Arthur Fairbanks

author

Arthur Fairbanks

1864–1944

A leading American classicist and museum figure, he helped bring the art and ideas of the ancient world to a wider public. His writing combines scholarship with a clear, approachable style that still makes Greek art and literature feel alive.

1 Audiobook

The first philosophers of Greece : An edition and translation of the remaining fragments of the pre-Sokratic philosophers, together with a translation of the more important accounts of their opinions contained in the early epitomes of their works

The first philosophers of Greece : An edition and translation of the remaining fragments of the pre-Sokratic philosophers, together with a translation of the more important accounts of their opinions contained in the early epitomes of their works

by Arthur Fairbanks

About the author

Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1864, Arthur Fairbanks was an American art historian, classical scholar, and museum administrator. He studied at Dartmouth, Yale Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Freiburg, building a background that joined broad humanistic learning with specialized classical study.

He taught Greek and archaeology at the University of Iowa and the University of Michigan before moving to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he became curator of classical art and later served as director from 1908 to 1925. Alongside his museum work, he wrote and translated books on Greek art, mythology, and ancient authors, helping readers connect with the visual culture of Greece and Rome.

Fairbanks is especially remembered for making classical subjects readable without oversimplifying them. Whether writing about vase painting, sculpture, mythology, or ancient texts, he brought the ancient Mediterranean world into focus for students, general readers, and museum visitors alike.