Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert ( born February 2, 1931 in Neuendettelsau ) is a German classical philologist and is considered a leading expert of Greek religion and mystery cults.

Life

Walter Burkert studied classical philology, history and philosophy at the University of Erlangen and the University of Munich and in 1955 received his doctorate at the University of Erlangen for the Doctor of Philosophy. In 1962 he habilitated in Nuremberg with wisdom and science. Studies of Pythagoras, Philolaus and Plato. In 1965, he stayed on as a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies.

He was from 1966 to 1969 professor of classical philology at the Technical University of Berlin and from 1969 to 1996 at the University of Zurich. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University, the University of California and at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and received numerous academic honors, including the 1990 Balzan Prize for Classical Studies. He is a full member of the Berlin- Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the Academia Europaea, Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, Corresponding Member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, the Brunswick Scientific Society, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Honorary member of the Society for the promotion of Hellenic Studies. He is since 1999 of the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto (1988 ), the University of Fribourg ( Switzerland ) ( 1989), the Augustana College Neuendettelsau ( 1993), the University of Oxford (1996) and the University of Chicago ( 2001). In 2008 he was honored with the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star.

According to the teaching James Frazer and the Cambridge Ritualists Burkert points out in his studies, a close link between religious rituals and myths there. But in contrast to these, he admits the violence an important place in the creation process of a human culture: For Burkert is the power of one of the most natural biological mechanisms that shapes the forms of human society.

Work

Walter Burkert has written seventeen books and hundreds of articles, including contributions to encyclopedias. His most important works include:

• Homo Necans. Interpretations of ancient Greek sacrificial rites and myths. Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-11-003875-7
• Greek religion of the archaic and classical period. Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-17-004345-5
• Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual. Berkeley 1979, ISBN 0-520-04770-2
• The Orientalizing era in Greek religion and literature. Heidelberg 1984, ISBN 3-533-03528- X
• Ancient Mysteries, functions and content. Munich 1987, ISBN 3-406-34259-0
• Classical antiquity and ancient Christianity. Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-11-015543-5
• Cults of antiquity. Biological Basis of Religion. Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-43355-3
• The Greeks and the Orient. Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-50247-4

His smaller works were reprinted in 8 volumes. The output is complete:

• Small fonts I - Home Rica. Edited by Christoph Riedweg. Göttingen 2001, ISBN 978-3-525-25235-2
• Kleine Schriften II - Orientalia. Edited by Maria Laura Gemelli Marciano. Göttingen 2003, ISBN 978-3-525-25271-0
• Small fonts III - Mystica, Orphica, Pythagorica. Edited by Fritz Graf. Göttingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-525-25272-7
• Small fonts IV - Mythica, Ritualia, religiosa 1 Edited by Fritz Graf. Göttingen 2011. ISBN 978-3-525-25277-2
• Small fonts V - Mythica, Ritualia, religiosa 2 Edited by Fritz Graf. Göttingen 2011. ISBN 978-3-525-25278-9
• Kleine Schriften VI - Mythica, Ritualia, religiosa 3 Edited by Eveline Krumme. Göttingen 2011. ISBN 978-3-525-25276-5
• Small fonts VII - Tragica et Historica. Edited by Wolfgang Rösler. Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-25274-1
• Kleine Schriften VIII - Philosophica. Edited by Thomas A. Szlezák and Karlheinz Stanzel. Göttingen 2008. ISBN 978-3-525-25273-4