Theodor Preger

Theodor Preger (born May 24, 1866 in Munich , † December 18, 1911 there ) was a German Byzantine and grammar school teacher.

Life

Theodor Preger was the son of the Protestant theologian Wilhelm Preger (1827-1896) and Wilhelmine geb. Meyer. His father worked as a religion teacher, from 1868 as a grammar school teacher and from 1890 as senior consistorial councilor in Munich; he was also a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Theodor Preger attended the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich as early as 1874 . His school days were interrupted by frequent illness, so that he did not pass the final exams at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich until 1883. As an alumnus of the Maximilianeum , he studied classical philology at the University of Munich from the winter semester of 1883/84 , where the philologists Wilhelm von Christ , Eduard Wölfflin and, from 1885, Rudolf Schöll taught. Wölfflin consulted the highly talented student on the preparatory work on the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae : Preger published his first scientific article in its journal Archive for Latin Lexicography and Grammar as early as 1886 . At Schöll, Preger came into contact with Greek epigraphy , with which he worked intensively in the years that followed. Inspired by a prize tender from the philosophical faculty (1886), he collected and commented on the traditional literary inscriptions on votive gifts and grave monuments. From this work his dissertation emerged, with which he received summa cum laude on March 7, 1889 Dr. phil. received his doctorate . Preger also attended courses given by the archaeologists Heinrich Brunn and Leopold Julius , the philosopher Carl von Prantl , the historian Wilhelm von Giesebrecht and the cultural historian Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl .

After completing his doctorate, Preger took a long trip north. In the summer semester of 1889 he deepened his studies at the University of Bonn , where he attended lectures by the philologists Franz Bücheler and Hermann Usener and the ancient historian Heinrich Nissen . He also took part in meetings of the philological association and the “Bonner Kreis”, which at that time included Richard Heinze , Eduard Norden , Erich Preuner , Hugo Rabe and Hermann Schöne . From Bonn he traveled on to Berlin and Copenhagen. In the autumn of 1889 he returned to Munich, passed the special examination in philology and went to the Maxgymnasium Munich as a teacher training candidate . In addition to teaching, he continued his scientific studies, brought out a revised version of his dissertation in 1891 and kept in contact with other scientists, including the Middle Latin Ludwig Traube and the Byzantinist Karl Krumbacher . Preger's research focus shifted from epigraphy to Byzantine historiography.

For the year 1892/93 Preger received a travel grant from the German Archaeological Institute , which enabled him to undertake an extensive research trip to the Mediterranean. On leave from September 1892 to the end of 1893, Preger traveled to Italy and Greece as well as Constantinople, where he participated in academic circles, gave lectures, examined Byzantine manuscripts in libraries and visited museums and archaeological sites. His travels also took him to Sicily and Asia Minor . In the libraries he visited, Preger collected rich material for his research projects, which he worked out in later years. During this time he began to study the manuscripts of the pseudo-codino .

In January 1894 Preger took up his position at the Maxgymnasium again; in the meantime (October 1893) he had been promoted to high school professor. In July 1902 he was transferred to the grammar school in Ansbach , where however a prolonged illness ( rheumatism ) kept him away from teaching. During a spa stay in Bad Nauheim he met his future wife, whom he married in 1904 and with whom he had a daughter. In the summer of 1908 Preger returned to the Maxgymnasium in Munich, where he was also active in the grammar school teachers' association. At Easter 1910 he was given leave of absence from school to compile a catalog of the Greek manuscripts of the Munich court and state library . However, it was no longer published, because on December 18, 1911 Preger died after a long illness ( cancer ) at the age of 45.

Preger's research on Byzantine historiography contributed in particular to clarifying the transmission history of various works. His studies on the numerous city chronicles of Constantinople in particular represented great progress. His critical edition of the Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum (1901–1907) was awarded the Thereianos Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and is still relevant today.

Fonts (selection)

• De epigrammatis Graecis meletemata selecta. Accedit Kyriaci Anconitani fragmentum . Munich 1889 (dissertation)
• Inscriptiones Graecae metricae ex scriptoribus praeter Anthologiam collectae . Leipzig 1891. Reprint Chicago 1977
• Contributions to the text history of the πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως . Munich 1895 (school program)
• Anonymi Byzantini Παραστάσεις σύντομοι χρονικαί . Munich 1898 (school program)
• Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum . Two volumes, Teubner, Leipzig 1901–1907. Reprinted in Leipzig 1989
• The manuscripts of the Historical Association for Middle Franconia. I . Ansbach 1907 (school program)

literature

• Album of the Bonner Kreis 1854–1906 . Bonn 1906, p. 52 No. 328.
• August Heisenberg : Theodor Preger . In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift Volume 21, 1912, pp. 379-380.
• Max Offner: High School Professor Dr. Theodor Preger (born May 24, 1866, died December 18, 1911). A picture of life . In: Sheets for the Bavarian high school and secondary school system . Volume 47, 1912, pp. 122-128.
• Oskar Hey : Theodor Preger . In: Annual report on the progress of classical antiquity . Volume 164, 1913, Nekrologe (= Biographical Yearbook for Classical Studies, 36th year), pp. 134-143 (with list of publications).
• Theodor Weiß: To Theodor Preger. Poem . In: Sheets for the Bavarian high school and secondary school system . Volume 48, 1913, p. 1.
• Martin Dennert: Theodor Preger . In: Stefan Heid, Martin Dennert (Hrsg.): Personal Lexicon for Christian Archeology. Researchers and personalities from the 16th to the 21st century . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7954-2620-0 , Vol. 2, p. 1039.

Web links

Wikisource: Theodor Preger  - Sources and full texts

• Preger, Theodor .  Publications in the bibliographic database of the Regesta Imperii .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Annual report from the K. Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Munich 1882/83.