John Aylmer (died 5 April 1672) was an English classicist, poet, and academic, best known for his expertise in ancient Greek and his poetic translations of biblical texts into that language.
Life
Aylmer was born in Hampshire, England. He was educated at Winchester College and was admitted as a perpetual fellow of New College, Oxford, after two years of probation. He matriculated as a gentleman commoner at New College, Oxford, on 16 November 1650, and was admitted as a fellow in 1652.
In 1652, he took degrees in civil law, completing his doctorate in 1663. During his lifetime, he was regarded as an "excellent Grecian" (i.e., an expert in ancient Greek) and a skilled Greek and Latin poet.
Works
His principal published work is Musae sacrae seu Jonas, Jeremiae Threni, & Daniel Graeco redditi Carmine (Oxford, 1652, octavo), a collection of poetic translations of biblical books — Jonah, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and Daniel — rendered into ancient Greek verse. He also contributed various Greek and Latin verses that were dispersed in other books.
Death
He died at Petersfield on Good Friday, 5 April 1672, and was buried in the church at Havant in Hampshire.
Sources
- Wood, Anthony A. and Philip Bliss. Athenae Oxonienses: an Exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who Have Had their Education in the University of Oxford; to which Are Added the Fasti, or, Annals of the Said University. New ed. London: Rivington; Parker, 1813–1820.
