Johann Jakob Bachofen

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Johann Jakob Bachofen
Grave monument by Richard Kissling (1848–1919) sculptor, medalist for Johann Jakob Bachofen-Burckhard (1815–1887) legal scholar, archaeologist, Bachofen-Burckhardt-Petersen family grave, Wolfgottesacker cemetery, Basel, Switzerland.
Bachofen's family grave on the Wolfgottesacker in Basel, sculpture by Richard Kissling
Grave monument by Richard Kissling (1848–1919) sculptor, medalist for Johann Jakob Bachofen-Burckhard (1815–1887) legal scholar, archaeologist, Bachofen-Burckhardt-Petersen family grave, Wolfgottesacker cemetery, Basel, Switzerland.
Plaque on the Bachofen family grave in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery in Basel

Johann Jakob Bachofen (born December 22, 1815 in Basel , † November 25, 1887 ibid) was a Swiss legal historian , antiquarian and anthropologist whose work The Mother Law is considered the origin of modern theories on matriarchy .

Life

Johann Jakob Bachofen came from a wealthy Basler family whose wealth on publishing standard based organized silk ribbon weaving. The father Johann Jacob Bachofen-Merian was a tape manufacturer, the mother's name was Valeria Merian. In 1825, his father had the eastern of the two classicist palaces built, which today house the Antikenmuseum Basel . Until his comparatively late marriage to Louise Elisabeth Burckhardt (1845–1920) in 1865 - she was an art collector and art patron, and after his death she enormously expanded Bachofen's art collection and transferred it to a foundation in 1904. - Bachofen lived in his parents' lordly cathedral monastery »At Augustinergasse 4. In 1870, Bachofen bought the house« Zur St. Johanns-Capelle »on the Münsterplatz from Martin Burckhardt-His. He had it built by Christoph Riggenbach in 1839/41 . Bachofen died in this house in 1887 and was buried in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery.

Even as a pupil and student he was noticed as extremely talented and showed a strong tendency towards antiquity at an early age. From 1834 he studied classical studies at the University of Basel and in 1835 went to the Berlin University . There he heard from August Boeckh , Karl Ferdinand Ranke and the legal historian Friedrich Carl von Savigny , the protagonists of idealistic historical studies , what Bachofen was particularly interested in. He also heard from Karl Lachmann and was strongly influenced by Carl Ritter , who brought him closer to the importance of understanding the spatial conditions of ancient cultures. The focus on legal history was due to Savigny's influence. It initially became the focus of Bachofen's interest. For the winter semester of 1837/1838 he went to the University of Göttingen , where he met the lawyer Gustav von Hugo and above all the classical philologist and archaeologist Karl Otfried Müller . In Basel he received his doctorate in 1839 with the thesis De Romanorum iudiciis civilibus on Roman civil courts. He received practical training in Paris and London in 1839/1840 and studied at the University of Cambridge .

After returning to Basel in 1841, at the age of 25, he filled the chair for Roman law , but almost immediately gave up the position and salary. He taught as a private lecturer until 1842 and then completely stopped teaching. In 1844 he was elected to the appellate court in Basel and took up the position in 1845. He also became a member of the Grand Council of Basel ; However, he gave up this post, like his teaching, after a short time for religious reasons. His conservative view of history and his self-perceived religious responsibility had such a lasting impact on Bachofen's life that he did not want to adapt to the zeitgeist. He only retained the judge's office for the next 25 years.

Bachofen, a disciplined worker who started work at four in the morning, was often on the road. According to his biographers, he has visited all museums in Central Europe . Since 1842 he was in Italy again and again, in 1851 almost a whole year in Greece, about which he wrote his Greek trip , as well as in Rome , Lower Italy and Etruria . In 1861 he traveled to Spain. He was closely connected with the city of Rome and the Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica located there . He cultivated friendly relationships here, in particular with August Kestner , Wilhelm Henzen , Emil Braun and Ludwig Ross . At the instigation of Otto Jahn , Bachofen became a full member of today's German Archaeological Institute in 1857. He knew Rome so well that he was considered one of the most knowledgeable and witty ciceroni ( city ​​guides ) of the city.

research

Mother right

In his main work Das Mutterrecht , published in 1861 , Bachofen argued that modern society had developed in three stages. After that, in the original form of society, " hetarianism ", there were no laws or marriage whatsoever; it was based entirely on the natural productivity of women. This was followed by a form of society determined by mother law, which Bachofen called " gynecocracy " based on ancient Greek texts , and which is now referred to as matriarchy . In this form of society, according to Bachofen, the mother was the head of the family, since the parentage was determined through the mother ( matrilinearity ), according to which the mother was worshiped as a life-giving goddess. The matriarchy was then overthrown by the men who established patriarchy in its place . Bachofen connects the mode of production with the respective social and gender order and postulates that, after the patriarchy of the hunter-gatherer society in the early agricultural society, women found high power and importance through productive work close to the house, so that a further matriarchy became historically possible.

