Gilbert Murray
Gilbert Murray (1866-1957) was a prominent British classical scholar known for his significant contributions to the translation and adaptation of ancient Greek plays. Born in Sydney, Australia, he moved to England with his mother after the death of his father. Murray demonstrated exceptional academic talent, winning numerous prizes at Saint John's College, Oxford, and later became a professor of classics at the University of Glasgow before returning to Oxford as Regius Professor of Greek. His translations of works by Euripides, Sophocles, and Menander were notable for their rhymed verse, gaining popularity in both London and beyond, with estimated sales of around half a million copies during his lifetime. Among his works, his translation of Sophocles' *Oedipus Rex* received acclaim and was produced in a successful 1912 performance. Murray was also an active participant in liberal causes, including women's suffrage, and made political attempts, although he faced criticism for his translation methods from contemporaries like T. S. Eliot. His efforts were instrumental in making classical literature more accessible to the public and left a lasting impact on the appreciation of ancient Greek drama.
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Gilbert Murray
Scholar
- Born: January 2, 1866
- Birthplace: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Died: May 20, 1957
- Place of death: Oxford, England
Biography
George Gilbert Aimé Murray spent his first eleven years in Sydney, Australia, where his father, Sir Terrence Aubrey Murray, was president of the Legislative Council of New South Wales. When Sir Terence died in 1877, Gilbert and his mother, Agnes, moved to England. Agnes was a first cousin of William Schwenck Gilbert, Sir Arthur Sullivan’s collaborator. Young Gilbert relished William’s visits and through him, increased his interest in theater.
Gilbert attended the Merchant Taylor’s School, which had emphasized drama in its curriculum since Richard Mulcaster was headmaster there in the sixteenth century. Gilbert then attended Saint John’s College, Oxford, where he won nearly every prize available for classical scholars. Many considered him the most outstanding Greek scholar of his day. After a year teaching at Oxford’s New College, the twenty-three-year-old scholar became a professor of classics at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he remained for the next decade.
In 1899, Murray was misdiagnosed with a fatal disease, so he left Glasgow with his wife, Lady Mary Henrietta Howard, whom he married in 1889, and their children. The family settled in Surrey, England. There he prepared a three-volume translation of the plays of Euripides. In 1908, now completely revitalized, he became Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, a post he held until his retirement in 1936.
Although early in his career he wrote a novel, Gobi or Shama: A Story of Three Songs 1889), and two original plays, Carlyon Sahib (1900) and Andromache (1900), Murray is best known for his translations and adaptations of plays by Euripides, Sophocles, and Menander. These adaptations, mostly in the rhymed verse that Murray preferred to blank verse, were performed successfully in London, although they met with much greater success outside London, where Murray played a significant role in popularizing the works of the ancients. Not only did his translations play to enthusiastic audiences, but the sales of Murray’s printed versions of the plays were in great demand, selling an estimated half a million copies during Murray’s lifetime.
Murray’s translation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, which he titled Oedipus, King of Thebes, was produced in 1912, directed by Max Reinhardt, with John Martin Harvey as Oedipus and Lillah McCarthy as Jocasta. The drama played to sold-out houses for three consecutive weeks. In later years, the classics he translated were presented throughout the world, with striking performances of The Trojan Women in New York’s new Lewisohn Stadium and at the University of Pennsylvania. This play became an important vehicle for those who, like Murray, fought for women’s suffrage.
Murray was very much involved in liberal causes. He ran for Parliament and, although not elected, was influential politically and was once under consideration to become Britain’s ambassador to the United States. He had critics. Notable among them was poet T. S. Eliot, who deplored the liberties Murray took in his translations and the additions he made when fragmentary texts had missing parts. Murray, nevertheless, served an important role in bringing the classics to the masses.