Medaille Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch 1860

Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (17 June 178425 February 1860), was a German classical scholar and educationist.

Biography

He was born at Kirchscheidungen (now a part of Laucha an der Unstrut,

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...

). In 1809 he became professor at the gymnasium at

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 ...

, and in 1826 professor of ancient literature at the

University of Landshut The University of Applied Sciences Landshut (''Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Landshut'') is a Fachhochschule in Landshut, between Munich and Regensburg, with over 5000 students and over 100 professors. Its main focus areas are technol ...

; he was transferred in that year to Munich where he remained till his death. Thiersch, the "tutor of Bavaria" (''praeceptor Bavariae''), found an extremely unsatisfactory system of education in existence. There was a violent feud between the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

"north" and the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

"south" Germans; Thiersch's colleagues, chiefly old

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

s, offered violent opposition to his reforms, and an attempt was made upon his life. His plans were nevertheless carried out, and became the governing principle of the educational institutions of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

. Thiersch was an ardent supporter of Greek independence. In 1832 he visited

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, and his influence is said to have helped secure the throne of the newly created kingdom for

Otto of Greece Otto (, ; 1 June 181526 July 1867) was a Bavarian prince who ruled as King of Greece from the establishment of the monarchy on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed on 23 October 1862. The second son of King Ludw ...

. He wrote a Greek grammar, a metrical translation of

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar ...

, and an account of Greece (''L'état actuel de la Grece'') in 1833. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1855. Thiersch died in Munich. He is buried in the

Alter Südfriedhof The Alter Südfriedhof (''Old South Cemetery'') also known as "Alter Südlicher Friedhof" is a cemetery in Munich, Germany. It was founded by Duke Albrecht V as a plague cemetery in 1563 about half a kilometer south of the Sendlinger Ga ...

in Munich. After his death the

Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

commissioned a bronze medal made by the engraver Joahnn Adam Ries in 1860.S. Krmnicek and M. Gaidys, Gelehrtenbilder. Altertumswissenschaftler auf Medaillen des 19. Jahrhunderts. Online exhibitio

/ref> His biography was written by his son, H. W. J. Thiersch (1866). Another son, Karl Thiersch, was a renowned

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

, and yet another, Ludwig Thiersch, was an influential painter.

References

External links

*
Rolf Selbmann und Peter Kefes: ''Friedrich Thiersch und der Neuhumanismus in Altbayern. Wahrheit und Legende''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thiersch, Friedrich Wilhelm 1784 births 1860 deaths People from Laucha an der Unstrut Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences German educational theorists German classical scholars German philhellenes Burials at the Alter Südfriedhof