Ernst Curtius

Ernst Curtius ( born September 2, 1814 Lübeck, † July 11, 1896 in Berlin) was a German classical archaeologist and historian.

Life

Curtius was the son of General Counsel of the City of Lübeck Carl Georg Curtius (1771-1857) and his wife Dorothea Plessing. His brothers were later pastor and theologian Paul Curtius (1808-1833), the Mayor of Lübeck Theodor Curtius (1811-1889) and the philologist and linguist Georg Curtius ( 1820-1885 ). The later Ernst Robert Curtius Romance was his grandson.

His schooling completed Curtius on Katharineum to Lübeck. There he also friendship with the late writer Emanuel Geibel. After graduating from Curtius began in Bonn Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker (classical archeology ) and to study philosophy at Christian August Brandis. In the fall of 1834 Curtius moved to Göttingen to Karl Otfried Müller. Müller was with his overall picture of the cultural history of classical antiquity direction for Curtius.

From autumn 1835 Curtius worked with August Boeckh at the University of Berlin. 1837 Curtius was hired by his teacher Brandis to Athens. His livelihood earned Curtius there as tutor to the children of Brandis. In this house he later made the acquaintance of Ludwig Ross, Henry Nicholas Ulrich and Eduard Gerhard.

From there, Curtius made ​​several trips through Greece and Italy with the geographer Carl Ritter. In 1838 he again met with Emanuel Geibel, who also traveled to Greece at that time. Together with Geibel he tried his hand at various adaptations of classical Greek writers. With his teacher Müller, he traveled again to the Peloponnese, and as a miller died on this trip, he brought him to Athens and buried him there at Colonus.

At the turn of 1840/41 Curtius returned to Berlin and graduated in December 1841 with Moritz Hermann Eduard Meier in Halle with the dissertation Commentatio de portubus Athenarum. After a trial period at the French and Joachimsthal grammar school Curtius habilitation Anecdota Delphica on inscriptions from Delphi (this work he began with Karl Otfried Müller). In the fall of 1844 he was called to Curtius Praeceptor ( tutor ) of Prince Frederick William, the future Emperor Friedrich III. ; at the same time he became the A.O. Professor at the University of Berlin.

1850 married Curtius in Berlin Auguste Better that the bookseller William Better widow. With her he had the son of Friedrich Curtius. On January 10, 1852 Curtius gave a famous lecture in the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin Olympics and initiated so actually the first archaeological excavations at this location. In November of that year he was admitted as a full member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. When, after a year of marriage his wife died, married Curtius 1853 Clara Reich helmet. With her he had the daughter Dora, who later married the geologist Richard G. Lepsius. 1853 joined Curtius of the wicked society in Berlin.

Between 1855 and 1867 worked Curtius as a professor at the University of Göttingen. As 1867 Eduard Gerhard died in Berlin, was entrusted Curtius as a successor with a professor of archeology. Parallel to this, he headed the Antiquarium in the Altes Museum. In 1871 he was secretary of the philosophical- historical class of the Academy, which he remained until 1893. Through its authoritative groundwork "private " Archaeological Institute was after the war ended in 1871 converted into a Prussian state institution, in 1874, a National Institute. At the same time, the Reichstag decided to establish a department of this institute in Athens.

1875 began under Curtius ' leadership, the excavations in Olympia, where a Hermes of Praxiteles and many other sculptures were found. In addition to some scientists Curtius stood there the architect Friedrich Adler and Wilhelm Dörpfeld aside. This work also Curtius ' collaboration resulted with Johann August Kaupert. For his scientific achievements, he was taken on May 31, 1879 in the Prussian Order Pour le Merite for Arts and Science.

At the age of 82 years Ernst Curtius died on 11 July 1896 in Berlin. He was buried at the old St. Matthew's Cemetery in Berlin- Schöneberg, Großgörschenstraße 12-14.

Writings

  • Emanuel Geibel: Classical studies. Bonn 1840.
  • Inscriptiones atticae duodecim. Berlin 1843.
  • Anecdota Delphica. Berlin 1843.
  • Acropolis of Athens. A lecture. Berlin 1844.
  • Naxos. Berlin 1846.
  • Peloponnese. Gotha 1/1851 - 2/ 1852.
  • Olympia. Berlin 1852.
  • Ionians. Berlin 1855.
  • Greek history. Berlin 1/1857 - 3/ 1861. Part 1: From the beginnings to the death of Pericles. Abridged edition: German Book Club, Berlin, Bernina, Vienna, Leipzig, Olten 1936; Abridged, Phaidon, Essen 1997, ISBN 3-88851-229-8
  • Part 2: Flowering and Decline of Greece. Abridged: Bernina, Vienna, Leipzig, Olten 1936 German Book Club, Berlin 1936.
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