GILLIES, John (1747-1836), the historian of ancient Greece, was born in 1747 at Brechin, in Forfarshire. He was educated at the university of Glasgow, where he greatly distinguished himself, and where, at the age of twenty, lie officiated for a short time as substitute for the professor of Greek. Subsequently he received an engagement as tutor in the family of Lord Hopetoun, who afterwards conferred on him a pension for life. In 1784 he completed his principal work, the History of Ancient Greece, its Colonies and Conquests, which he published two years later in 2 vols. 4to. This work gives a clear and generally accurate account of the various states of Greece, and the progress of each in literature and the arts. The learning it displays is considerable, but its reflexions are generally somewhat trite, and the style is abrupt and frequently diffuse. It enjoyed, however, for some time a great popularity, and was translated into French and German. It was long a favourite text-book for schools, but is now completely superseded. On the death of Robertson, Gillies was appointed historiographer-royal of Scotland. In his old age he retired to Clapham, where he died 15th February 1836, in the 90th year of his age.

Of his other works, none of which are much read, the principal are— View of the Reign of Frederick II. of Prussia, with a Parallel between that Prince and Philip II. of Macedon, 1789; Translation of Aristotle's Rhetoric, and of his Ethics and Politics·, and. History of the World from Alexander to Augustus, in 2 vols., 1807.