Axel Boëthius

Carl Axel Boëthius (born July 18, 1889 in Arvika ; died May 7, 1969 in Rome ) was a Swedish classical archaeologist .

Axel Boëthius was the son of the historian Simon Boëthius and came from a family of old church ties in Sweden. He studied at Uppsala University , interrupted by studying at Humboldt University in Berlin . At first his focus was on ancient Greek studies , but he later turned to the ancient world of Italy. In 1914 he completed his Magister Artium in Uppsala , followed by a licentiate in philosophy in the same year. In 1918 he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD.

After completing his doctorate, he taught classical studies and ancient history as a lecturer in Uppsala until 1925 . During these years from 1921 to 1924 he also took part regularly in the English excavations in Mycenae and taught at the British School at Athens . At the same time, he was editor of the Swedish newspaper Svensk tidskrift, which was (re) founded in 1911, in 1923/24 .

In 1925 he was appointed by the then Crown Prince of Sweden and enthusiastic amateur archaeologist Gustav VI. Adolf as the first director of the newly founded Swedish Institute in Rome, the Svenska Institutet i Rom . In order to do justice to his new position, he also held the title of professor from 1927. Under his leadership, the institute achieved a high reputation and recognition due to its research. Among other things, the Latin Ardea was excavated and explored between 1930 and 1934 . In 1935 Boëthius was appointed professor to the chair of archeology at the University of Gothenburg . He held this position until his retirement in 1955 and was also rector of the university from 1946 to 1951.

After his retirement, Boëthius lived in Rome. There he published his work on Domus Aurea , The Golden House of Nero , fruit of his Jerome Lectures , which he held in Rome, in 1960 . Together with John Bryan Ward-Perkins he worked on the ambitious Pelican series History of Art by Penguin Books , for which he worked on the Etruscan architecture section published in 1970 after his death . In a second edition in 1978 his contribution was published as a separate volume under the title Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture .

Boëthius was a recognized specialist in Etruscan archeology, especially Etruscan architecture. But he mastered both the archeology of the Roman Campagna and the early Roman architecture. He has also published several works on Swedish and Finnish history.

Memberships and honors

• Member of the Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia
• Member of the Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhetssamhället i Göteborg
• Member of the Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Academies
• Member of the German Archaeological Institute
• Corresponding member of the British Academy

Publications (selection)

• The Pythaïs. Studies on the history of the connections between Athens and Delphi . Almquist & Wiksells, Uppsala 1918 (also Uppsala dissertation).
• The Argive Calendar . Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala 1922.
• De nya utgrävningarna i Rome . PA Norstedt, Stockholm 1931.
• Roman Architecture from its Classicistic to its Late Imperial Phase . Wettergren & Kerber, Gothenburg 1941.
• The romerska storstadens hyreshusarkitektur och dess bebyggelsegeografiska sammanhang . Elanders, Gothenburg 1944.
• The Golden House of Nero. Some Aspects of Roman Architecture . University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (MI) 1960.
• with Nils G. Sahlen: Etruscan Culture, Land and People: Archaeological Research and Studies Conducted in San Giovenale and its Environs by Members of the Swedish Institute in Rome . Columbia University Press, New York 1963.
• with John B. Ward-Perkins: Etruscan and Roman Architecture . Penguin, Baltimore 1970 ( Pelican History of Art . Volume 32); 2nd edition published as a single volume with sole authorship and the title: Etruscan and Early Roman architecture . Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1978.

literature

• Festskrift tillägnad Axel Boethius on July 18, 1949 av Svensk-Italienska Föreningen . Elander, Gothenburg 1949.
• John B. Ward-Perkins: Etruscan and Roman Architecture . Penguin, Baltimore 1970, p. XXV ( Pelican History of Art . Volume 32).
• Shellie Williams: Boëthius, Axel. In: Nancy Thomson de Grummond (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archeology . Greenwood Press, Westport (CT) 1996, pp. 167-168.

Web links

• Biography in the Dictionary of Art Historians
• Literature by and about Axel Boëthius in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 7, 2020 .