The Bachofens differs from ancient ideas of matriarchy primarily in its evaluation. While the ancient notions of female or slave rule today were seen more as a legitimation of the existing order by contrasting the caricature, and the "gynecocracy" was thus associated with violence and unrest, Bachofen gave the matriarchy idea a different, positive character. After initially met with strong rejection, the work later found attention from, among others, Friedrich Engels , Lewis Henry Morgan , August Bebel , Edward Bulwer-Lytton , Ludwig Klages , Erich Fromm and CG Jung , and significantly influenced modern spiritual feminism and the modern matriarchy research.

Bachofen's book The Mother Law was written in the context of an ancient science that was only just beginning to establish itself in the modern sense. However, Bachofen rejected the source-critical method and empirical approach, as represented in particular by Theodor Mommsen , and relied on intuitive analyzes of mythology and empathic empathy for his work. His work is based primarily on the interpretation of Greco-Roman myths as a reflection of the struggle between matriarchal and patriarchal principles. More recent Bachofen research has primarily brought the criticism of rationality into connection with the situation in Basel at the time: The craft based on the publishing system was superseded by more modern methods of production, and Bachofen saw himself as a citizen as well as a representative of a declining branch of industry as a representative of a previous one World versus rational modernization.

Classical Studies

In his studies of antiquity, primarily religious history, archaeological, but also historical studies, as in his socio-ethnological studies on maternal law, Bachofen followed less the factual statements of the written sources than his intuitive interpretation of the written and, above all, archaeological legacies of antiquity. Bachofen was a representative of the autonomy of science from Roman law within the ancient canon of subjects. He came from legal history through religious-historical studies to research into mythology . Bachofen was fascinated by the ancient world of tombs, which he described in a verbose language. In the grave symbolism of the ancients , published in 1859, he not only described individual sculptures, but also tried to capture the grave customs in their entirety. This was followed by individual studies such as the essay on the Roman she-wolf on ancient grave monuments or the theory of immortality in Orphic theology on ancient grave monuments (1867). He worked out the meaning of death, grave and earth in ancient cultures and was also able to gain insights into the beginning of private property from the results . The idea that Earth was associated with motherhood, led to matriarchy .

The History of the Romans (1851), written with Franz Dorotheus Gerlach , attempted the great synthesis of all areas of Roman history , which focused on the history of religion. In individual studies he examined topics such as hands and dice, the Lycian people , the role of bears in ancient religions and the representation of bears in ancient art. He conducted individual studies on the Fortunati sarcophagus and the Lupa Romana, among others . Central to Bachofen's research was the search for the content of the works. In addition to the topics already mentioned, he also researched Canosin Askoi and sarcophagus reliefs with representations of sea creatures, Protesilaos and Alopes . That is why Bachofen found little in the way of Barthold Georg Niebuhr's and Theodor Mommsen's view of history, which he considered modern, critical of sources and text . Bachofen's book The Sage of Tanaquil . A study of Orientalism in Greece and Italy (1870) was raised by supporters to Karl Meuli to the "Metaphysics of the Old World", but could not prevail against the steadily growing influence of Mommsen's view of history as the author wanted. Following Friedrich Creuzer , he took symbols as expressions of world views and thus anticipated much of the later art theory.

Bachofen’s antique collection, consisting of around 900 pieces, is now part of the Antikenmuseum Basel and is therefore still in his parents' house. It consisted of vases, lamps, bronzes and other objects, especially small art. Bachofen consulted the Rome-based sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth , who he also commissioned to make a marble copy of a famous late antique basalt bust in the Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi , the so-called Scipio Africanus (today in the Kunstmuseum Basel ).

reception

After a period of oblivion discovered Ludwig Klages Bachofen new, carried him to an important stimulator, which in the early 20th century Rainer Maria Rilke and Thomas Mann influenced, Otto Gross , the ancient researcher Jane Ellen Harrison and the poet Robert Graves , and also the Artist Wolfgang Paalen and myth researcher Joseph Campbell , but also radical right-wing thinkers such as Alfred Baeumler and Julius Evola . National Socialist thought leaders wanted to stylize Bachofen as one of their predecessors. Marxists also claimed that Bachofen's findings were originally communist . For Walter Benjamin he was one of the "scientific prophets" of anthropology and psychology . He is also considered one of the scientific forefathers of feminism .

