Eugen Petersen

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Petersen around 1885

Eugen Adolf Hermann Petersen (born August 16, 1836 in Heiligenhafen , † December 14, 1919 in Hamburg ) was a German classical archaeologist .

Life

Eugen Petersen was born in 1836 in the then Danish Duchy of Holstein . His father was a legal advisor , his mother was Elisabeth Catharina Margaretha Nissen. He attended high school in Glücksstadt and then began studying classical philology at the University of Kiel . From there he moved to the University of Bonn , where he spent his most formative time and was particularly influenced by Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker , Friedrich Ritschl and Otto Jahn . For the final year of his studies he returned to Kiel, where he received his doctorate in 1859 with the dissertation Theophrasti Characteres , which he had already written during his time in Bonn. He received an archaeological travel grant for his work and traveled with the holders of the first travel grants of the German Archaeological Institute , Alexander Conze and his college friend Adolf Michaelis , the Mediterranean region , in particular Italy. In Rome he stayed at the Istituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (now the German Archaeological Institute , DAI) until 1861 , where the secretaries Wilhelm Henzen and Heinrich Brunn entrusted him with drafting the reports of the institute redundancies, a task that the young scientist did not deal with despite his striking intelligence could befriend, as Henzen remarked in letters to Eduard Gerhard . Among other works, the descriptions of the newly discovered graves on the Via Latina were more successful .

In 1861 Petersen returned to Germany and completed his habilitation a year later at the University of Erlangen , where he became a private lecturer . So that he still had a livelihood, he became a grammar school teacher in Husum in 1864 , where Karl Heinrich Keck was his rector, whom he had already met while studying in Bonn. In 1865 he married Ida Michaelis, the sister of his college friend. She was the niece of his teacher Otto Jahn and her sister Emma was married to Johann Gustav Droysen . In 1869 he moved from Husum to the grammar school in Plön . In addition to teaching at school, he continued to work intensively scientifically, for example, published works on the interpretation of Greek works of art such as the Doryphoros of Polyklet , the Marsyas of Myron and dedicated himself to the works of art of Phidias at the Parthenon and in Olympia . In contrast to Karl Bötticher , Petersen polemically clarifies that the ancient Greek temples were real places of worship and not just treasure houses or agonal temples for state festivals. In 1873 he was appointed to the full professorship of classical philology and archeology at the University of Dorpat . The young Petersen family spent one of their happiest times here. Petersen's activity at that time was mainly on philology. In 1879 he was offered the chair of archeology at the University of Prague , where he succeeded Otto Benndorf , who moved to Vienna . In Prague, Petersen once again focused on art archeology . He dealt with the group of tyrannists , Hecate , the Apollo of Kanachos and other works. He toured Italy several times, especially with Benndorf, George Niemann , Felix von Luschan , Franz Studniczka and Karl Graf Lanckoroński Asia Minor. The result was the large joint venture Reisen in Lycia , Milyas and Kibyratis (1889) and cities of Pamphylia and Pisidia (1890-1892). During a stay in Athens he researched the Nikebalustrade . In 1886 he was once again a high school teacher in Berlin for a short time, but was then elected by the central management of the DAI as Ulrich Köhler's successor as First Secretary of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens .

Petersen only stayed in Athens for a year . This time was marked by the personal as well as the scientific contrast between himself and Wilhelm Dörpfeld . After Wilhelm Henzen died in Rome in 1887, it was a good thing that Petersen was able to move from the conflict-prone position in Athens to Italy as First Secretary of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome . Dörpfeld was his successor in Athens. Petersen remained First Secretary in Rome for 18 years. The time was very ambivalent. On the one hand he was extremely productive scientifically, on the other hand he and his wife were never really happy in Rome. On the one hand, this was due to the Nordic-restrained temperament of the two, which was in stark contrast to that of Wolfgang and Nadina Helbig and also did not know how to adapt to the Italian mentality, and on the other hand to the attitude of the long-time second secretary Wolfgang Helbig , who for his part had hopes of moving up to First Secretary. When Petersen got this position, Helbig left the institute. A circle of mainly younger scientists formed around him, including the new Second Secretary Christian Hülsen . Petersen ran a strict regime that had nothing to do with boozy evenings and late coming home for employees and scholarship holders. The Petersens thus remained isolated from their surroundings. While Eugen Petersen was able to adapt to the outside world, his wife remained unhappy in Rome for 18 years, which had to have an impact on the institute. At first he was connected to Hülsen by a collegial relationship that turned into hatred over time. In retrospect, Petersen admitted that he was probably not the right choice for this position. Scientifically, he worked together with Alfred von Domaszewski and Guglielmo Calerini with the St. Mark's column , with the reliefs of the Arch of Benevento and the Traian's column and the Ara Pacis . At the age of almost 70, he took his leave in 1905, and was succeeded by Gustav Körte .

Despite his comparatively old age, Petersen was still quite vigorous and in 1907 he traveled to Athens again, where he dealt with the problem of the old Temple of Athena. A year later he published a popular science book about Athens, a counterpart to Roman art he had published eight years earlier. After his return he lived in Berlin, dealt with master craftsman questions and published an Otto Jahn biography of his friend and brother-in-law Michaelis. The Attic Tragedy as visual and theatrical art became a great old work , the book was published in 1915. His last work, Homer's Wrath of Achilles and the Homerids Iliad, is one of several purely philological studies. After his wife died and the First World War broke out, Petersen moved to his son's house in Hamburg, where he died in 1919 while researching until the end.

Petersen was one of the last representatives of classical archaeologists to whom art was as close as philology. He dealt with ancient art from early Greek art to the high Roman Empire . In his more than 200 writings, he dealt mainly with Greek sculpture, urban Roman works of art and the ancient theater. In doing so, as in his personal dealings, he often showed his uncompromising, harsh and polemical side to his colleagues when he represented his theses externally. He was never able to acquire an eye for stylistic idiosyncrasies in works of art. From 1861 he was a full member of the DAI, also a full member of the Austrian Archaeological Institute , corresponding member of the Society of Sciences in Göttingen , honorary member of the German Artists' Association in Rome and from 1894 of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies . In 1899 he became a member of the Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia . When he resigned as secretary in Rome in 1905, he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, Second Class. Specialists and fellow officials donated a bronze relief with his portrait, which Adolf Brütt had created. It was installed in the institute's library, but is no longer preserved today.

Fonts

  • Critical Comments on the Ancient History of Greek Art , 1871
  • The Art of Pheidias at the Parthenon and at Olympia , 1873
  • with Alfred von Domaszewski and Guglielmo Calerini (eds.): The Marcus column on Piazza Colonna in Rome , Munich 1896
  • From ancient Rome , Leipzig 1898; 3rd edition 1904 (Famous Art Places 1)
  • Trajan's Dacian Wars , 2 volumes, 1899 and 1903
  • Ara Pacis Augustae , Vienna 1902
  • Athens , Leipzig 1908 (Famous Art Places 41)
  • The Attic Tragedy as Image and Stage Art , 1915

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Eugen Petersen  - sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Petersen, Eugene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petersen, Eugen Adolf Hermann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Heiligenhafen
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1919
Place of death Hamburg