Knud Friis Johansen

Knud Friis Johansen , mostly K. Friis Johansen (born November 1, 1887 in Fredericia ; died June 17, 1971 in Hillerød ) was a Danish classical archaeologist .

K. Friis Johansen, son of the inspector of the deaf-mute schools Christian Johansen (1850-1940) and his wife Vilhelmine Jacobine Henriette Elisabeth Friis (1853-1930), began to study medicine at the University of Copenhagen in 1904 , but switched to one year later Classical Philology and German Studies . In 1911 he became cand. Mag. Immediately after the examination, Johansen was employed at the Danish National Museum, namely in the 1st department, which included the Prehistory Collection, the Collection of Antiquities and the Ethnographic Collection. Johansen was appointed inspector and director of the museum's antique collection in 1922.

During his time at the museum under the direction of Sophus Müller , the great Danish prehistorian, Johansen developed a lively research activity, particularly on Danish prehistory and published, among other things, the famous Viking Age "Sølvskatten fra Terslev" ("Silver Treasure of Terslev ") and 1919 "En Boplads fra den ældste Stenalder i Sværdborg Mose ” (“ A settlement of the oldest Stone Age in Sværdborg Mose ”), one of the most important sites of the Maglemose culture .

Nevertheless, his real interest lay in the field of classical archeology. Even before his exams, he wrote the text “Lotus- og Palmetteornamentet i ældre græsk Vasemaleri” (“Lotus and palmette ornaments in older Greek vase painting ”) for the award of the Philosophical-Historical Faculty . With the support of Sophus Müller, he went on a study trip to the Aegean Sea and Italy in 1913 to examine Proto-Corinthian vases . He presented the result in 1918 with the font “Sikyoniske Vaser” as a doctoral thesis. Subsequent further trips and research enabled him to expand the material base in this area of ​​vase research, to include the finds from southern Italy and Sicily , but also from central and northern Europe, and to refine the chronological framework. Initially in collaboration with Christian Blinkenberg (1863-1948), he published the volumes of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum for the Danish National Museum. His inclinations, skills and knowledge in the field of classical archeology predestined Johansen in 1923 to present the publication of Hoby's men's grave , which was discovered in 1920 .

In 1926 Johansen was appointed to the chair of Classical Archeology at the University of Copenhagen as the successor to Blinkenberg and taught there until 1956. At the university, he was not only heavily involved in actual teaching, but also in the area of ​​administration and the further development of the Faculty. In 1930 the first professorship for Nordic archeology and in 1940 the first full professorship for Nordic archeology and European prehistory was created on his initiative and appointed to Johannes Brøndsted . In the academic year 1946/47 Johansen was Vice Rector . From 1938 to 1957 he was also a board member of the Carlsberg Foundation and on the board of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek , from 1946 to 1957 as its president.

When he was appointed to the university, Friis' time as an excavating archaeologist ended and he devoted himself solely to academic research and the processing of old excavations, such as the Danish expeditions to Rhodes from 1902 to 1914. In 1934 he combined classical philology and archeology in the Study “Iliaden i tidlig græsk Kunst” (“The Iliad in early Greek art”), which was published in 1967 in an expanded English version.

From 1928 K. Friis Johansen was a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences , as well as a member of the German Archaeological Institute , the Societas Scientiarum Fennica , the Society of Antiquaries of London , the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the Vetenskaps-Societeten i Lund . He was in command of the Dannebrogden and Dannebrogsmænd

Friis Johansen was the father of the classical philologists Holger Friis Johansen and Karsten Friis Johansen .

Fonts (selection)

• Sikyoniske vaser: en arkaeologisk undersøgelse. V. Pio, Copenhagen 1918.
• Les vases sicyoniens: étude archéologique. É. Champion, Paris / V. Pio, Copenhagen 1923 ( digitized ; reprint "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1966).
• Iliads i tidlig graesk art. Povl Branner, Copenhagen 1934.
• Athenas templar paa acropolis. Povl Branner, Copenhagen 1937.
• The Attic Grave-reliefs of the Classical Period. An essay in interpretation. Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1951.
• Exochi. An early-modern burial ground. Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1958.
• The Iliad in Early Greek Art. Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1967.
• Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Denmark. Copenhague, Musée national (Collection des antiquités classiques):
  • with Christian Blinkenberg: Fasc. 1-5: É. Champion, Paris 1924–1937.
  • Fasc. 6: Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1955.
  • with Niels Breitenstein Fasc. 7: Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1938.
  • Fasc. 8: Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1964.

Web links

• Biography in Dansk biografisk leksikon (Danish)

Remarks

1. ↑ In: Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie. Vol. 2, 1912, pp. 189-263.
2. ↑ In: Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie. Vol. 9, 1919, pp. 106-235.
3. ↑ Hoby Fundet . In: Nordiske Fortidsminder. Vol. 2, 3, 1923, pp. 119-164.