Editing Arthur Evans (section)

====Oxford====
[[File:Brasenose College from the High Street.jpg|thumb|left|Brasenose College]]
Arthur matriculated on 9 June 1870<ref>Oxford Men and the Colleges 1880–92</ref> and attended [[Brasenose College, Oxford]]. His [[housemaster]] at Harrow, F. Rendall, had eased the way to his acceptance with the recommendation that he was "a boy of powerful original mind." At Brasenose College, he read Modern History, a new curriculum, which was nearly a disaster, as his main interests were in archaeology and classical studies.

His summertime activities with his brothers and friends were perhaps more important to his subsequent career. Having been given an ample allowance by his father, he went looking for adventure on the continent, seeking out circumstances that might be considered dangerous by some. In June 1871, he and Lewis visited [[Hallstatt]], where his father had excavated in 1866, adding some of the artefacts to his collection. Arthur Evans had made himself familiar with these. Subsequently, they went on to Paris and then to [[Amiens]]. The [[Franco-Prussian War]] had just concluded the month before. Arthur Evans had been told at the French border to remove the dark cape he was wearing so that he would not be shot for a spy.<ref>{{harvnb|Cottrell|1958|p=86}}.</ref> Amiens was occupied by the Prussian army. Arthur found them prosaic and preoccupied with souvenir-hunting. He and Lewis hunted for stone-age artefacts in the gravel quarries, Arthur Evans remarking that he was glad the Prussians were not interested in flint artefacts.<ref>{{harvnb | MacGillivray | 2000 | pp=40–41}}.</ref>

In 1872, he and Norman adventured into Ottoman territory in the [[Carpathians]], already in a state of political tension. They crossed borders illegally at high altitudes, "revolvers at the ready." This was Arthur Evans's first encounter with Turkish people and customs. He bought a set of clothes of a wealthy Turkish man, complete with red fez, baggy trousers, and an embroidered short-sleeved tunic. His detailed, enthusiastic account was published in ''[[Fraser's Magazine]]'' in May 1873.

In 1873, he and Balfour tramped over [[Sápmi (area)|Lapland]], Finland, and Sweden. Everywhere he went he took copious anthropological notes and made numerous drawings of the people, places and artefacts.<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1993|pp=11–19}}.</ref> During the Christmas holidays of 1873, Evans catalogued a coin collection being bequeathed to Harrow by [[John Gardner Wilkinson]], the father of British [[Egyptology]], who was too ill to work on it himself. The headmaster had suggested "my old pupil, Arthur John Evans – a remarkably able young man."<ref>{{cite book|title=Sir Gardner Wilkinson and His Circle|first=Jason|last=Thompson|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1992|isbn= 9780292776432|page=343}}</ref>

Arthur John Evans graduated from Oxford at the age of 24 in 1874, but his career had come near to foundering during the final examinations on modern history. Despite his extensive knowledge of ancient history, classics, archaeology, and what would be termed today cultural anthropology, he apparently had not even read enough in his nominal subject to pass the required examination. He could answer no questions on topics later than the 12th century.<ref>{{harvnb|MacGillivray|2000|p=42}}.</ref> He had convinced one of his examiners, [[Edward Augustus Freeman]], of his talent. They were both published authors, they were both Gladstone liberals, and they were both interested in the [[Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877)]] and on the side of [[Old Herzegovina]] insurgents. Freeman convinced Evans's tutors, George Kitchen and [[John Richard Green]], and they convinced the Regius professor, [[William Stubbs]], that, in view of his special other knowledge and interests, and his father's "high standing in learned society", Evans should not only be passed, but receive a first-class degree. It was the topic of much jesting; Green wrote to Freeman on 11 November 1875:{{blockquote|"I am very sorry to have missed you, dear Freeman ... Little Evans – son of John Evans the great – has just come back from the Herzegovina which he reached by way of Lapland, having started from the Schools in excitement at the 'first' I wrung for him out of the obdurate Stubbs ..."}}

In the spring of 1875 he applied for the Archaeological Travelling Studentship offered by Oxford, but, as he says in a letter to Freeman later in life,<ref name=cot92>{{harvnb|Cottrell|1958|p=92}}.</ref> he was turned down thanks to the efforts of [[Benjamin Jowett]] and [[Charles Thomas Newton]], two Oxford dons having a low opinion of his work there.