Jürgen Anton Benedikt Niese (24 November 1849 – 1 February 1910), also known as Benedict, Benediktus or Benedictus Niese, was a German classical scholar. Niese was born in

Burg The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to: Places Placename element * ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames * Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England Settlements * Burg, Aar ...

, on the island of

Fehmarn Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...

, then part of the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

but ruled by King Frederick VII of Denmark. His father was Emil August Niese, pastor in the town, and his mother was born Benedicte Marie Matthiessen. He was educated at the Domgymnasium in Schleswig and then from 1867 at

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

, studying under Alfred von Gutschmid. After volunteering for the army during the Franco-Prussian War, he was awarded a PhD in 1872. After teaching for a short time in a secondary school in Flensburg, he travelled in Italy and France. In 1876 he became a lecturer at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. He was a professor at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

from 1877 to 1881, after which he became Professor of Classical Philology at the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. In 1885 he took the same post at Marburg and was rector there in 1900/01. In 1906 he was appointed Professor of Ancient History at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

, and died there in 1910. In 1881 he married Bertha Zimmerman (1859–1937). Their son Hans was born in 1882. He became a lecturer in History at University of Göttingen and died in 1915 in the First World War. Their daughter Annemarie was born in 1890 and died in 1975. Niese is best known for his then definitive ''editio maior'' of the works of the Jewish historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

(Weidmann, Berlin, 1885–1895), based on a detailed study of the best manuscripts available. His numbering system is still the most commonly used when referring to the text. His other works include ''Grundriß der römischen Geschichte'', 1889–1905), ''Studien insbesondere über klassische griechische Autoren'' and ''Die Entwicklung der homerischen Poesie'', 1882. ''Geschichte der griechischen und makedonischen Staaten seit der Schlacht bei Chaeronea'' was published between 1893 and 1899. Niese's sister was the writer Charlotte Niese.

Works

*''De Stephani Byzantii auctoribus. Commentatio prima, etc''. (A study of Stephanus of Byzantium. Kiel, 1873.) *''Der homerische Schiffskatalog als historische Quelle betrachtet.'' (The Homeric Ship Catalogue Considered as a Historical Source) (Kiel, 1873.) *''Die Entwickelung der Homerischen Poesie'' (The development of Homeric poetry. Berlin, 1882) * ''Flavii Josephi opera'' (Works of Flavius Josephus, 7 volumes, Weidmann, Berlin 1885–1895). *''De Annalibus Romanis observationes''. (Marburg, 1886) *''Geschichte der griechischen und makedonischen Staaten seit der Schlacht bei Chaeronea'' (History of the Greek and Macedonian states after the battle of Chaeronea) (Published in three parts, 1893-1903.) *''Grundriss der römischen Geschichte'' (Sketches of Roman History) (1889–1905) *''Kritik der beiden Makkabäerbücher, nebst Beiträgen zur Geschichte der makkabäischen Erhebung'' (Berlin, 1900) *''Staat und Gesellschaft der Römer'' *''Zur Geschichte Solons und seiner Zeit''

References

* ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'', 1998. * ''Deutsche Biographische Encyclopädia'', Munich, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Niese, Benedikt 1849 births 1910 deaths People from Fehmarn German classical scholars People from the Duchy of Holstein University of Bonn alumni University of Göttingen faculty