Richard Volkmann (philologist)

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Richard Volkmann (full name Richard Emil Volkmann , born September 15, 1832 in Sylbitz near Halle , † April 23, 1892 in Jauer ) was a German classical philologist and grammar school director.

life and work

Richard Volkmann was the son of pastor and superintendent Carl Heinrich Volkmann (1800-1859). His mother died in 1834, so that Richard Volkmann was raised by a (deaf and dumb) maid; his stepmother, who married his father in 1837, was French by birth and spoke no German for many years. Due to the influence of his well-read father, Volkmann felt drawn to science at an early age. And so, after attending grammar school in Merseburg (matriculation examination 1849), he studied classical philology in Halle (Saale) (from April 20, 1849 to May 14, 1852, with Gottfried Bernhardy and Heinrich Keil ). Already on 28 July 1852 before his 20th birthday, he was with a dissertation on the teaching poet Nicander Dr. phil. PhD . On December 18, 1852, he passed the teaching examination and received the qualification to teach Greek, Latin and French for all classes, for German and history in the middle classes and for religion in the lower classes.

From October 1, 1852 to Easter 1853, Volkmann worked as an assistant teacher in the Latin secondary school of the Francke Foundations in Halle. He then switched to the educational seminar in Szczecin as a trial candidate . At Easter 1855 he was appointed full teacher at the Friedrich Wilhelm School in Stettin. On October 1, 1860, he switched to the high school in Pyritz as senior teacher and vice-principal . On October 1, 1865, he was appointed director of the grammar school in Jauer ( Lower Silesia ), where he worked until his death. On September 13, 1882, the Prussian state awarded him the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th class, for his services .

Volkmann's scientific work initially came from the Greek poets. Through studies of ancient aesthetics and music theory , he finally came to areas in which he wrote research of lasting value: the extensive philosophical work of Plutarch of Chaironea and ancient rhetoric . In the 1870s he wrote an extensive historical and systematic monograph on Greek and Roman rhetoric, which appeared for the first time in 1874 and in a second edition in 1885. For Iwan von Müller's Handbook of Classical Studies (Volumes 2, 3) he created an abbreviated version (1892), which was revised by Caspar Hammer in 1901 and which remained in use for a long time. It was only replaced in 1974 by the revision by Josef Martin .

Fonts (selection)

  • De Nicandri Colophonii vita et scriptis . Halle 1852 (dissertation)
  • De oraculis Sibyllinis dissertatio . Leipzig 1853
  • Commentationes epicae . Leipzig 1854
  • Plutarchi de musica . Leipzig 1855
  • The Height of Ancient Aesthetics, or Plotin's Treatise on the Beautiful . Szczecin 1860
  • Hermagoras or elements of rhetoric . Szczecin 1865
  • Life, writings and philosophy of Plutarch of Chaeronea. First part: Plutarch's life and writings . Berlin 1869. Reprints Leipzig 1970, Hildesheim 1980
  • Life, writings and philosophy of Plutarch of Chaeronea. Second part: Plutarch's philosophy . Berlin 1869
  • History and Critique of Wolf's Prolegomena to Homer: A Contribution to the History of the Homeric Question . Leipzig 1874
  • The rhetoric of the Greeks and Romans presented in a systematic overview . Leipzig 1874. 2nd, much improved and enlarged edition 1885. Reprint Hildesheim 1963
  • Some remarks on the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodus . Jauer 1876 (school program)
  • Plotini Enneades. Praemisso Porphyrii de vita Plotini deque ordine librorum eius libello edidit R. Volkmann . Two volumes, Leipzig 1883–1884
  • Rhetoric of the Greeks and Romans . 3rd edition, obtained from Caspar Hammer, Munich 1901 ( Handbuch der Altertumswwissenschaft Vol. 2, 3rd pp. 1-61)

literature

  • Walter Volkmann : Richard Volkmann . In: Annual report on the progress of classical antiquity . 20th year 1892, 74th volume (1893). Nekrologe (= Biographical Yearbook for Classical Studies . Volume 15, 1892 (1893), pp. 81–103) ( full text ).

Web links

Wikisource: Richard Volkmann  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Volkmann, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Volkmann, Richard Emil (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist and grammar school director
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH Sylbitz near Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1892
Place of death Yeah