Ludwig von Urlichs

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Ludwig Urlichs in 1850

Karl Ludwig Urlichs , since 1880 knight of Urlichs (born November 9, 1813 in Osnabrück , † November 3, 1889 in Würzburg ) was a German classical archaeologist and philologist .

Life

Ludwig (von) Urlichs attended grammar school in Aachen and moved to Bonn University in 1830, at the age of 16, to study classical studies. His teacher Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker introduced him to archeology as well as to philology. Urlichs' dissertation Achaei Eretriensis quae supersunt (Fragments of the tragedian Achaios from Eretria , 1834) dealt with a philological topic, but in the following years he turned to archeology. On his travels through Italy and Sicily he finally came to Rome, where the Prussian ambassador to the Vatican and first chairman of the still young Instituto di correspondenza archeologica , Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen , hired him as tutor of his sons. In Rome Urlichs also came into contact with Johann Martin von Wagner and Eduard Gerhard , whom he helped with the writing of his multi-volume work Description of the City of Rome (1829–1842). Years later, Urlichs published the Codex Urbis Romae topographicus (1871), a fruit from his Roman times.

After six years in Italy, Urlichs returned to Bonn in 1840, where he completed his habilitation and in 1841 became co-founder and first chronicler of the Society of Friends of Antiquity in the Rhineland . As an experienced archaeologist, he was employed by August Wilhelm Schlegel in 1843 as an honorary adjunct at the Academic Art Museum ; later he was promoted to co-director. Urlichs earned his living as a lecturer at Bonn University, where he was appointed associate professor in 1844. In addition to his former teacher Welcker, Urlichs maintained a friendly relationship with the Latinist Friedrich Ritschl , who was a few years older than him, and added archaeological lectures to his text-critical courses.

Ultimately, Urlichs left Bonn when he had received a call to the University of Greifswald as a full professor of classical philology in 1847 . His predecessor Otto Jahn had fought for this professorship two years earlier. Urlichs' time in Greifswald, however, was determined by political activity that distracted him from his teaching position: From 1848 to 1852 Urlichs was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives and the Erfurt Union Parliament , where he was second secretary after Otto von Bismarck . During the Greifswald years, Urlichs also met his wife Louise Quistorp, with whom he had three daughters and four sons, including the archaeologist Heinrich Ludwig Urlichs (1864–1935).

Although another career as a politician was open to him, Urlichs decided in 1855 to follow the call of the University of Würzburg to the chair of Classical Philology and Aesthetics. Here he devoted himself to teaching, research and museum work until the end of his life. He gained additional didactic experience as a "ministerial commissioner" at the Bavarian grammar schools. Urlichs played an active part in the development of the university subject Classical Archeology and achieved that it was also included in the Bavarian examination regulations for teaching at grammar schools. This regulation still applies today. In addition, Urlichs initiated the scientific processing of the art and antiquities collection of the university , which Urlichs enriched with the legacy of Johann Martin von Wagner, who died in Rome in 1858, after which the collection was transferred to "Wagner's Art Institute" and later (after Urlichs' death) in Martin von Wagner Museum was renamed. With the acquisition of the Feoli collection (1872), which consists of 480 Greek and Etruscan vases, the Würzburg University Museum received the third largest German vase collection after Berlin and Munich. Urlichs paid particular attention to ancient sculpture. His monograph Skopas: Leben und Werke (1863) was still quoted a lot until the end of the 20th century, and his guide through the Glyptothek Ludwig I (1867) was highly praised. From his only trip to Greece, which Urlichs undertook in 1881, he reported not only on topography and architecture, but also on sculptural works. Because of his services, Urlichs was appointed royal councilor in 1857, and in 1866 elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1880 King Ludwig II awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown . With the award the elevation to the personal nobility was connected and he was allowed to call himself Ritter von Urlichs after the entry in the nobility register . In addition, since 1868 he was Knight First Class of the Order of Merit of St. Michael .

His philological origins and the long-standing friendship with the Schiller daughter Emilie von Gleichen-Rußwurm led the Urlichs to dedicate himself to the life and work of Goethe's time. He edited Goethe's letters to Johanna Fahlmer (1857) and Friedrich Schiller (1877) and wrote a three-volume work entitled Charlotte von Schiller and her friends (1860–1865). Urlichs also changed the history of science in his own subject by writing numerous articles for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie .

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Karl Ludwig Urlichs  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon (1988) 37
  2. ↑ Simon (1988) 38
  3. ↑ Wecklein (ADB) 355
  4. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1888. R. Oldenbourg publishing house. Munich 1888. p. 24.
  5. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1888. R. Oldenbourg publishing house. Munich 1888. p. 46.
personal data
SURNAME Urlichs, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Urlichs, Karl Ludwig Ritter von; Urlichs, Karl Ludwig; Urlichs, Carl Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Osnabrück
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1889
Place of death Wurzburg