Hermann Bengtson

Hermann Bengtson (born July 2, 1909 in Ratzeburg , † November 2, 1989 in Munich ) was a German ancient historian , university professor and rector of the University of Würzburg .

Life

Hermann Bengtson studied from 1930 to 1934 History, Classical Philology , Egyptology and Assyriology in Hamburg , Pisa and Munich , where he in 1935 at Walter Otto Dr. phil. received his doctorate. He had been a member of the NSDAP since 1933 and a member of the SA since 1937 . His research on ancient history during this period did not remain unaffected by Nazi ideology; in Munich he headed a working group on "the penetration of Judaism into the ancient world". In 1939 he received the degree of Dr. habil., the teaching qualification (Venia legendi) but not until 1940 in Heidelberg with Fritz Schachermeyr , because the habilitation in Munich had encountered difficulties due to professional reservations.

The temporary service in the military (1939-41 and 1944/45) during the Second World War did not affect Bengtson's scientific career. He continued to work on his habilitation thesis during the war against the Soviet Union . In 1941 Bengtson sent letters enthusiastic about the war from the Eastern Front to the rector of Munich University, the staunch National Socialist Walther Wüst , whereupon he was appointed as a lecturer in Munich. Since 1941 he worked as a private lecturer in Munich and in 1942 received an extraordinary professorship for ancient history in Jena . Viktor Burr has represented him there since 1944 .

After the war, Bengtson was refused entry into the Soviet occupation zone because of his attitude towards National Socialism. He then moved to Munich. He was officially dismissed from the Jena university service on March 15, 1946 because of membership in the NSDAP and SA. In the denazification process he was classified as a "follower". In 1949 he received his teaching qualification back and was appointed an extraordinary professor in Munich. In 1951 he became an assistant at the newly founded Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy , and in 1952 he accepted an appointment as a full professor for Ancient History at the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg , where he became Rector in 1959/1960. Three years later, Bengtson moved to Tübingen and in 1966 back to Munich, where he held a chair until his retirement in 1977. Even after his retirement, Bengtson held lectures at the University of Munich.

Services

Bengtson, following his teacher Walter Otto, initially dealt primarily with Greek history, especially Hellenism , but also with legal history and papyrology . Later he also wrote representations and individual studies on topics of Roman history. His Introduction to Ancient History became the standard work and was published in numerous editions between its first publication in 1949 and 1979.

From 1953 he was editor of the Handbook of Classical Studies , where he wrote the volumes on Greek history and Roman history himself. Since 1955 he was also co-editor of the articles on papyrus research and ancient legal history and from 1952 for twenty years co-editor of the renowned journal Historia . Bengtson was a member of the Royal Scientific Society in Lund since 1962 , 1965 a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Literature and Fine Arts of Belgium , 1968 a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich. In 1970 he became a full member of the German Archaeological Institute and in 1973 an honorary member of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in London. In 1971, Bengtson received the Bavarian Order of Merit for his services to science .

Fonts (selection)

