Hermann Karl Usener (23 October 1834 – 21 October 1905) was a German scholar in the fields 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

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

Life

Hermann Usener was born at

Weilburg Weilburg is, with just under 13,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg. Geography Location The community lies in the Lahn valley between the Wester ...

and educated at its Gymnasium. From 1853 he studied at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

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 Ha ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

and

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 ...

. In 1858 he had a teaching position at the Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium in Berlin. He was Professor 1861 to 1863 at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

, then at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

, before becoming professor 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 ...

. The ''Bonn School'' of classical philology was led by Usener with Franz Buecheler.

Influence

Usener was a large-scale thinker who combined scholarly research with theoretical reflection. His research on the ancient world used a comparative method, drawing on a variety of

ethnological Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

material for the study of social and religious matters. His theoretical method was phenomenological or hermeneutical, and centered on

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...

and

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

. He was influential most of all through his work on the formation of religious concepts, which influenced thinkers such as Albrecht Dieterich, Ludwig Radermacher,

Aby Warburg Aby Moritz Warburg, better known as Aby Warburg, (June 13, 1866 – October 26, 1929) was a German art historian and cultural theorist who founded the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (Library for Cultural Studies), a private library, ...

, Walter F. Otto, and

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( , ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science. A ...

. In his book on “the names of gods” (''Götternamen'', 1896), Usener introduced the concept of a ''momentary god''. This phrase entered the English-speaking world, to describe deities who seem to exist only for a specific purpose, time and place. He also trained an impressive list of students, and belonged himself to a long dynasty of students of Winckelmann. One such student was

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

: after initial support, Usener turned against him as a scholar after reading ''

The Birth of Tragedy ''The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music'' (german: Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik) is a 1872 work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was reissued in 1886 as ''The Birth of Tragedy, Or ...

''. Other students included

Hermann Diels Hermann Alexander Diels (; 18 May 1848 – 4 June 1922) was a German classical scholar, who was influential in the area of early Greek philosophy and is known for his standard work ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker''. Diels helped to import the ...

Paul Natorp Paul Gerhard Natorp (24 January 1854 – 17 August 1924) was a German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Biography Paul Natorp was b ...

Hans Lietzmann Hans Lietzmann (2 March 1875 – 25 June 1942) was a German Protestant theologian and church historian who was a native of Düsseldorf. He initially studied in Jena, then continued his education in University of Bonn, Bonn, where he was a student o ...

, Albrecht Dieterich,

Richard Reitzenstein Richard August Reitzenstein (2 April 1861, Breslau – 23 March 1931, Göttingen) was a German classical philologist and scholar of Ancient Greek religion, hermetism and Gnosticism. He is described by Kurt Rudolph as “one of the most stimulati ...

, and

.
''Critics have stressed the importance of Warburg's professor Herman Usener, the great classical philologist and scholar of comparative religion, whose Götternamen investigated the etymologies of deities' names in order to shed light on the changing psychology of religious beliefs; Warburg's iconological project, with its ambition to illuminate historical psychology, strives for an analogous goal. ''

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature ...

, the leading German classical scholar of the following generation, studied at Bonn 1867-9; but tended to disagree with Usener. Their correspondence has been published.

Works

His works include: *''Analecta Theophrastea'' (1858 dissertation at Bonn) *''Alexandri Aphrodisiensis problematorum lib. III. et IV.'' (1859) *''Scholia in Lucani bellum civile'' (1869) *''Anecdoton Holderi'' (1877) *''Legenden der heiligen Pelagia'' (1879) *''De Stephano Alexandrino'' (1880) *''Philologie und Geschichtswissenschaft'' (1882) * Jacob Bernays, ''Gesammelte Abhandlungen'' (1885) editor *''Acta S. Marinae et S. Christophori'' (1886) *''

Epicurea Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...

'' (1887) *''Altgriechischer Versbau'' (1887) *''Das Weihnachtsfest'' (''Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen'', part 1) (1889) *''Christlicher Festbrauch'' (''Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen'', part 2) (1889) *''Die Sintfluthsagen untersucht'' (1899) *''Götternamen: Versuch einer Lehre von der Religiösen Begriffsbildung'' (1896) * Dionysius of Halicarnassus edition, begun 1904, with Ludwig Radermacher *''Vorträge und Aufsätze'', 1907.

Family

Hermann Usener's parents were Georg Friedrich Usener (20 August 1789–15 April 1854), Landesoberschultheiß in the Amt of

and his wife Charlotte Henriette Caroline Vogler (1798–1855), daughter of Georg Vogler, a physician and member of the Princedom of Nassau's medical council. On 4 September 1866, Usener married ''Caroline (Lily) Dilthey'' in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

(25 February 1846–14 March 1920). She was the sister of the philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey and the archaeologist Karl Dilthey. In 1899, his daughter married the classical

philologist 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 ...

Albrecht Dieterich. Usener's son, Karl Albert Hermann (1876–1928) was an Oberleutnant.

References

*Roland Kany, ''Hermann Usener as Historian of Religion''. In: Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 6 (2004) S. 159-176.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Usener, Hermann 1834 births 1905 deaths German philologists German scholars of ancient Greek philosophy Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) University of Bonn faculty University of Greifswald faculty People from Limburg-Weilburg