Ada Sara Adler (18 February 1878 – 28 December 1946) was a Danish classical scholar and librarian.
She is best known for her critical edition of the Byzantine encyclopedia Suda (5 vols., 1928–38), which still provides the standard text.
Biography
Adler was born on 18 February 1878, the daughter of Bertel David Adler and Elise Johanne, née Fraenckel. Her family was of high social standing and well-connected. Her grandfather, David Baruch Adler, was a wealthy banker and politician. Her aunt, Ellen Adler Bohr, was the mother of Niels Bohr and Harald Bohr. Through the Bohrs, she was also related to Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin.
Adler's early education was at Miss Steenberg's School and then N. Zahle's School, where she studied Ancient Greek under Anders Bjørn Drachmann beginning in 1893. She then went to the University of Copenhagen, where she continued to study Greek and comparative religion with Drachmann and also Professor Vilhelm Thomsen. In 1906, she completed her master's thesis on ancient Greek religion, as well as receiving an award from the Historical Philological Society for research on the myth of Pandora. In 1912, after finishing her master's, she traveled to Vienna to study, during which time she published a few articles on Greek religion and completed research and writing for Pauly-Wissowa.
