Otto Benndorf

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Otto Benndorf and signature Benndorf
Bust of Otto Benndorf in the arcade courtyard of the University of Vienna
Benndorf's oath of service dated November 8, 1888, issued in the Ephesus excavation site

Otto Benndorf (born September 13, 1838 in Greiz , Reuss Ä. L. , † January 2, 1907 in Vienna ) was a German classical archaeologist and the founder of the Austrian Archaeological Institute .

Life

Otto Benndorf was born as the son of a businessman in Greiz into a strictly Protestant family. Through his brother Friedrich August Paul Benndorf, who married Anna Maria von Zabern, he was connected to the von Zabern publishing family in Mainz . It was in this spirit that he was brought up and should become a pastor. He first studied several semesters at the theological faculty in Erlangen before he turned to studying art history at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn . Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker , Otto Jahn and Friedrich Ritschl were among his teachers . He obtained his doctorate in archeology and art history and was initially a teacher at various high schools. With the help of a multi-year scholarship from 1864 to 1868, he made a journey through southern France , Italy and Greece to the Levant, which was decisive for his later life . With the results of this trip, he qualified as a professor in Göttingen with Friedrich Wieseler . Here Benndorf married Sophie Wagner, who came from a talented family; her brother was the economist Adolf Wagner . The marriage had three children, Hans , Else and Nelly. Else married Wolfgang Reichel . Just one year later, in 1869, he became the first associate professor of classical archeology in Zurich . Mob attacks directed against a German peace festival in Zurich in 1871 and for which the cantonal government offered no compensation whatsoever outraged him to such an extent that he resigned his professorship and moved to Munich as an unpaid lecturer with the rank of extraordinary professor.

George Niemann and Benndorf in the excavation house in Ephesus 1896

In 1872 Benndorf was appointed associate professor in Prague , where he taught until 1877. In 1875 he took part in the second Austrian expedition to Samothrace under the direction of the then professorial chair in Vienna, Alexander Conze . In 1877 he was appointed to the chair of the University of Vienna as the successor to Conzes . As head of the Archaeological-Epigraphic Seminar he organized several research trips to Asia Minor , including 1881 and 1882, accompanied by Felix von Luschan , George Niemann and Karl Graf Lanckoroński to Lycia to find the hero of Gjölbaschi-Trysa . There he came across the bridge at Limyra . In 1884 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1895, Benndorf and Carl Humann initiated the first Austrian excavations in Ephesus , which began in 1896. Then he tried to found an Austrian archaeological institute, which was finally opened in 1898. Benndorf received the management and resigned from his position as full professor at the university. He was also chairman of the Balkans Commission from 1897 until his death .

Grave of Otto Benndorf

As the head of the newly founded OeAI, Benndorf also campaigned for research places in Austria. In 1905 he fell ill on his last trip to Asia Minor and died in 1907 of the consequences of a stroke and was buried in an honorary grave in the Dornbacher Friedhof (group 14, row 3, number 29) in Vienna. In 1958, Benndorfgasse was named after him in Vienna- Donaustadt (22nd district) , and a street in the Reissberg district of his birthplace.

meaning

Benndorf's scientific research is characterized by a versatility hardly ever achieved later, by linguistically cultivated presentation and the not aestheticizing, but rather based on extensive knowledge of ancient history and literature. As a professor and even more as the head of the archaeological institute, he proved to be a tireless, productive organizer: looking after the ancient monuments on Austrian soil, designing the subsequent provincial museums, exploring the neighboring ancient Greek areas and especially on his four major archaeological expeditions , whereby the expedition to Ephesus was arguably the most important scientifically, and it was the first time to uncover an ancient city. As a successor to Alexander Conzes, Benndorf invested a lot of time and energy in building up classical archeology in Austria. He edited the Archaeological-Epigraphic Messages from Austria (1877 to 1897) and between 1886 and 1891 he was responsible for the editors of the second and third series of his Viennese leaflets for exercises and seminars . In 1890, the inscription publication series Tituli Asiae minoris was founded , which is still in existence today.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Benndorf was able to take advantage of the opportunities of the early days of Austrian archeology, not least through his appearance, which allowed him to implement many projects. So he was able to establish an archaeological collection with several hundred casts at the Archaeological-Epigraphic Seminar of the Vienna University in 1884. The discovery of the Heroon of Trysa was a triumph, and a road had to be built to rescue it. The Kunsthistorisches Museum as well as the Ephesus Museum owe a considerable part of their collections to the efforts of Benndorf. In order to be able to devote himself entirely to these excavations, he finally initiated the establishment of the OeAI. He was also a member of the German Archaeological Institute . Franz Studniczka and Robert von Schneider were among his most important students .

Fonts (selection)

  • with George Niemann : The Heroon of Gjölbaschi-Trysa . Holzhausen, Vienna 1889
  • The metopes of Selinunte . Guttentag, Berlin 1867.
  • with Alexander Conze and Alois Hauser: New archaeological investigations on Samothrace . 2 volumes. Gerold, Vienna 1880.
  • with George Niemann: Travels in southwest Asia Minor . Vienna 1884–1898; Reprint Codex-Verl., Gundholzen 1975.

literature

Web links

Commons : Otto Benndorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Otto Benndorf  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 36.
personal data
SURNAME Benndorf, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Greiz , Thuringia
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1907
Place of death Vienna