Today Bachofen is considered to be one of the founders of sociology , especially the sociology of the family, as well as comparative law and comparative religion . Arnaldo Momigliano examined Bachofen's role in 19th century religious studies. His research content, which made him an academic outsider, is now partly central research topics in sociology and legal history. In addition to the German and English-speaking countries, Italy is a center of modern Bachofen research.

Fonts (selection)

  • De Romanorum judiciis civilibus, de legis actionibus, de formulis et de condictione. Dissertation Basel. Dieterich, Göttingen 1840. Digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dderomanorumjudi00bachgoog~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D
  • Natural law and historical law in their opposites. Inaugural Address. Basel 1841. MDZ Reader reprint: Off. Librorum, Lauterbach 1995, ISBN 3-928406-19-1 .
  • Roman lien. Schweighauser, Basel 1847. MDZ Reader reprint: Keip, Goldbach 1997, ISBN 3-8051-0688-2 .
  • Selected Teachings of Roman Civil Law. Leipzig 1848. Reprint: Keip, Goldbach 1997, ISBN 3-8051-0689-0 .
  • with Franz Dorotheus Gerlach : The History of the Romans, 2 half-volumes [unfinished], Basel 1851.
  • Attempt on the grave symbolism of the ancients. Basel 1859.
  • Oknos the rope weaver - a grave image. Thoughts of salvation from ancient grave symbolism. Basel 1859. Reprint: Beck, Munich 1923.
  • The mother right. An Inquiry into the Ancient World Gynecocracy by Its Religious and Legal Nature. Stuttgart 1861 ( archive.org , digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D5NYFAAAAQAAJ~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D ).
    • Mother right and original religion. A selection. Edited by Rudolf Marx . Kröner, Stuttgart 1927.
    • The mother right. An Inquiry into the Ancient World Gynecocracy by Its Religious and Legal Nature. A selection. (= Suhrkamp Taschenbücher Wissenschaft No. 135) published by Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs. Suhrkamp, ​​9th edition 1997, ISBN 3-518-27735-9 .
    • Il matriarcato. Ricerca sulla ginecocrazia del mondo antico nei suoi aspetti religiosi e giuridici. Ital. Edition with an introduction by Furio Jesi , edited by Giulio Schiavoni. Einaudi Publishing House, Turin 2016, ISBN 978-88-06-22937-5 .
  • The Lycian people and their importance for the development of antiquity. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1862.
  • The immortality doctrine of Orphic theology on the grave monuments of antiquity. According to the instructions of a vase from Canosa in the possession of Prosper Biardot in Paris. Basel 1867.
  • The legend of Tanaquil. An Inquiry into Orientalism in Rome and Italy. Mohr, Heidelberg 1870.
  • Antiquarian letters primarily to the knowledge of the oldest kinship terms. 2 volumes. Trübner, Strasbourg 1880 and 1886.
  • Roman grave lamps along with some other grave monuments, preferably own collection. Basel 1890.
  • Carl Albrecht Bernoulli : Systematic selection from Bachofen's works: Primordial religion and ancient symbols. 3 volumes. Leipzig 1926.
  • Collected Works. Edited by Karl Meuli using the estate . Basel 1943–1967 (8 volumes published so far: I – IV, VI – VIII and X).
    • Volume II and III: The mother right. edited by Karl Meuli. 1948
    • Volume IV: Attempt on the grave symbolism of the ancients. edited by E. Howald . 1954
    • Volume VI: The saga of Tanaquil. edited by E. Kienzle. 1951
    • Volume VIII: Antiquarian Letters. edited by J. Dörmann and W. Strasser. 1966.

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Jakob Bachofen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mathias Balzer: The visionary collector Louise Bachofen-Burckhardt. In: BaslerZeitung.ch. October 24, 2019, accessed October 25, 2019 .
  2. lust for images. Louise Bachofen-Burckhardt, collecting and donating for Basel, exhibition 2020 at the Kunstmuseum Basel
  3. Fritz Husner: Bachofen house at Augustinergasse 4. Accessed on December 6, 2019 .
  4. Fritz Husner: Parental Wohnaus at St. Alban Graben. Retrieved December 6, 2019 .
  5. Felix Flückiger: Bachofen, Johann Jakob (1815-1887) . In: Helmut Burkhardt, Uwe Swarat (ed.): Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation . tape 1 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1992, ISBN 3-417-24641-5 , p. 167 .
  6. Stefan Hess : Between Winckelmann and Winkelried. The Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891). Berlin 2010, p. 27.
  7. Kunstmuseum Basel : Ferdinand Schlöth: Bust of Scipio Africanus (copy of the basalt bust in Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome), around 1850/60. Retrieved August 24, 2020.