Franz Rühl

Franz Rühl (born October 26, 1845 in Hanau , † July 3, 1915 in Jena ) was a German historian who worked as a professor in Königsberg from 1876 to 1911. He dealt with all epochs of history from antiquity to the early modern period, but mainly with Greco-Roman antiquity and its reception in the Middle Ages.

Life

Franz Rühl (seated, 2nd row, 2nd from left) at the bowling evening of the Association for Scientific Medicine

Franz Rühl was the son of Hanau's Lord Mayor August Rühl and his wife Natalie born. Weigel. After the early death of his father in 1850, Franz Rühl was raised by his mother. He attended elementary school in Hanau, then secondary school in Arolsen and finally grammar school in Korbach . Because he was aiming for a career in the Hessian state service, he passed the Abitur in 1863 in Hanau. He then studied Classical Philology at the University of Jena (two semesters), in Berlin (two semesters), again in Jena (one semester) and finally in Marburg . During his studies, Rühl dealt with palaeography , diplomatics , philosophy , law , linguistics , economics , geography and zoology . His main interest, however, was history, especially ancient history . In his view of history he was particularly influenced by the Jenenser universal historian Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt and the Marburg ancient historian, philologist and archaeologist Kurt Wachsmuth . He also dedicated his dissertation to them, Plutarch's sources in the life of Kimon (Marburg 1867), which, in contrast to most of the ancient historical qualification papers of his time, was written in German. Soon after completing his doctorate , Rühl passed the state examination in history and philology as the main subjects and geography as a minor.

After graduating, Rühl went on an educational trip to Italy, which he financed himself by working as a correspondent for various newspapers. After his return, Rühl worked in Hamburg as a private teacher and at the Schleswig high school, but then decided on an academic career and completed his habilitation in 1871 at the University of Leipzig . In his habilitation thesis he dealt with the sources of the historian Marcus Iunianus Iustinus and the dissemination of his historical work in the Middle Ages. He prepared a new text-critical review of the surviving manuscripts, which he divided into three classes. So he prepared his new critical edition of the text, which was published in November 1885 by BG Teubner Verlag under the title Justinus epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompeii Trogi . This edition was relevant until after his death and was revised by Otto Seel in 1935 (reprint 1972).

After his habilitation, Rühl worked in Leipzig for a year. In 1872 he moved to the University of Dorpat as a private lecturer and in 1874 went to England for research purposes. In 1875 he was appointed associate professor in Dorpat and shortly thereafter full professor. In 1876 he was offered a professorship for Ancient History at the Albertus University in Königsberg , which had become vacant with the departure of Alfred von Gutschmid . Rühl worked in research and teaching in Königsberg for 35 years. During these years most of his writings appeared, including the edition of Justinus mentioned above, but also numerous source studies on other historians such as Eutropius and Xenophon .

In 1876 in Königsberg he married Elise Henle, the daughter of the anatomist Jakob Henle . Politically liberal, Rühl was a member of various circles in Königsberg society. In front of the Royal German Society (Königsberg) , he held the funeral speech for Ferdinand Gregorovius on May 28, 1891 . He was elected to the city council, of which he was a member for 25 years. The Albertus University elected him Vice-Rector for the academic year 1905/06. As his eyesight deteriorated more and more, he resigned from his professorship after much hesitation in 1911, at the age of almost 66. He moved to Jena for convalescence, where he became completely blind in 1912. Nevertheless, eight other writings from his pen appeared in the following years, including the edition Xenophons scripta minora (Leipzig 1915) , which was completed in 1912 . On July 3, 1915, Rühl died in Jena at the age of 70.

See also

• List of the rectors of the Albertus University in Königsberg # 1900–1919

literature

• Arthur Mentz : Franz Rühl . Biographical Yearbook for Classical Studies, 39th year (1919), pp. 37–55 (with list of publications).
• Karl Siebert: Hanauer biographies from three centuries. Hanauer Geschichtsverein , Hanau 1919 (= Hanauer Geschichtsblätter NF 3/4 ), pp. 163–166.

Web links

Wikisource: Franz Rühl  - Sources and full texts

• Overview of Franz Rühl's courses at the University of Leipzig (summer semester 1872)
• Works by and about Franz Rühl  in the German Digital Library
• Image by Franz Rühl (Herder Institute Marburg)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gregorovius, Ferdinand (ADB)
2. ↑ Rector's speeches (HKM)