Nikolaus Wecklein

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Nikolaus Wecklein , also Nicolaus, (born February 19, 1843 in Gänheim , † November 19, 1926 in Munich ) was a German classical philologist and rector of the Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich .

Life

Wecklein, whose father Joachim was a farmer, attended high school in Münnerstadt after private lessons with the village pastor and from 1861 studied philology and philosophy at the Julius Maximilians University in Würzburg and in Munich. In 1865 he received his doctorate summa cum laude from Ludwig von Urlichs in Würzburg with a dissertation on the Greek sophists ( the sophists and sophistics according to Plato ) and passed the first state examination for teaching in Bavaria.

From 1866 he was a high school teacher in Munich at the Ludwigs- and Maximilians-Gymnasium . From autumn 1868 to spring 1869 he took a leave of absence to attend lectures from Adolf Kirchhoff , Moriz Haupt , Gustav Droysen , Ernst Curtius , Theodor Mommsen and Leopold von Ranke at the University of Berlin and then to visit archives in Italy ( Florence , Rome , Naples ). This resulted in his habilitation on Greek inscriptions (suggested by Friedrich Ritschl in Leipzig), which took place in Munich in July 1869 ( Habilitation : Curae epigrapicae ad grammaticam graecam et poetas scaenicos pertinentes ). For the first time she evaluated the linguistic transmission of Attic inscriptions for text editions by ancient Greek poets of the 4th and 5th centuries BC. Chr. From. He then became a teacher at the Maximilians-Gymnasium in Munich and, in 1873, a grammar school professor at the university in Bamberg . There he also gave lectures on ancient Greek literature at the Lyceum. In 1872 he became an extraordinary and in 1887 a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1881 he became rector of the grammar school in Passau and in 1887 rector of the Maximilians grammar school in Munich. In addition, he was a member of the Supreme School Council in Bavaria from 1887, where he successfully campaigned for higher education for girls and was also successful in reducing the part of the curriculum threatened by the success of natural sciences and technology (represented in Munich by Oskar von Miller ) defend humanistic education (especially Greek) in high schools. He also brought scientifically qualified high school teachers to the Maximiliansgymnasium (such as Wilhelm Geiger , Anton von Braunmühl , August Heisenberg ) and, in addition to the traditional reputation as a preferred training center in upper circles in Munich, also gave him a pedagogical reputation and a training center for high school principals and high officials in Bavaria (twelve of his employees became school principals in Bavaria). In 1898 he succeeded in bringing a pedagogical seminar for classical philology to the grammar school, and in 1909 he reached the new building of the Maximiliansgymnasium, which had become too small, which was inaugurated in 1912/1913. He retired in 1913, but kept in close contact with the school. He was a Royal Privy Councilor (Hofrat). He is buried in Munich's Ostfriedhof .

According to the assessment of his former pupil, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , he was of an open nature, who initially treated his pupils with confidence, had difficulties in expressing an open rebuke (he never heard a swear word from him), and had little of an administrative officer. First and foremost, he was a scientist. However, if he caught a student cheating (especially when he used the text translations he despised as a philologist), he explained to him that he had lost his trust forever, which is exactly what happened. In the obituary of the Academy of Sciences, it is attested to be “objectivity”, “simplicity” and “immovable balance of nature”.

He mainly dealt with the Greek tragedy , about which he published many essays and created school editions as well as text-critical editions of Aeschylus and Euripides (which he took over after the death of Rudolf Prinz ). His text editions for schools were scientifically sound and became known beyond Bavaria. From a later point of view, however, he also took liberties that were seen more critically, for example by interpreting corrupted parts of the conjecture in his mind. Later he also published on Homer , including an edition of the Odyssey in 1916 and a pamphlet on Homer's oldest text transmission. In his treatise on the Iliad , he advocated a previous version that had Ajax as its hero, not Achilles . A text edition of the Iliad was available in manuscript when he died, but did not appear because of the printing difficulties in the period after the First World War . He also published historical studies and those on Attic law, Plato and Horace (Ars Poetica).

