Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch

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Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch

Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch (born November 22, 1790 in Wittenberg , † July 22, 1861 in Leipzig ) was a German classical philologist .

Life

Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch was born as the youngest son of the former pastor, general superintendent and first director of the royal evangelical seminary in Wittenberg Karl Ludwig and Luise Nitzsch (née Wernsdorf) on November 22, 1790 in Wittenberg. After attending the Pforta State School from 1806 to 1812, he began studying theology at Wittenberg University and switched to classical philology during his studies.

During the wars of liberation he took part in fighting in Flanders and northern France and after his return in June 1814 took a teaching position at the Wittenberg high school. In 1817 he moved to the high school Francisceum in Zerbst , where he was appointed vice principal. In 1820 he returned to the Wittenberg grammar school in the same position. It was here that Nitzsch began to publish his first philological works, which in 1827 earned him a professorship for classical philology and eloquence at the University of Kiel , where he received his doctorate in the same year. phil. hc was.

He reorganized the seminar there under the concept of Christian humanism and, as an inspector, created an independent grammar school teacher in Schleswig-Holstein. In 1837 he became a member of the Society of Sciences in Göttingen and in 1836 a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences . During the revolution of 1848 he gave his membership the badge of the Danish Academy of Sciences, the Danebrogorden , back and demonstrated his pro-German attitude to the Danish government, for which he was punished in 1852 with impeachment. That is why he followed the call of the University of Leipzig in the winter semester of 1852 and taught there until his death on July 22, 1861.

His systematically designed creations in modified form, with changed questions and with new arguments derived from Homer analysis, which can be found in modern research, were valuable for linguistic understanding.

Works (selection)

  • Platonic Dialogue Ion. 1822.
  • Quaestiones Homericae. 1824.
  • Explanatory Notes on Homer's Odyssey. 3 volumes, 1826–1840.
  • De historia Homeri maximeque de scriptorum carminum aetate meletemata 1830-1837.
  • The heroic saga of the Greeks according to their natural validity. 1841.
  • The mythical poetry of the Greeks presented critically. 3 volumes, 1852.
  • Contemplation on the history of the epic poetry of the Greeks. 1862.

literature

  • Wolfhart Unte :  Nitzsch, Gregor Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 294 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Richard Hoche :  Nitzsch, Gregor Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, pp. 718-722.
  • Eduard Alberti : Lexicon of the Schleswig-Holstein-Lauenburg writers from 1829-1866 . 2 vol. 1868 (with list of works).
  • Friedrich Lübker: Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch in his life and work. 1864 (with list of works).
  • Conrad Bursian : History of Classical Philology in Germany from the Beginnings to the Present. 1883. pp. 714-716.
  • Friedrich Rieck : Educational Letters. From the memory of GW Nitzsch , 1867
  • John Edwin Sandys : A History of Classical Scholarship. III. Part 1967. Page 105 f.
  • E. Hofmann: History of the Christian Albrecht University Kiel 1665-1965 . 1969, article “History of the Philosophical Faculty”, pp. 128–37.
  • Helga Plöger: Studies on the history of classical philology at the University of Kiel (1773-1852) . Dissertation Kiel, 1972. pp. 162-221.
  • Biographical Lexicon Schleswig-Holstein V. 1979.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nitzsch, Gregor Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nitzsch, Georg Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittenberg
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1861
Place of death Leipzig