• The strategy in the Hellenistic period. A contribution to ancient constitutional law (= Munich contributions to papyrus research and ancient legal history. Vol. 26, 32, 36, ISSN  0936-3718 ). 3 volumes. Beck, Munich 1937–1952.
• Individual personality and the Athenian state at the time of the Peisistratos and the Miltiades (= meeting reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Department. Born 1939, No. 1, ISSN  0342-5991 ). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1939.
• Introduction to Ancient History. Biederstein, Munich 1949 (8th, revised and supplemented edition. Beck, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-406-00443-1 ; several translations).
• Greek history from the beginnings to the Roman Empire (= Handbook of Classical Studies. Dept. 3, Part 4). Beck, Munich 1950 (5th, revised and supplemented edition. Ibid. 1977, ISBN 3-406-06660-7 ; unchanged reprint of the 5th, revised and supplemented edition, ibid. 1996, several translations).
• About the future of our universities. Speech given on November 28, 1959 in Würzburg on the handover of the rectorate (= Würzburg University Speeches . H. 25, ISSN  0178-5664 ). Julius Maximilians University, Würzburg 1959.
• Republic and Imperial Era up to AD 284 (= Handbook of Classical Studies. Dept. 3, Part 5: Outline of Roman History. With source studies. Vol. 1). Beck, Munich 1967 (3rd, revised and supplemented edition. Ibid 1982, ISBN 3-406-08617-9 ).
• On the history of Brutus (= session reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Department . 1970, no. 1). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1970.
• The Olympic Games in ancient times. Artemis, Zurich et al. 1971 (3rd, revised edition. Ibid 1983, ISBN 3-7608-4047-7 ).
• On the proscriptions of the triumvirs (= session reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Department . 1972, no. 3). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-7696-1445-3 .
• On the Parthian campaign of Antonius (= meeting reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Department. Born 1974, no. 1). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-7696-1455-0 .
• Small writings on ancient history. Beck, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-406-03702-X .
• Rulers of Hellenism. Beck, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-406-03702-X (translation into Russian).
• Mark Antony. Triumvir and ruler of the Orient. Beck, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-406-06600-3 .
• Old World Shaper. Epoch history of antiquity in historical portraits. Wewel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87904-087-7 .
• The Hellenistic world culture. Steiner-Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-515-05004-3 .
• History of the Old World (= Fischer pocket books 4426 history ). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-596-24426-9 (published posthumously; also translation into the Dutch language).

literature

• Claudia Horst: Bengtson, Hermann. 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 71 f.
• Stefan Rebenich : Hermann Bengtson, 1909–1989. In: Katharina Weigand (ed.): Munich historian between politics and science. 150 Years of the History Seminar of the Ludwig Maximilians University (= contributions to the history of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich. Vol. 5) Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8316-0969-7 , pp. 281–308 ( online ).
• Stefan Rebenich: Hermann Bengtson and Alfred Heuss. On the development of ancient history in the inter-war and post-war period. In: Volker Losemann (ed.): Ancient history between science and politics. Commemorative publication for Karl Christ (= Philippika. Vol. 29). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05905-3 , pp. 181-208.
• Jakob Seibert : Hermann Bengtson. Professor in Munich March 1, 1966 to September 30, 1977. In: Jakob Seibert (Ed.): 100 Years of Old History at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. (1901-2001) (= Ludovico Maximilianea. Research. Vol. 19). Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-428-10875-2 , pp. 160-173.
• Jakob Seibert (Ed.): Hellenistic Studies. Commemorative publication for Hermann Bengtson (= Munich works on ancient history. Vol. 5). Editio Maris, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-925801-10-3 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Bengtson in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Hermann Bengtson  in the German Digital Library
• The estate is in the Bavarian State Library
• Photo at the time of the rectorate of the University of Würzburg, 1959/60

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Rebenich: National Socialism and Ancient History. Continuity and discontinuity in research and teaching. In: Isolde Stark (ed.): Elisabeth Charlotte Welskopf and the old history in the GDR. Contributions to the conference from November 21 to 23, 2002 in Halle / Saale. Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08457-6 , pp. 42–64, here p. 57, with note 82, ( online ).
2. ^ Stefan Rebenich: Herrmann Bengtson, 1909–1989. In: Katharina Weigand (ed.): Munich historian between politics and science. 150 years of the historical seminar of the Ludwig Maximilians University. 2010, p. 287. See Stefan Rebenich (Ed.): Hermann Bengtson to Walther Wüst. In: Andreas Bernhard, Ulrich Raulff (Hrsg.): Letters from the 20th century. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-518-41646-4 , pp. 126-131, ( online ).
3. ↑ Detlef Lotze : The old story in Jena from 1945–1989. In: Isolde Stark (ed.): Elisabeth Charlotte Welskopf and the old history in the GDR. Contributions to the conference from November 21 to 23, 2002 in Halle / Saale. Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08457-6 , p. 108.
4. ^ Claudia Horst: Bengtson, Hermann. In: Peter Kuhlmann, Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. 2012, p. 71 f.