Georg Otto August Wissowa (17 June 1859 – 11 May 1931) was a German classical philologist born in Neudorf, near Breslau.

Education and career

Wissowa studied classical philology under

August Reifferscheid Karl Wilhelm August Reifferscheid (3 October 1835 – 10 November 1887) was a German archaeologist and classical philologist. Biography He was born and educated in Bonn. He received a traveling fellowship in archaeology from the University of Bon ...

at the University of Breslau from 1876 to 1880, then furthered his studies in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

under Heinrich Brunn, a leading authority on Roman antiquities. Having obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

at the University of Breslau in 1882, he received a travel scholarship from the German Archaeological Institute and went to Italy for a year. After that he taught as ''Privatdozent'' in Breslau from 1883 to 1886, when he accepted a chair at the University of Marburg (as ''professor extraordinarius'') where he was awarded a full professorship in 1890. In 1895 he relocated to

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

as a successor to

Heinrich Keil Theodor Heinrich Gottfried Keil (25 May 1822, Gressow – 27 August 1894, Friedrichroda) was a German classical philologist. He was a son-in-law to educator Friedrich August Eckstein (1810–1885). He studied classical philology at the Univer ...

. After suffering two severe strokes in 1923, he was retired in 1924.

Works

Georg Wissowa is remembered today for re-edition of '' Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft'', an

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

of classical studies initially started by August Friedrich Pauly (1796–1845) in 1837. Around 1890, Wissowa began the new edition, an ambitious project that he anticipated would take ten years to finish. However, it wouldn't be until the 1970s that the last of its 83 volumes was published. He was the author of a significant work on

ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

, titled ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'' (1902), which appeared also in a second revised edition (1912),Digital version of Georg Wissowa, ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'' (zweite Auflage, 1912)
@ Archive.org. a book in which he explored the development of Roman religion, and in the process, provided a comprehensive description of its deities and religious practices. Wissowa also published a revision of

Ludwig Friedländer Ludwig Henrich Friedlaender (16 July 1824 – 16 December 1909) was a German philologist. He was one of the preeminent scholars of Ancient Rome of his time and is known for his research on Roman daily life and customs. He was a professor at Alb ...

's moral history of Rome called ''Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms'', worked on

Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (12 February 1845, in Göttingen – 9 March 1923, in Dresden) was a German classical scholar. He specialized in studies of Greek and Roman mythology. He received his education at the Universities of Göttingen and Leip ...

's encyclopedia of Greek and

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representa ...

, ''Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie''" and edited the second edition of Joachim Marquardt's "''Römische Staatsverwaltung'', vol. III. (1885).

References

Biography of Georg Wissowa
@ Bookrags.com. *

External links

Deutsche Wikisource
Bibliography of Georg Wissowa. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wissowa, Georg Historians of antiquity 20th-century German historians University of Marburg faculty University of Halle faculty University of Breslau alumni German classical philologists 1859 births 1931 deaths German male non-fiction writers 19th-century German historians