His daughter Anna (1871–1945), called Annie, married the Byzantinist August Heisenberg . Nikolaus Wecklein was the grandfather of the physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg , was still experiencing the rise of his grandson and was proud that he was twice substitute professor in Copenhagen.

Fonts (selection)

  • Studies on Aeschylus. W. Weber, Berlin 1872 ( online ).
  • About the method of textual criticism and the handwritten tradition of Homer (= session reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Year 1908, 2nd treatise). Publishing house of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1908 ( online ).
  • Studies on Euripides. With an appendix to Aeschylus, Sophocles and the fragments of the Greek tragedians. Teubner, Leipzig 1874 ( online ).
  • Studies on the frogs of Aristophanes. F. Straub, Munich 1872 ( online ).
  • Studies on the Iliad. Max Niemeyer, Halle 1905 ( online ).
  • as editor: Äschylos, Orestie. With explanatory notes. Teubner, Leipzig 1888 ( online ).
  • About the technique and the performance of the Aeschylus choir. Teubner, Leipzig 1882 ( online ).
  • Text-critical studies on the Greek tragedies (= session reports of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Year 1921, 5th essay). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1922 ( PDF; 62.9 MB ).
  • as editor with Rudolf Prinz : Euripidis Fabulae.
    • Volume 1 in 7 parts: Medea, Alcestis, Hecuba, Electra, Ion, Helena, Cyclops. Edited by Rudolf Prinz. Teubner, Leipzig 1898 ( digitized version ).
    • Volume 2 in 6 parts: Iphigenia Taurica, Supplices, Bacchae, Heraclidae, Hercules, Iphigenia Aulidensis. Edited by Nikolaus Wecklein. Teubner, Leipzig 1898 ( digitized version ).
    • Volume 3 in 6 parts: Andromacha, Hippolytus, Orestes, Phoenissae, Troades, Rhesus. Edited by Nikolaus Wecklein. Teubner, Leipzig 1900–1902 ( digitized version ).
  • as editor with Girolamo Vitelli : Aeschyli Fabulae cum lectionibus et scholiis codicis Medicei et in Agamemnonem codicis Florentini. 2 volumes, Berlin 1885 ( volume 1 online , volume 2 online ).

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Nikolaus Wecklein  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ So the biography at the Maximilians-Gymnasium Munich . Albert Rehm only speaks of studying in Würzburg : Nekrolog Nikolaus Wecklein. In: Yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. 1926, pp. 21–24, here p. 21 ( PDF; 349 kB ).
  2. ^ Albert Rehm : Nekrolog Nikolaus Wecklein. In: Yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. 1926, pp. 21-24, here p. 21 f. ( PDF; 349 kB ).
  3. ^ Helmut Rechenberg: Werner Heisenberg. The language of the atoms. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-540-69221-8 , p. 19.
  4. ↑ At that time, secondary schools emerged that focused on natural sciences and new languages. The Maximiliansgymnasium had to share the school building with such a Realgymnasium (later Oskar-von-Miller-Gymnasium Munich )
  5. ^ Helmut Rechenberg: Werner Heisenberg. The language of the atoms. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-540-69221-8 , p. 19. Rechenberg attests to Werner Heisenberg's similar character traits: naturally open to fellow human beings, he could break completely with them if, in his opinion, they betrayed him had.
  6. ^ Albert Rehm : Nekrolog Nikolaus Wecklein. In: Yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. 1926, pp. 21–24, here p. 24 ( PDF; 349 kB ).
  7. ↑ For example in Italy, see the entry Wecklein in Enciclopedia Treccani .
  8. ^ Albert Rehm : Nekrolog Nikolaus Wecklein. In: Yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. 1926, pp. 21–24, here p. 23 ( PDF; 349 kB ).
  9. ^ Helmut Rechenberg: Werner Heisenberg. The language of the atoms. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-540-69221-8 , Volume 1, p. 20.
personal data
SURNAME Wecklein, Nicholas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wecklein, Nicolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Gänheim
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1926
Place of death Munich