Adkins, A. W. H. (Arthur W. H.)

Arthur Adkins was born in 1930. He was raised and educated in Great Britain. He received his B.A, M.A. and D.Phil from Oxford in 1952, 1955, and 1957 respectively. After receiving his PhD he held teaching positions at a number of British Universities, including the University of Reading. He was offered a position as a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Cornell University Society for the Humanities in Ithaca, New York for the academic year 1967-1968 but he turned it down in order to focus on departmental restructuring then occurring at the University of Reading. He was offered the position once again for the academic year 1969-1970, at which time he accepted.

Adkins joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1974. In 1977, he was named the Edward Olson Professor, a prestigious appointment allotted to a distinguished Professor in Classical Languages & Literatures. He served as Chairman of Classical Languages & Literatures from 1975 to 1980. In 1975, Adkins and University of Chicago professor James Redfield co-founded the Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World (CAMW). The program, instituted in May 1979, grants advanced degrees and coordinates the work of scholars studying languages, history and archaeology. It was one of the first PhD programs in the country to offer an interdisciplinary approach to the ancient world. He served as Chair of the committee for a number of years following and participated in a series of efforts to restructure and refine the committee’s curriculum, requirements, and general organization and purpose. The CAMW has since be restructured and has evolved into what is now known as the Program in the Ancient Mediterranean World (PAMW).

In his own academic research and writing, Adkins was particularly influential in the field of Ancient Greek values and ethics. His work focused on issues of competitive and cooperative virtues in early Greek literature and society. He began studying these topics during his time at Oxford. A series of four binders (included in this collection) filled with notes taken as an undergraduate later served as reference material for his 1985 book, Poetic Craft and the Early Greek Elegists. Materials within the Arthur Adkins Papers collection indicate that he was very well-respected by both colleagues and students. At the University of Chicago, he was revered for his conscientious concern for and attentive attitude towards his students.

He published four books: Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values (1960), From the Many to the One: A Study of Personality and Views of Human Nature in the Context of Ancient Greek Society, Values and Beliefs (1970), Moral Values and Political Behavior in Ancient Greece (1972) and Poetic Craft and the Early Greek Elegists (1985). He also co-edited University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 1 (1986).

Arthur Adkins and his wife Elizabeth had two children, Matthew and Deborah. Professor Arthur Adkins died of cancer on February 13, 1996.

From the guide to the Adkins, Arthur. Papers, 1948-1996, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)