Rudolf Kassel (11 May 1926 – 26 February 2020) was a German classical philologist. He was a professor at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

from 1963 to 1975 and subsequently the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

from 1975 until his retirement in 1991.

Career

Kassel was born on 11 May 1926 in

Frankenthal Frankenthal (Pfalz) ( pfl, Frongedahl) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, af ...

. In 1951 he obtained his doctorate at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stud ...

. In 1956 Kassel 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 Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

with a thesis on Greek and Roman consolation literature. At the University of Würzburg he also worked as a private teacher. In 1962 Kassel moved to the United Kingdom where he was Nellie Wallace Lecturer at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. One year later he returned to Germany and was appointed professor at the

. In 1975 Kassel moved to the

where he became professor of Ancient Greek philology at the Institut für Altertumskunde. He retired in 1991. Kassel died on 26 February 2020, aged 93. Amongst his academic output Kassel published work on ''

Poetics Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...

'' and ''

Rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

'' by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

Ancient Greek comedy Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyr play). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, an ...

and

Menander Menander (; grc-gre, Μένανδρος ''Menandros''; c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His ...

. Together with Colin François Lloyd Austin he published a collection of Ancient Greek comedy in eight volumes under the title ''Poetae Comici Graeci''. He was considered an expert on papyrology and

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the w ...

and served as co-editor of the ''

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik The ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' (commonly abbreviated ZPE; "Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy") is a peer-reviewed academic journal which contains articles that pertain to papyrology and epigraphy. It has been described as " ...

''.

Honours and awards

Kassel was elected 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 s ...

in 1973. He became a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts in 1977. He was elected foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1991. Kassel was elected corresponding member of the Academy of Athens in 1993. In 2003 he received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Kassel was an honorary member of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and received honorary doctorates from the University of Oxford and the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kassel, Rudolf 1926 births 2020 deaths Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Corresponding Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin German classical philologists Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies People from Frankenthal Academic staff of the University of Cologne University of Würzburg alumni