Irish classical scholar, born in Switzerland on the 12th of July 1839. He received his early education in Switzerland and Germany, and later at Trinity College, Dublin, where he held the professorship of ancient history. Mahaffy, a man of great versatility, published numerous works, some of which, especially those dealing with what may be called the Silver age of Greece, became standard authorities. The following deserve mention: History of Classical Greek Literature (4th ed., 1903 seq.); Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander (4th ed., 1903); The Silver Age of the Greek World (1906); The Empire of the Ptolemies (1896); Greek Life and Thought from Alexander to the Roman Conquest (2nd ed., 1896); The Greek World under Roman Sway from Polybius to Plutarch (1890). His translation of Kuno Fischer’s Commentary on Kant (1866) and his own exhaustive analysis, with elucidations, of Kant’s critical philosophy are of great value. He also edited the Petrie papyri in the Cunningham Memoirs (3 vols., 1891–1905).
He became vice-provost of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1913 and succeeded Dr. Traill as provost in 1914. His provostship covered an eventful period in the history of Ireland and of the college, and Dr. Mahaffy took an active part in the questions which agitated the country. He was a vigorous supporter of the cause of the Allies in the World War, and encouraged the loyal effort of the college, which sent practically all its young men who were eligible for service to the front. Though a strong Unionist by conviction, he believed that the conditions after the rebellion of 1916 necessitated compromise. At his invitation the Irish Convention met in Trinity College in 1917, and Dr. Mahaffy, who was one of the members nominated by the Government, took an active part in the debates. He pressed for a solution of the Irish question on the lines of Swiss federalism, and embodied his views in a minority report which was signed also by Dr. Crozier, Protestant Archbishop of Armagh. In recognition of the services of the college during the war, Dr. Mahaffy was in 1918 made a G.B.E., the Lord Lieutenant, Visct. French, at the same time giving him the accolade. Dr. Mahaffy was thus the first Roman Catholic priest to be made a knight. Dr. Mahaffy held many foreign and other distinctions; he was a D.C.L. of Oxford, an LL.D. of St. Andrew’s, a Ph.D. of Louvain and a Ph.D. of Athens, as well as a corresponding member of several foreign learned societies. From 1911 to 1916 he was president of the Royal Irish Academy. He died on the 30th of April 1919. See also “Childhood in Ancient Life,” Old Greek Education, Rambles and Studies in Greece, and Immanuel Kant: Critical Philosophy for English Readers.
