Hagen Biesantz

Hagen Biesantz (born November 3, 1924 in Cologne , † December 4, 1996 in Dornach ) was a German classical archaeologist and anthroposophist .

Biesantz was the son of a lawyer and a mother who came from a family of merchants and manufacturers. When he was four years old his parents separated and he came into the family of an aunt. After briefly attending the Ilfeld boarding school in 1935 , after his father's death he moved to the Pestalozzi-Landheim in Zossen , which his mother ran. At first the institute was still committed to humanistic ideals, but then turned into a National Socialist military breeding institute. Biesantz found the military drill and harassment from the other students traumatizing. After school he enlisted in the Air Force in 1942 to avoid being called up to the SS . He was trained as a fighter pilot, but did not get any missions. He experienced the end of the war with the ground troops near the German-Czech border.

In 1945 he began studying at the University of Marburg . First he took the subjects theology and the history of religion , but soon switched to classical archeology. At this time he came into contact with anthroposophy, for which the pastor Otto Franke in particular was able to inspire him. In 1948 he joined the Anthroposophical Society and became an active member. In the same year he married Brigitte Naumann, who was about to graduate as a medical student. Over the years, the couple had four children. In May 1952 Biesantz was in Marburg with Friedrich Matz with a thesis on the subject of Cretan-Mycenaean seal images. PhD in historical and chronological studies . For the year 1952/53 he was awarded the travel grant of the German Archaeological Institute , which Erika Simon , Hans Walter , Jürgen von Beckerath and Peter Hommel held alongside him that year . As a scholarship holder, he traveled to Italy, England, France and Greece.

After his return, Biesantz worked for the Homer Lexicon at the University of Hamburg . He also took part in excavations in Thessaly from 1954 to 1958 , led by Vladimir Milojčić . In 1954, Biesantz became a research assistant at the headquarters of the German Archaeological Institute , and two years later he became the first speaker and librarian at the German Archaeological Institute in Athens . After he worked in 1962 at the University of Mainz , where he was active as an assistant in teaching since 1959, with the work Die thessalischen Grabreliefs. After completing his habilitation in Northern Greek art , he became a private lecturer there in 1963 . He remained a private lecturer until 1966 and during this time he was involved, among other things, in the redesign of courses in the field of art educators as well as for young talent issues in the university association and in the rectors' conference . From 1964 to 1967 he headed the Corpus of Minoan and Mycenaean Seals project . Biesatz was mainly concerned with the Cretan-Mycenaean art. In this area he also contributed to the fourth volume of the Ullstein art history .

In 1966 Biesantz was appointed to the board of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum near Basel and was no longer active in the field of archeology.

Fonts

• Cretan-Mycenaean seal images. Historical and chronological studies. , Elwert, Marburg 1954
• The Thessalian grave reliefs. Studies of Northern Greek art. von Zabern, Mainz 1965
• with Arne Klingborg : The Goetheanum. Rudolf Steiner's building impulse. Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag, Dornach 1978, ISBN 3-7235-0211-3
• Co-author: Faust at the Goetheanum. Urachhaus, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-87838-348-7

Web links

• obituary