Matthias Gelzer (19 December 1886, Liestal – 23 July 1974,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

) was a Swiss-German classical historian, known for his studies of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

in regard to its politics and society. He was the author of highly regarded biographies on

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

. He studied history and

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

at the universities of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and

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 wel ...

, where in 1909 he received his doctorate as a student of

Ulrich Wilcken Ulrich Wilcken (December 18, 1862 – December 10, 1944) was a German historian and papyrologist who was a native of Stettin. Biography Wilcken studied ancient history and Oriental studies in Leipzig, Tübingen and Berlin. He was a disciple of ...

. In 1912 he obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

with a thesis on the nobility of the Roman Republic. In 1915 he became a professor of ancient history 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 ...

, and in 1918 relocated as a professor to the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. From 1919 to 1955 he was a professor of ancient history at the

University of Frankfurt am Main Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, where he served as its

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 ...

in 1924/25.Matthias Gelzer
Personenlexikon des Kantons Basel-Landschaft Frankfurt, Hauptfriedhof, Grab K 2620 Gelzer

Selected works

* ''Studien zur byzantinischen Verwaltung Ägyptens'', 1909 – Studies on Byzantine-administered Egypt. * ''Die Nobilität der römischen Republik'', 1912 – Nobility of the Roman Republic, * ''Die Nobilität der Kaiserzeit'', 1915 – Nobility of the Empire. * ''Caesar, der Politiker und Staatsmann'', 1921, translated into English and published in 1968 as "Caesar: politician and statesman". * ''Vom römischen Staat; zur Politik und Gesellschaftgeschichte der römischen Republik'', 1944 – The Roman state. Politics and social history of the Roman Republic. * ''Pompeius'', 1949 – Biography of Pompey. * ''Cicero; ein biographischer Versuch'', 1969 – Biography of Cicero.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works From 1925 to 1962 he was on the editorial board of the journal "''Gnomon''", for which he contributed numerous reviews. He was also the author of several entries in the Pauly-Wissowa "''Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft''".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelzer, Matthias 1886 births 1974 deaths People from Liestal University of Basel alumni Leipzig University alumni University of Greifswald faculty University of Strasbourg faculty Goethe University Frankfurt faculty 20th-century German historians Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences