Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Classical PhilologistClassical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...
. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature.
Youth
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff was born in
Markowitz (Markowice)Markowice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Strzelno, within Mogilno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland...
, a small village near Hohensalza (Inowrocław), in the then
Province of PosenThe Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
(at present part of the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship-Transportation:Transportation infrastructure is of critical importance to the voivodeship's economy. Kuyavia-Pomerania is a major node point in the Polish transportation system. Railway lines from the South and East pass through Bydgoszcz in order to reach the major ports on the Baltic Sea...
), to a Germanized family of distant
Polishthumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
ancestry. His father, a Prussian
JunkerA Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...
, was Arnold Wilamowitz, of
SzlachtaThe szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
origin and using the Ogończyk Coat of Arms, while his mother was Ulrika, née Calbo. The couple settled in a small manor confiscated from a local noble in 1836. The Prussian part of their name, von Moellendorf, was acquired in 1813, when Prussian field marshal Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf adopted Ulrich's ancestors. Wilamowitz, a third child, grew up in
East PrussiaEast Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
.
In 1867 Wilamowitz passed his
AbiturAbitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
at the renowned boarding school at Schulpforta.
Studies
Until 1869 Wilamowitz studied
Classical PhilologyClassical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...
at the
University of BonnThe University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
. His teachers,
Otto JahnOtto Jahn , was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music.He was born at Kiel...
and
Hermann UsenerHermann Karl Usener was a German scholar in the fields of philology and comparative religion.-Life:...
, had a formative influence on him. Willamowitz's relationship with Usener was strained. He developed a lifelong rivalry with his fellow student
Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
and a close friendship with his contemporary Hermann Diels. Together with Diels, he moved to
BerlinThe Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
in 1869, where he graduated as a
Doctor of PhilosophyDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
cum laude in 1870. After voluntary service in the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, he embarked on a study tour to
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Conflict with Nietzsche and Wagner
Before he even gained a professorial title, Wilamowitz was a main protagonist in a scholarly dispute about Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy that attracted much attention. In 1872-73, he published two unusually aggressive polemics (
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: "Zukunftsphilologie", i.e. "Philology of the future"), which strongly attacked Nietzsche (then Professor at the
University of BaselThe University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...
) and Professor
Erwin RohdeErwin Rohde was one of the great German classical scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries.Rohde was born in Hamburg and was the son of a doctor. Outside of antiquarian circles, Rohde is known today chiefly for his friendship and correspondence with fellow-philologist Friedrich Nietzsche...
(
University of KielThe University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...
).
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, whose views on art had influenced Nietzsche and Rohde, reacted by publishing an
open letterAn open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
and Rohde wrote a damning response. The issue at stake was the deprecation of
EuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
, on whom Nietzsche blamed the destruction of Greek tragedy. Wilamowitz saw the methods of his adversaries as an attack on the basic tenets of scientific thought, unmasking them as enemies of the
scientific methodScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
. His polemic was considered as Classical philology's reply to Nietzsche's challenge.
At the age of 80 when Wilamowitz wrote his memoirs, he saw the conflict with Nietzsche less passionately, but did not retract the essential points of his critique. He stated that he had not fully realised at the time that Nietzsche was not interested in scientific understanding but rather in Wagner's musical drama, but also that he was nevertheless right to take position against Nietzsche's "rape of historical facts and all historical method."
Greifswald
In 1875 he gained a professorial title for his study Analecta Euripidea. In the same year he gave his first public academic lecture in Berlin. In 1876 he was employed as Ordinarius (full professor) for Classical Philology at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität at
GreifswaldGreifswald , officially, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is a town in northeastern Germany. It is situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at an equal distance of about from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg. The town borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed...
. During this period, he also married Maria Mommsen, the eldest daughter of
Theodor MommsenChristian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
, and published Homeric Studies (Homerische Studien).
Göttingen
In 1883, he took a further professorial position at Georg-August-Universität in
GöttingenGöttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
. Here, he continued to teach Classical Philology but also gave replacement lectures in
Ancient HistoryAncient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
. His influence ensured the employment of his Greifswald colleague,
Julius WellhausenJulius Wellhausen , was a German biblical scholar and orientalist, noted particularly for his contribution to scholarly understanding of the origin of the Pentateuch/Torah ....
, in Göttingen. In 1891, he became vice-chancellor of the university, and he was appointed a member of Göttingen's Royal Academy of Sciences one year later. When Wilamowitz left Göttingen, he was succeeded by
Georg KaibelGeorg Kaibel was a German classical philologist born in Lübeck.He studied classical philology at the Universities of Göttingen and Bonn. At Bonn he was a pupil of Hermann Usener and Franz Bücheler...
, a close associate from his student days and his successor at Greifswald.
Berlin
In 1897, with the support of his friend Diels, Wilamowitz was offered a position at the Royal
Friedrich-Wilhelms-UniversitätThe Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
at Berlin, as successor to
Ernst CurtiusYou may be looking for Ernst Robert Curtius .Ernst Curtius was a German archaeologist and historian.-Biography:...
. He stayed until his retirement in 1921. In 1915 he was appointed chancellor of the university for one year. Together with Diels, he founded the Berlin Institute for Ancient Studies (Institut für Altertumskunde) in 1897. His public lectures on subjects of
Classical antiquityClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
, which took place twice a week, attracted large audiences.
Teaching activities and memberships
In 1891, Wilamowitz was elected a corresponding member of the
Prussian Academy of SciencesThe Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700, four years after the Akademie der Künste or "Arts Academy", to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer.-Origins:...
and he was a full member as of 1899. In 1902 he took the academy's presidency. As a member of the Göttingen academy, he strongly encouraged the publication of the
Thesaurus Linguae LatinaeThe Thesaurus Linguae Latinae is a monumental dictionary of Latin. It encompasses the Latin language from the time of its origin to the time of Isidore of Seville ....
. From 1897 he also worked as a member to the academy's Commission for
PatristicsPatristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian writers, known as the Church Fathers. The names derive from the Latin pater . The period is generally considered to run from the end of New Testament times or end of the Apostolic Age Patristics or Patrology is the study of Early Christian...
. In 1894 he was elected full member of the
German Archaeological InstituteThe German Archaeological Institute is an institution of research within the field of archaeology , and a "scientific corporation", with parentage of the federal Foreign Office of Germany-Origin:...
. He also was editor of the series Philologische Untersuchungen from 1880 to 1925.
Further, Wilamowitz taught as a guest lecturer in
OxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
(1908) and
Uppsala- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
(1912), was a corresponding member of the
Norwegian Academy of Science and LettersThe Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway.-History:The University of Oslo was established in 1811. The idea of a learned society in Christiania surfaced for the first time in 1841. The city of Throndhjem had no university, but had a learned...
(1909) and the Scientific Society of
Lund-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
(1921).
Inscriptiones Graecae
During his presidency of the Prussian Academy, Wilamowitz achieved the continuation of August Böckh's and
Adolf KirchhoffJohann Wilhelm Adolf Kirchhoff , German classical scholar and epigraphist.-Biography:He was born in Berlin. In 1865 he was appointed professor of classical philology in the university of his native city...
's publication series, the
Inscriptiones GraecaeThe Inscriptiones Graecae , is an academic project originally begun by the Prussian Academy of Science, and today continued by its successor organisation, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften...
. Wilamowitz had a formative influence on the further development of that project, which he directed until his death.
World War I
Wilamowitz was an initiator of the memorandum Erklärung der Hochschullehrer des Deutschen Reiches ("Declaration by the University Teachers of the German Reich"), in which 3,016 signatories supported German participation in the First World War. Shortly after, he also signed the
Manifesto of the Ninety-ThreeThe "Manifesto of the Ninety-Three" is the name commonly given to a 1914 proclamation endorsed by 93 prominent German scientists, scholars and artists, declaring their unequivocal support of German military actions in the early period of World War I. These actions were elsewhere called the Rape of...
, from which he distanced himself later. In 1914, his son, Tycho von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, who was also active as a Classical Philologist, fell in the battle of
IvangorodDęblin is a town, population 19,500 , at the confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which altogether has over 100 000 inhabitants....
. The memorandum appeared a few days later.
The celebrated tale of Wilamowitz's whirring clockwork left thumb, his ″jolly stiff little fellow″ (as he is said to have called it), the prosthesis installed as the result either of his unfortunate injury under artillery barrage during the Franco-Prussian War or of his desperate self-mutilation to avoid further military service during the Great War, shows signs of being perhaps an apocryphal invention and, until finally verified with appropriate documentation, should probably be disregarded by serious scholars.
Family
In 1878 he married Maria Mommsen, the oldest daughter of the famous Ancient historian,
Theodor MommsenChristian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
, whom he actively assisted in the completion of his Roman History.
Wilamowitz spent his last years in reclusion, suffering from severe kidney problems. He died in Berlin on 25 September 1931, having been in a coma for a short time. He is buried in his native village, along with his wife, Maria (1855–1936), and their only son, Tycho. He also had a daughter, Dorothea Freifrau Hiller von Gaertringen, wife of archaeologist Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen, who died on 24 March 1972.
Achievements
Wilamowitz is one of the central figures of 19th and 20th century Classical Philology. As a great authority of the literature and history of
Ancient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, Wilamowitz took a stance against traditional methodology and
textual criticismTextual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
. As a representative of Postclassicism, he concentrated less on literary history but rather aimed to extract biographical information on the respective authors from the preserved texts. Thus, he employed historical perspectives to serve philology. Apart from his seminal general works (Greek Literature from Antiquity, Hellenistic Poetry), he published numerous detailed studies of
EuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
,
HomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
,
AeschylusAeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
,
PindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...
and
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. As a scientific organiser, he was also responsible for the publication of important standard-setting source material publications, such as
Inscriptiones GraecaeThe Inscriptiones Graecae , is an academic project originally begun by the Prussian Academy of Science, and today continued by its successor organisation, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften...
.
He also passionately supported the preservation of Classical education in the German school system.
Notable pupils of his include
Felix JacobyFelix Jacoby was a German classicist and philologist. He is best known among classicists for his highly important work Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, a collection of text fragments of ancient Greek historians...
, Karl Mittelhaus, Wolfgang Schadewaldt,
Eduard FraenkelEduard David Mortier Fraenkel was a German-English philologist.-Background and early life:Eduard Fraenkel was born to Jewish parents in Berlin. His father was a wine dealer, and his mother the daughter of an important publishing family...
,
Werner JaegerWerner Wilhelm Jaeger was a classicist of the 20th century.Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia. He attended school at Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen Jaeger studied at the University of Marburg and University of Berlin. He received a Ph.D...
, Johannes Geffcken, Paul Maas,
Eduard SchwartzEduard Schwartz was a German classical philologist.Born in Kiel, he studied under Hermann Usener, Mommsen and Wilamovitz-Moellendorf. Schwartz taught in at least half a dozen universities culminating with a post in Munich. He published numerous articles and works in the area of Greek and Roman...
,
Gilbert MurrayGeorge Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM was an Australian born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century...
and Johannes Sykutris.
In recent decades, the American scholar William M. Calder III has been publishing a series of important documents about and by Wilamowitz, including much of his correspondence with Diels, Eduard Norden,
MommsenChristian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
,
Paul Wendland Paul Wendland was a German classical philologist.Born in Hohenstein, Province of Prussia, he taught as a professor at the Kiel University , Breslau University , Göttingen University .He died in Göttingen.-Literary works:* Philosophische Schrift über die Vorsehung, 1892* Beiträge zur...
, and others.
Awards
- 1886 Knight's Cross of the Hohenzollern House
- 1908 Pour le Mérite
The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
Order
- 1910 Honorary doctorate in Theology at the University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
- 1911 Honorary doctorate, Oslo University
- 1928 Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches (Non-wearable decoration of the Weimar republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
)
Works
- Griechische Literatur des Altertums
- Einleitung in die griechische Tragödie
- Homerische Untersuchungen (1884)
- Die Ilias und Homer (1916)
- Hellenistische Dichtung (1924)
- Erinnerungen 1848-1914. Verlag von K. F. Koehler, Leipzig 1928. (Memoirs)
Literature
- Michael Armstrong, Wolfgang Buchwald, William M. Calder III.: Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff bibliography 1867−1990 (Hildesheim, Weidmann, 1991).
- Braun, Maximilian, William M. Calder, III & Dietrich Ehlers, edd., "Lieber Prinz". Der Briefwechsel zwischen Hermann Diels und Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1869-1921) (Hildesheim: Weidmann, 1995).
- Calder, William M. III and Bernhard Huss (еds), The Wilamowitz in Me': 100 Letters between Ulrich von Wilamovitz-Moellendorff and Paul Friedlaender (1904-1931) (Los Angeles: Charles Young Research Library, University of California, 1999).
- Candio, Antonella, "Ein lebendiges Ganzes": la filologia come scienza e storia nelle "Coefore" di Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 2008) (Supplementi di Lexis, 57).
External links
Source of translation