Readers of her translations and other books had no frame of reference for many of the myths to which she was referring. The Roman Way followed similar themes in Roman literature, culture, religion, and history.Īs she continued to write and translate, Hamilton realized that there was a need for an easy to read compendium of Greek Mythology for the every day reader. This was the focus of her first book The Greek Way. She found the study of this to be highly relevant to modern Western civilization. Her interest began in the individuality of the Greek persona in literature and mythology. Her writing began as translation and explanation exercises for friends and escalated into full-scale scholarship. Hamilton was a very popular schoolteacher of the Classics at Bryn Mawr. She died five years later at the age of 96. She received many honorary awards and degrees in the U.S. In 1957, after the publishing of her final book, she was made an official citizen of Athens, Greece. Over the next 35 years, she wrote many books and gained much public acclaim.

Her endeavor began as she translated Aeschylus for friends. It was not until 1930 that she began to write books. The Bryn Mawr School offered her their head position and she taught there until her retirement in 1922. When she returned to the United States, her families fortunes had changed. While attending Bryn Mawr, she was awarded the European Fellowship. She learned Greek, Latin, German and French.

Her family immigrated to the United States and she was educated both at home and in a private school for girls. Edith Hamilton was born in 1867 in Dresden Germany.

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