Hartmut Erbse (23 November 1915 – 7 July 2004) was a German
classical philologist
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classi ...
.
Life
The son of a dentist from
Thüringen
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
, Erbse studied
classical philology
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, where he was well known for his lively hat-wear and received his doctorate in 1940. In 1948 he completed 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 a ...
at
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...
with a study of Attic lexica; in the same year he received his first lectureship, in Hamburg. In 1954 he was appointed to a special professorship there, and six years later he was appointed a full professor. In 1965 he accepted an invitation to take the chair of Greek philology at
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
, and in 1968 a further invitation to the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
. He researched and taught there until just before his death.
His research was devoted to textual criticism and editions of Greek fragments and
scholia
Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...
, and to interpretation of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...
,
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ha ...
, and
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scientif ...
. Erbse acted as co-editor of the well-known journals ''Glotta'' and ''Hermes'', and in 1965 was one of the editors of the ''Lexikon der Alten Welt'' (LAW), alongside
Carl Andresen,
Olof Gigon,
Karl Schefold,
Karl Friedrich Stroheker, and
Ernst Zinn. With
Kurt Latte Kurt Latte (9 March 1891, Königsberg – 8 June 1964, Tutzing) was a German philologist and classical scholar known for his work on ancient Roman religion.
Career
The son of a doctor, Latte studied at the Universities of Königsberg, Bonn and Ber ...
he published the ''Lexica Graeca minora'', but he remains best known for his masterpiece, a huge seven-volumes critical edition of ''Iliads ''Scholia vetera''.
Hartmut Erbse was a Corresponding Fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
and the
Academy of Sciences
An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...
at Göttingen.
Works (select)
* (1950) ''Untersuchungen zu den attizistischen Lexika'', Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
* (1960) ''Beiträge zur Überlieferung der Iliasscholien'', München: Beck.
* (1965) ''Lexica Graeca minora'', Hildesheim: Olms.
* (1969–1983) ''Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem'', Berlin: de Gruyter.
* (1972) ''Beiträge zum Verständnis der Odyssee'', Berlin: de Gruyter.
* (1979) ''Ausgewählte Schriften zur klassischen Philologie'', Berlin-New York: de Gruyter.
* (1980) ''Festschrift für Hartmut Erbse zum 65. Geburtstag'', ed.
Joachim Latacz, Würzburg: Schöningh.
* (1984) ''Studien zum Prolog der euripideischen Tragödie'', Berlin: de Gruyter.
* (1986) ''Untersuchungen zur Funktion der Götter im homerischen Epos'', Berlin: de Gruyter.
* (1989) ''Thukydides-Interpretationen'', Berlin: de Gruyter.
* (1991) ''Fiktion und Wahrheit im Werke Herodots'', Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
* (1992) ''Studien zum Verständnis Herodots'', Berlin: de Gruyter.
* (1995) ''Theosophorum Graecorum Fragmenta'', Stuttgart: Teubner.
* (2003) ''Studien zur griechischen Dichtung'', Wiesbaden: Steiner.
References
*
Adolf Köhnken: ''Hartmut Erbse †''. In: ''
Gnomon
A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields.
History
A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the o ...
'' 77 (2005), S. 380–383.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erbse, Hartmut
German classical scholars
People from Rudolstadt
1915 births
2004 deaths
University of Bonn faculty
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy