Edit Gamilton

Edith Hamilton was born on August 12, 1867, in Dresden, Germany, and was the daughter of Gertrude Pond Hamilton and Montgomery Hamilton. She had three sisters: Alice, Margaret, and Nora. From early childhood, her father introduced little Edith to works of classical literature and, when she was seven years old, began teaching her Latin, French, German, and Greek.

In the early 1880s, she enrolled at Miss Porter’s School, a finishing school for young women in Farmington, Connecticut. Edith then studied at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. After receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Hamilton was given the opportunity to continue her education in Germany on a scholarship. She arrived at the University of Leipzig, where female students were allowed to attend lectures, but none of them had the right to take part in discussions. When Edith learned that women were still not allowed to earn a doctorate, she decided to try her luck at the University of Munich.

Having never earned a doctorate in Germany, Edith Hamilton returned to the United States, where she became head of a preparatory school for girls in Baltimore. She remained the school’s principal for 26 years. After retiring, Edith moved to New York and published a number of works on Greek drama.

She died on May 31, 1963, in Washington, D.C.