Wolfgang Schmid (philologist)

Wolfgang Schmid (born July 3, 1913 in Moers ; † November 23, 1980 in Bonn ) was a German classical philologist who worked as a professor in Bonn (1950–1978).

Life

Schmid began studying Classical Philology in Heidelberg in 1932 , where he was influenced by the Seneca and Lucretian specialist Otto Regenbogen . In 1933 he moved to Bonn, where the Graecist and papyrologist Christian Jensen introduced him to his field of work: the Herculan papyri, which Schmid occupied himself with all his life. He completed his studies in Cologne with Günther Jachmann , who specialized in Roman comedy and the history of the transmission of ancient and late ancient texts. After the exam (1936) Schmid worked for a year as a research assistant at the Thesaurus Linguae Latinaein Munich. In 1937 he received his doctorate in Bonn with the dissertation Ethica Epicurea printed in 1939 . He then worked as a lecturer in Cologne from 1938 to 1939, before being drafted into the army when the Second World War broke out .

In 1933 Schmid joined the NSDAP and the SA ; he resigned from the SA in March 1935. After Schmid was released from military service due to illness in 1940, he was able to continue his academic career. In 1941 he went to the Church Fathers Commission of the Prussian Academy of Sciences , which was then headed by Hans Lietzmann .

See also : The Greek Christian Writers

In Berlin, Schmid worked on his habilitation thesis, in which he examined the text transmission of the apology of Justinus . With this thesis Schmid completed his habilitation on August 25, 1942 in Hamburg . He then worked as a lecturer in Hamburg and as a substitute in Kiel until he was called up for military service again in 1943. In 1946, after returning from captivity, Schmid worked as an assistant to his teacher Jachmann in Cologne, where he was appointed associate professor on April 27, 1949. On January 1, 1950, he received a call to the Latinist chair at the University of Bonn, where he worked until his retirement in 1978. In 1960/61 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In the academic year 1964/1965 he was Dean of the Philosophical Faculty. He turned down an offer from the University of Tübingen (1965). From 1966 to 1970 he was first chairman of the Mommsen Society , from 1974 to 1979 Vice-President, from 1979 President of the Fédération Internationale des Associations d'Études Classiques (FIEC).

Schmid has been concerned with Epicurean philosophy since his student years in Bonn. In his dissertation he made an important contribution to the creation of the text and the explanation of the so-called "Epicurean Ethica", an anonymous writing from the Villa dei Papiri . Like Wilhelm Crönert before, he saw its author in Philodemos von Gadara , an Epicurean of the 1st century BC. He also dealt in depth with the didactic poem De rerum natura and the reception of the poet Lucretius . His work on Christian apologetics represented great progress. His services to the Herculanian papyri were recognized in 1977 with his appointment as a corresponding member of the Accademia Pontaniana in Naples.

Especially his writings on the text of the apology of Justinus finally made the previously unedited text readable for researchers. In addition to these philological merits, Schmid presented the influences of Epicureanism on Christian theology, especially in the area of ​​criticism of myths.

In his Bonn years, Schmid was a member of the Philologus editorial team from 1954 to 1970 , most recently as the first editor. Christian Gnilka and Willy Schetter presented a list of his writings and suggested dissertation in the studies on literature of late antiquity (Antiquitas series 1, 23, Bonn 1975, pp. 219–226). Addenda to this can be found in Gnomon 53 (1981), p. 810, note 1.

He is the father of the mathematician Wilfried Schmid .

literature

• Otto Wenig: Directory of professors and lecturers at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn 1818–1968 . Bonn 1968, p. 267.
• Wolf-Dieter Lange , Willy Schetter , Christian Gnilka , Hans Herter : In memoriam Wolfgang Schmid. Speeches given on January 28, 1981 at the memorial service of the University of Bonn . Alma mater. Contributions to the history of the University of Bonn 53, Bonn 1982 (with picture).
• Jochem Küppers : Wolfgang Schmid (1913–1980) . In: Eikasmós 4, 1993, pp. 327-332.
• Franz Tinnefeld : Wolfgang Schmid (1913–1980) . In: Eikasmós 4, 1993, pp. 333-336.
• Giuliana Leone: Wolfgang Schmid (1913–1980) . In: Mario Capasso (Ed.): Hermae. Scholars and Scholarship in Papyrology II . Pisa / Rome 2010, pp. 63–80

Web links

• Literature by and about Wolfgang Schmid in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Eckart Krause, Ludwig Huber, Holger Fischer (eds.), Everyday University Life in the "Third Reich". 1. Introduction, general aspects, Volume 2 , Berlin / Hamburg 1991, p. 821, note 107.
2. ↑ The 14 doctoral theses listed are from Kurt Reichenberger (1954), Rudolf Eiswirth (1955), Klaus Winkler (1955), Willy Schetter (1960), Jürgen Kabiersch (1960), Franz Tinnefeld (1963), Christian Gnilka (1963), Peter Krafft (1966), Karl-Heinz Tomberg (1968), Gunther Scheda (1969), Helge Hanns Homey (1972), Udo Frings (1975), Karl Heinz Niemann (1975), Jochem Küppers (1975).