Georg Loeschcke (28 June 1852 – 26 November 1915) was a German archaeologist born in

Penig Penig () is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Zwickauer Mulde, 19 km northwest of Chemnitz. The old and the new castle were owned by the House of Schönburg from 1378 u ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. He studied archaeology under

Johannes Overbeck Johannes Adolph Overbeck (27 March 1826 – 8 November 1895) was a German archaeologist and art historian. Biography Overbeck was born in Antwerp. He was son-in-law to zoologist Georg August Goldfuss (1782-1848), and was father-in-law to anth ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, afterwards continuing his education at 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 ...

, where he was a student of

Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz (name at birth Kekulé, called Kekulé von Stradonitz only after 1889; 6 March 1839 – 23 March 1911) was a German archeologist. He has been called the founder of modern iconology (Langlotz). He served as director ...

. In 1877–78 he participated in a study trip to

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 ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

under the aegis of the

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

. As a result of this research, he published with

Adolf Furtwängler Johann Michael Adolf Furtwängler (30 June 1853 – 10 October 1907) was a German archaeologist, teacher, art historian and museum director. He was the father of the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler and grandfather of the German archaeologist Andr ...

, ''Mykenische Thongefäße'', a landmark work that provided important historical timelines for

Mycenaean pottery Mycenaean pottery is the pottery tradition associated with the Mycenaean period in Ancient Greece. It encompassed a variety of styles and forms including the stirrup jar. The term "Mycenaean" comes from the site Mycenae, and was first applied by ...

. In their investigations of Mycenaean pottery, Loeschcke and Furtwängler gave distinctions between it and Geometric pottery.Dictionary of Art Historians
A Biographical Dictionary of Historic Scholars, Museum Professionals and Academic Historians of Art In 1879 Loeschcke became a professor of

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and archaeology at the

University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

, where he co-authored another important work on Mycenaean pottery with Furtwangler, titled ''Mykenische Vasen'' (1886). In 1887 he was appointed first secretary to the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, and two years later succeeded Kekulé as professor at the

. At Bonn, he was dean to the faculty (1895/96), university

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

(1909/10) and director of the university museum (1889–1912). In 1912 he again succeeded Kekulé, in this instance as professor of classical archaeology at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. In 1913 Loeschcke was appointed a member of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

. Loeschcke performed archaeological investigations of "

Limes Germanicus The (Latin for ''Germanic frontier'') is the name given in modern times to a line of frontier () fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubd ...

", which were a series of frontier forts that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Germania Superior. He also performed investigations at the Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths in

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

) and at the Roman camp in

Haltern Haltern am See (''Haltern at the lake'', before December 2001 only Haltern) is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the Lippe and the Wesel–Datteln Canal, approx. nor ...

. In 1915 he married fellow archaeologist Charlotte Fränkel.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia''; whose references include: Ursula Heimberg
"Loeschcke, Georg"
In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, , S. 61 f. {{DEFAULTSORT:Loeschcke, Georg 1852 births 1915 deaths People from Mittelsachsen People from the Kingdom of Saxony Archaeologists from Saxony Mycenaean archaeologists University of Bonn faculty Humboldt University of Berlin faculty University of Tartu faculty