hon. fell. Exeter Coll., 1944; for. mem. Royal Netherlands Acad. Sci., 1951.

  • Publications:

    The Roman Questions of Plutarch (trans.) (Oxford, 1924; repr. 1975); Primitive Culture in Greece (London, 1925); Primitive Culture in Italy (London, 1926; repr. 1971); Blodau o hen ardd: epigram an Groeg a Lladin, with T. Gwynn Jones (Wrexham, 1927); A Handbook of Greek Mythology (London, 1928; 6th ed. 1958; many reprints; Germ, trans. [Munich, 1955; 2d ed. 1961]); Modern Methods in Classical Mythology (St. Andrews, 1930); Hygini Fabulae (Leiden 1933 or 1934; repr. 1967); A Handbook of Greek Literature from Homer to the Age of Lucian (London, 1934; 4th ed. 1951; many reprints); A Handbook of Latin Literature from the Earliest Times to the Death of St. Augustine (London, 1936; 3d ed. 1954; many reprints); More West Highland Tales, with John Francis Campbell, John G. McKay, W. J. Watson, & Donald Maclean (Edinburgh & London, 1940); Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca, trans. W. H. D. Rouse, with mythological intro. & notes by Rose, LCL, 3 vols. (Cambridge & London, 1940-2); The Eclogues of Vergil, Sather Lectures 16 (Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1942); Ancient Greek Religion (London, 1948; Span, trans. 1955); Ancient Roman Religion (London, 1949; Span, trans. 1955; repr. with the preceding as Religion in Greece and Rome with new introduction [New York, 1959]); Folk-Lore in Chios, with P. P. Argenti (Cambridge, Eng., 1949); Andrew Lang: His Place in Anthropology, Andrew Lang Lecture (Edinburgh, 1951); Gods and Heroes of the Greeks (London, 1957, many reprints); A Commentary on the Surviving Plays of Aeschylus, 2 vols. (Amsterdam, 1957-8); Some Problems of Classical Religion, Eitrem Lectures [1955] (Oslo, 1958); Outline of Classical Literature for Students of English (London, 1959; repr. 1961); articles in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (New York, 1908-27); Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th & 15th eds.; Encyclopaedia Americana; Chambers's Encyclopaedia; Oxford Classical Dictionary; learned journals. Translations: W. Schmidt, The Origin and Growth of Religion (London, 1931); M. P. Nilsson, Greek Piety (Oxford, 1948); R. Pettazzoni, Essays on the History of Religion (Leiden, 1954); B.A. van Proosdij, "Two Thunderclouds Closing in Conflict. " The Meeting of Madvig and Cobet at the Tercentenary of Leyden University and Its Historical Background (Leiden, 1954); P. van der Meer, The Chronology of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt, 2d ed. (Leiden, 1955); R. Pettazzoni, The All-Knowing God (London, 1956); K. Kerenyi, Heroes of the Greeks (London, 1959).

  • Notes:

    H. J. Rose is the most gifted and famous of the Canadian scholars represented in this database. His special province was ancient religion, on which he brought to bear his immense learning in folklore, folktales, and anthropology, but without the excessive theorizing of some of his contemporaries. Early influences were L. R. Farnell, R. R. Marett, and Warde Fowler. The Handbook of Greek Mythology is his monument and best illustrates his capacity to communicate clearly a great many facts, normally taken from other authorities but filtered through a keen and independent judgment and enriched by his own special talent for analyzing narratives. His great facility in writing, aided by a wonderful memory, occasionally betrayed him into error, as in the Handbook of Latin Literature; the commentary on Aeschylus is uneven, and the edition of Hyginus, though still standard, leaves much to be done. But his books were full of insight, and his advances in method were particularly praised by A. D. Nock.A large and bluff man, he was a vigorous swimmer in the North Sea until late in life. His large family (six children and many grandchildren surviving) gave him much joy. He was reputed to know all the languages of Europe, and his skill at chess was such that he nearly beat Capablanca, the future world champion, in 1907; victory seemed certain after 31 moves, when a simple oversight resulted in a draw.

  • Sources:

    E. L. James, Man 62 (1962) 119; W. L. Lorimer, PBA 48 (1962) 397-410; A. D. Nock, Gnomon 34 (1962) 424-6; Times (2 Aug. 1961) 13c (obituary); (4 Aug. 1961) 12c (funeral); (8 Aug. 1961) lib (tribute by J. R. T. Pollard); Who Was Who. A Companion to Who's Who VI (1961-70) (London, 1979); Who's Who Among Living Authors of Older Nations 1 (1931-2); Domenico Accorinti, "Herbert Jennings Rose (1883-1961). The Scholar and His Correspondents," ICS 33-34 (2008-9) 65-107.

  • Author: Robert L. Fowler