Murray was born at
Arbroath, and educated there, at the
Royal High School, Edinburgh and at the Universities of
Edinburgh and
Berlin. In 1867 he entered the
British Museum as an assistant in the department of Greek and Roman antiquities under
Sir Charles Newton, whom he succeeded in 1886. His younger brother,
George Robert Milne Murray (1858–1911), was made keeper of the botanical department in 1895, a rare instance of two brothers becoming heads of departments at the museum. In 1873 Murray published a
Manual of Mythology, and in the following year contributed to the
Contemporary Review two articles—one on the
Homeric question—which led to a friendship with
Mr Gladstone, the other on Greek painters. In 1874 he also published the popular work ''Who's Who in Mythology
. In 1880-1883 he brought out his History of Greek Sculpture: From the Earliest Times Down to the Age of Pheidias'', which at once became a standard work. In 1886, he was selected by the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland to deliver the next year's
Rhind lectures on archaeology, out of which grew his
Handbook of Greek Archaeology (1892). In 1894-1896 Murray directed excavations in Cyprus including those at
Enkomi; they were undertaken by means of a bequest of £2000 from Miss
Emma Tournour Turner. The objects obtained are described and illustrated in
Excavations in Cyprus, published by the trustees of the museum in 1900. Murray's other official publications include three folio volumes on Terra-cotta
Sarcophagi, White Athenian Vases and Designs from Greek Vases. In 1898 he wrote for the
Portfolio a monograph on Greek bronzes, founded on lectures delivered at the
Royal Academy in that year, and he contributed many articles on archaeology to standard publications. In recognition of his services to archaeology he was made LL.D. of
Glasgow University in 1887 and elected a corresponding member of the
Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1900. ==Works==