Karl Hoeck

Karl Friedrich Christian Hoeck (born May 13, 1794 in Oelber on the white road , † January 13, 1877 in Göttingen ) was a German ancient historian, classical philologist and librarian.

Life

After attending the Ducal Grand School , Hoeck studied Classical Studies from 1812 to 1816 at the Georg-August University in Göttingen . While still a student he came into contact with the Göttingen University Library : in 1814 he became an accessist and in 1815 a secretary. Towards the end of his studies he was together with Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen , Karl Lachmann and Ernst Schulze a member of the philological seminar and specialized in ancient history under the direction of Arnold Heeren . With a price publication from 1816 he achieved his doctorate on March 3, 1818 and from Easter of the same year worked as a private lecturer for classical philology and ancient history at the University of Göttingen. As a philologist he held exegetical events on the historians Herodotus and Livius and on the speaker Demosthenes , as a historian on the entire field of ancient history and antiquities.

In the year of his appointment as associate professor, 1823, Hoeck published the first volume of his main work on mythology, history, religion and constitution of the island of Crete from prehistory to Roman times. In the first volume he dealt with the topography and prehistory of the island, in the second volume (1828) the Minoan Crete, in the third (1829) the Doric . Although this work was highly valued by the professional world, its success was affected by the recently published stories of Hellenic Tribes and Cities (Breslau 1820-1824) by Karl Otfried Müller .

Hoeck's career was not affected by this limitation. Two years after solving a prize task set by the Göttingen Royal Society of Sciences , he was promoted to full professor of classical philology and ancient history in 1831. The university library appointed him sub-librarian in 1835 and accepted him into the library commission. In 1839 he was accepted into the university's honorary faculty, and in 1841 as a full member of the Royal Society of Sciences. His memorial address for his mentor Heeren, which he had given to the Society after his death in 1842, was printed in 1843.

In the 1940s, Hoeck's second major work appeared, which was to deal with Roman history from the decline of the republic to Emperor Constantine . Hoeck paid particular attention to the constitution and administration of the Roman Empire. Due to the steadily growing material, the work remained unfinished: only the first volume, which covered the period from Augustus to Nero , appeared in three sections (1841, 1843, 1850).

Hoeck experienced the high point of his career when he was appointed as the successor to the late Georg Friedrich Benecke in the management of the university library in 1845 . Here he lived in office and dignity for another thirty years, was promoted to senior librarian in 1858 and appointed councilor in 1862. During his tenure he managed the library according to the old principles and organizational forms that went back to Christian Gottlob Heyne . Due to the stagnation of stocks since the 1930s, there was also no need for reforms. In 1865 he was granted honorary citizenship of the city of Göttingen. In 1875, after sixty years in the service of the library, Hoeck applied for retirement and left the library management. He died two years later at the age of 83.

literature

• Gustav Gilbert:  Hoeck, Karl Friedrich Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 532 f.

Web links

Wikisource: Karl Hoeck  - Sources and full texts

predecessor	Office	successor
Georg Friedrich Benecke	Director of the Göttingen University Library 1845–1875	August Wilmanns