Karl Wilhelm Dindorf ( la, Guilielmus Dindorfius; 2 January 1802 – 1 August 1883) was a German classical scholar. He was born and died at

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 ...

. From his earliest years he showed a strong taste for classical studies, and after completing F. Invernizi's edition of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...

at an early age, and editing several

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

ians and rhetoricians, he was in 1828 appointed extraordinary professor of literary history in his native city. Disappointed at not obtaining the ordinary professorship when it became vacant in 1833, he resigned his post in the same year, and devoted himself entirely to study and literary work. His attention had at first been chiefly given to

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

, whom he edited in 1827, and to the Greek dramatists, all of whom he edited separately and combined in his ''Poetae scenici Graeci'' (1830 and later editions). He also wrote a work on the metres of the Greek dramatic poets, and compiled special lexicons to

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

. He produced an edition of Sophoclean Scholia which he intended as a supplement to

Elmsley Elmsley is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alex Elmsley (1929–2006), British Magician and Computer programmer *James H. Elmsley (1895–1921), Canadian Major General, Commander of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force *J ...

's edition of Sophoclean ''scholia vetera''. He edited

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

for Niebuhr's ''

Corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

'' of the Byzantine writers, and between 1846 and 1851 brought out at Oxford an important edition of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...

; he also edited Lucian and

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 ...

for the Didot classics, while his work on Homeric scholarship is represented by his four-volume edition of the Homeric scholia.The first two volumes contain the scholia of the famous manuscript Venetus A: Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem, ex codicibus aucta et emendata, ed. G. Dindorfius, tom. I-II, Oxonii: e typographeo Clarendoniano 1875. The other two (Oxonii 1877) those of Venetus B (=codex Marcianus Graecus 453, now 821). His last important editorial labour was his work on Eusebius of Caesarea (1867–1871). Much of his attention was occupied by the re-publication of Stephanus's ''Thesaurus'' (Paris, 1831–1865), chiefly executed by him and his brother Ludwig, a work of prodigious labour and utility. His reputation suffered somewhat through the imposture practised upon him by the Greek Constantine Simonides, who succeeded in deceiving him by a fabricated fragment of the Greek historian

Uranius Uranius is the name of two possible Roman usurpers of the third century. The first Uranius is mentioned only by Zosimus, and was briefly active during the latter part of the reign of Alexander Severus. He was chosen by dissatisfied soldiers a ...

. The book was printed, and a few copies had been circulated, when the forgery was discovered, just in time to prevent its being given to the world under the auspices of 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 ...

. Shortly after the death of his brother, he lost all his property and his library by rash speculations.

Ludwig Dindorf

His brother Ludwig August Dindorf ( la, Ludovicus Dindorfius;

, 3 January 1805 – 6 September 1871, Leipzig) never held any academic position, and led so secluded a life that many doubted his existence, and declared that he was a mere pseudonym. The important share which he took in the edition of the ''Thesaurus'' is nevertheless authenticated by his own signature to his contributions. He also published valuable editions of Polybius, Dio Cassius, and other Greek historians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dindorf, Karl Wilhelm 1802 births 1883 deaths German classical scholars Hellenists Writers from Leipzig