Hendrik Bolkestein

Bolkestein as a professor in Utrecht (1915)

Hendrik Bolkestein (born December 18, 1877 in Amsterdam , † July 24, 1942 in Utrecht ) was a Dutch ancient historian .

Life

Hendrik was born the son of the milkman Klaas Bolkestein (born February 12, 1840 in Huizen; † January 18, 1918 in Amsterdam) and his wife Fijtje Haring (born November 29, 1836 in Diemen; † December 16, 1902 in Amsterdam). Bolkestein went through elementary school and high school in Amsterdam. After obtaining his university entrance qualification, Bolkestein began studying classical philology and ancient history at the local university in 1896 . On March 27, 1906 he received his doctorate under Isaac Marinus Josue Valeton (born March 30, 1850 in Groningen, † March 31, 1911 in Amsterdam) with the work De colonatu romano eiusque orgine to the doctor of philosophy. He then moved to Berlin University , the then center of classical antiquity, where he heard in particular from Eduard Meyer and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff . Back in the Netherlands, Bolkestein was first a history teacher at the grammar school in The Hague in 1907 . In 1911 he became a private lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, in 1915 he moved to the University of Utrecht , where he became a full professor of ancient history. Between 1917 and his death he supervised numerous doctorates. The high point of his academic career was the post of rector at the university in the academy year 1934/35 . He was also a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences from 1929 .

Act

Bolkestein dealt primarily with the history of mentality and socio-economic issues of the ancient world. In a monograph he dealt with economic life during the heyday of the political system and examined charity and poor relief in antiquity. Since he also examined considerations on charity and poor relief from a moral point of view, Bolkestein opened up a new perspective with his work on Ancient History. Bolkestein recognized the differences in poor relief between the peoples of Near East and ancient Israel, where the poor were the focus of attention, whereas in the poor relief in the Greco-Roman world, prestige and social status were of decisive importance. Although occasional corrections had to be made to Bolkestone's model, his theory is still effective today. It also had an impact on the development of Christian charitable measures and on modern social assistance and social policy. His work is considered to be one of the most important contributions of Dutch classical studies to the entire subject in the 20th century.

family

Bolkestein was married twice. His first marriage was on October 4, 1906 in Amsterdam with Dina Catharina Elisabeth Pouw (born September 29, 1878 in Amsterdam, † March 20, 1961 in Baarn), the daughter of the notary Johannes Gerhardus Pouw (born December 23, 1846 in Amsterdam ; † September 11, 1909 in Amsterdam) and his wife Johanna Christina Wilhelmina van der Post (born August 18, 1853 in Amsterdam; † April 24, 1933 in Amsterdam). After the divorce of his first marriage on February 26, 1932, Bolkestein remarried on March 18, 1932 in Amsterdam to Jenny Maria Kraft (* February 24, 1895 in Utrecht; † November 23, 1977 in Amsterdam), the daughter of the military doctor Jean ( Johan) Ernst Ludwig Kraft (born August 22, 1855 in The Hague; † November 7, 1926 Utrecht) and his wife Petronella Johanna Alida Bernardina Mol (born June 26, 1864 in Naarden; † February 18, 1944 in Nijmegen). From the first marriage there are two daughters and three sons. From the children we know:

• Johanna Christina Bolkestein (born March 6, 1908 in The Hague) married. in August 1938 with Prof. Frederic Christoffel Driessen (born September 10, 1906 in Arnhem; † January 31, 1963 in Baarn)
• Nicolaas Bolkestein (born July 27, 1910 in The Hague, † December 3, 1993 in Deventer), Mayor of Middelburg and Deventer, married. on October 19, 1946 in Groningen with Emma Pull (born July 11, 1918 in Groningen; † November 26, 2012 in Deventer)
• Dina Catharina Elisabeth Bolkestein (born January 2, 1913 in The Hague) married. 1947 with Marinus Johan Meijer (born September 28, 1912 - † February 18, 1991 Doorwerth)
• Hendrik Bolkestein (born December 5, 1915 in Utrecht, † June 8, 1917 in Utrecht)
• Johan Gerard Bolkestein (born May 21, 1919 in Utrecht) married. on March 10, 1943 in Delft with Petronella Anthonia (Nel) Unger (born May 9, 1921 in Delft; † 2007)

Works (selection)

• De colonatu Romano ejusque origine. van Looy, Amsterdam 1906 (at the same time: Amsterdam, University, dissertation, 1906; digitized version ).
• Overlevering en overblijfselen. Amsterdam, 1911
• Het dubbel character of the oude divorced. Oosthoek, Utrecht, 1915
• De klassieke oudheid in het gymnasiaal onderwijs rapport. Sijthoff, Leiden, 1916
• Het economisch leven in Greece's bloeitijd. Bohn, Haarlem, 1923
• Theophrastus' character of Deisidaimonia as a religious-historical document. Töpelmann, Giessen, 1929
• Een geval van sociaal-ethisch syncretisme. Amsterdam, 1931
• Telos ho gámos. Amsterdam, 1933
• Sociale politiek en sociale opstandigheid in de oudheid. Amsterdam, 1934
• De ondergang der antieke beschaving. Utrecht, 1935
• Xenōn gastverblijf, pelgrimsherberg, armhuis. Amsterdam, 1937
• De armen in de moraal, de politiek en de religie van de vóór-christelijke oudheid (= Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Afdeeling Letterkunde. Mededelingen. NR 2, 2, ISSN  0168-6968 ). Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, Amsterdam 1939. ** In German: Charity and poor relief in pre-Christian antiquity. A contribution to the problem of "morality and society". Oosthoek, Utrecht, 1939; Reprint: Bouma, Groningen, 1967 & Arno Press, New York, 1979
• Het ik-gij schema in de nieuwere philosophie en theologie. Wageningen, 1941
• De houding van den Romeinschen state tegenover nieuwe en uitheemsche godsdiensten in the tijd der republiek. Amsterdam, 1941
• Adversaria critica et exegetica ad Plutarchi Quaestionum convivalium librum primum et secundum. Amsterdam, 1946
• Four hoofdstukken over de godsdienst in het leven der Grieken gedurende hun bloeitijd. Tjeenk Willink, Haarlem, 1947
• edited by Engbert Jan Jonkers: Economic life in Greece's golden age. Brill, Leiden, 1958

literature

• Hans Kloft : Bolkestein, Hendrik. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , column 125 f.
• Hermans van der Hoeven: Bolkestein, Hendrik (1877-1942). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. The Hague 1979, Vol. 1 ( Online )
• Nicolaas Japinske: Persoonlijkheden in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in woord en beeld. Van Holkema & Warendorf NV, Amsterdam, 1938, p. 184 ( online )
• JH Tiel: Levensbericht H. Bolkestein. In: Jaarboek Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 1942-1943. Amsterdam, 1943, pp. 185–208 ( Online PDF )

Web links

• Bolkestein entry at the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW)
• Bolkestein entry in the Catalogus Professorum Academieae Rheno-Traiectinae
• Bolkestein entry in the digital library of Dutch literature (DBNL)
• Bolkestein entry in the Album Academicum of the University of Amsterdam