Richard Laqueur

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Richard Albrecht Laqueur (born March 27, 1881 in Strasbourg ; † November 25, 1959 in Hamburg ) was a German ancient historian and classical philologist . He held chairs for ancient history at the universities of Gießen (1912–1930), Tübingen (1930–1932) and Halle (1932–1936).

Live and act

Richard Laqueur, a son of the ophthalmologist and university professor Ludwig Laqueur and his wife Marie Laqueur née Bamberger, attended grammar school in Strasbourg until 1898 and then studied classical philology and history in Strasbourg , Bonn and again in Strasbourg from 1898 to 1903 . His academic teachers were Eduard Schwartz and Bruno Keil . In 1899/1900 he did military service as a one-year volunteer in the field artillery regiment in Strasbourg. Laqueur was an assistant at the Classical Philological Seminar in 1903/04 and received his doctorate in Strasbourg in 1904. His academic career was promoted by Eduard Schwartz. Laqueur traveled to Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Spain and France for study purposes. In 1907 he completed his habilitation in classical philology and auxiliary sciences at the University of Göttingen . In 1908 he was teaching at the University of Kiel . In 1909 he married. In the same year he became a scheduled adjunct professor of classical philology at the University of Strasbourg. He received further appointments to Kiel (1909), Basel (1910) and Groningen (1911). In 1912 he became a full professor in Strasbourg. In the same year he moved to the University of Giessen as a full professor and stayed there until 1930.

The German nationalist Laqueur participated in the First World War initially as a battery officer, in 1915 as a battery leader and in 1918 as a department leader. During the war he received high awards and war medals. He was awarded the Iron Cross I and II Class, the Hessian Medal of Bravery , the Mecklenburg Military Merit Cross and the Hanseatic Cross. At the beginning of 1919 he returned to Giessen. In 1923/24 he was rector in Giessen. He also took part in the Ruhr War. Until 1930 he was a member of the DVP . In 1930 he was appointed to Tübingen . Two years later he accepted an appointment at the University of Halle and succeeded Wilhelm Weber . Due to his high honors as a combatant, he was initially able to continue teaching after 1933. On January 1, 1936, he lost his chair in Halle because of his Jewish descent.

At the beginning of 1939 Laqueur emigrated to the USA. However, there he found no scientific position. He worked in a trading company and lived in very simple circumstances. A book on Science and Imagination , which he wrote at the time, remained unpublished. In his spare time he did Shakespeare studies. He did not acquire US citizenship. After the end of the war, the University of Halle and the University of Berlin tried to reappoint Laqueur to a chair. However, his return failed in 1947 due to difficulties caused by the Soviet occupation forces, based among other things on his former membership in SA Reserve II. In 1952 he went to Hamburg and was appointed honorary professor there in 1959. After his return from the USA in 1955 he was able to publish Shakespeare's dramatic conception .

In addition to Greek and Roman history, his research interests included the history of Hellenistic and Roman Judaism and, above all, ancient economic history and economic theories. Very early on he concentrated on the ancient historiography of Hellenism and the Roman Empire. He dealt with ancient historians such as Polybius (1913), Flavius ​​Josephus (1920) and Eusebius (1929). Further studies focused on political problems in Roman history (the governorship of Caesar , the Roman triumph and the Edict of Tolerance of Milan ). For Paulys Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity he wrote numerous historian articles, among others on Nikolaos of Damascus , Timagenes of Alexandria , Malchus of Philadelphia and Georgios Synkellos . In the 1920s and early 1930s, Laqueur was one of the leading German ancient historians. His personal affability and erudition were emphasized in the few obituaries. Laqueur's most important student was Fritz Moritz Heichelheim .

Fonts (selection)

  • Polybius. Aalen 1974, ISBN 3-511-00290-7 .
  • The Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus. A biographical attempt on a new source-critical basis. 2nd edition, Darmstadt 1970 (1st edition appeared in 1920).
  • Shakespeare's Dramatic Conception. Tuebingen 1955.
  • The German Empire from 1871 in world history. Tübingen 1932.
  • Epigraphic studies on the Greek popular resolutions. Leipzig 1927.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Isolde Stark : The unsuccessful appointments of Richard Laqueur to Halle and Berlin. In: Thomas Brüggemann, Burkhard Meissner, Christian Mileta, Angela Pabst, Oliver Schmitt (eds.): Studia Hellenistica et Historiographica. Festschrift for Andreas Mehl. Computus Verlag, Gutenberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-940598-09-7 , pp. 413-436, here: pp. 414f.
personal data
SURNAME Laqueur, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laqueur, Richard Albrecht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ancient historian and classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1959
Place of death Hamburg