All Scholars

John Ambrose spent 34 years teaching at Bowdoin College, following more than a decade at elite prep schools. He visited the American School in Athens and the American Academy in Rome as often as he could and brought the experiences and people of modern Greece and Italy to bear on his understanding of the ancient poets, particularly Horace, the subject of his dissertation, in whom he found beguiling subtleties and ironies. He did not neglect the Greek world, which he summarized in Greek Attitudes, which he co-authored with his colleague Nathan Dane (1916-80). Later in his career he focused on Euripides, editing the Hecuba with James Diggle (b. 1944) and the Helen with Allan D. Wooley (1936-2020). His commitment to his students who remember a gentleman of charm and humor as well as a passion for tennis, was the focus of his career. With William J. Buehner he edited the first volume of Preparatory Latin, the result of his years of teaching first-year Latin at the secondary and collegiate levels. He closed his convocation speech to the Bowdoin class of 2002 with the following: “I’m a professor and can’t imagine enjoying any form of work as much as teaching bright young men and women. Heaven knows how often in the past three decades I have thanked my tutelary divinity for introducing me to the classics, Bowdoin College, and the joys of the classroom.”