{{Short description|American classical philologist (1892–1968)}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = <!-- see MOS:CREDENTIAL and MOS:HONORIFIC --> | name = Ben Edwin Perry | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- use only if different from full/othernames --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|2|21}} | birth_place = Fayette, Ohio, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|1968|11|1|1892|2|21}} | death_place = Urbana, Illinois, United States | death_cause = | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = Perry Index | title = | boards = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation--> | spouse = Lillian M. Pierce | partner = | children = | parents = Edwin Stuart Perry, Delle Wickizer Perry | relatives = | awards = <!--notable national-level awards only--> | website = | education = | alma_mater = <!--will often consist of the linked name of the last-attended higher education institution--> | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | era = | discipline = <!--major academic discipline – e.g. Physicist, Sociologist, New Testament scholar, Ancient Near Eastern Linguist--> | sub_discipline = <!--academic discipline specialist area – e.g. Sub-atomic research, 20th-century Danish specialist, Pauline research, Arcadian and Ugaritic specialist--> | workplaces = <!--full-time positions only, not student positions--> | doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Ben Edwin Perry''' (1892–1968) was an American professor of classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1924 to 1960.<ref name="archives">{{cite web |title=Perry, Ben Edwin (1892–1968) {{!}} University of Illinois Archives|url=https://archon.library.illinois.edu/index.php/index.php?p=creators/creator&id=1049 |website=University of Illinois Archives |access-date=6 December 2021}}</ref><ref name="rutgers">{{Cite web|title=Perry, Ben Edwin|url=https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/9016-perry-ben-edwin|access-date=2020-11-08|website=dbcs.rutgers.edu}}</ref> He held Guggenheim Fellowships in the years 1930–1931 and 1954–1955.<ref name="archives"/> He developed the Perry Index.
== Life == He graduated from University of Michigan, and Princeton University.<ref name="rutgers"/>
He was author of ''Studies in the Text History of the Life and Fables of Aesop'' and many other books. His ''Aesopica'' ("A Series of Texts Relating to Aesop or Ascribed to Him or Closely Connected with the Literal Tradition that Bears His Name"), published in 1952, has become the definitive edition of all fables reputed to be by Aesop, with fables arranged by earliest known source. His index of fables has been used as a reference system by later authors.<ref>According to Laura Gibbs for instance, it is "the most comprehensive and reliable system currently available." {{cite book|last=Gibbs|first=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K7XwvvIfXh4C&q=perry&pg=PP1|title=Aesop's Fables. A new translation|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-19-284050-9|page=xxxiii}}</ref>
His archives are at University of Illinois.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ben Edwin Perry Papers, 1915–70 |publisher= University of Illinois Archives|url=https://archon.library.illinois.edu/?p=collections/controlcard&id=2416|access-date=2020-11-08|website=archon.library.illinois.edu}}</ref>
== Works == * ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030384286&seq=7 Studies in the Text History of the Life and Fables of Aesop]'', Haverford, Pennsylvania, American Philological Association, 1936 * ''Aesopica'', New York, Arno Press, 1980, {{ISBN|9780405133374}} * ''The Ancient Romances: A Literary-Historical Account of Their Origins,'' Berkeley, University of California Press, 1967.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Henry|first=Denis|date=1968-04-01|title=The Ancient Romances: A Literary-Historical Account of Their Origins. Ben Edwin Perry|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/365356|journal=Classical Philology|volume=63|issue=2|pages=149–151|doi=10.1086/365356|issn=0009-837X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Ben Edwin}} Category:1892 births Category:1968 deaths Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Category:Scholars of ancient Greek literature Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Princeton University alumni Category:20th-century American people