Otto Benndorf (13 September 1838 – 2 January 1907) was a German-Austrian archaeologist who was a native of

Greiz Greiz () is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, east of state capital Jena, on the river '' White Elster''. Greiz has a large park in its center (Fürs ...

Principality of Reuss-Greiz The Principality of Reuss-Greiz (german: Fürstentum Reuß-Greiz), called the Principality of the Reuss Elder Line (german: Fürstentum Reuß älterer Linie) after 1848, was a sovereign state in modern Germany, ruled by members of the House of ...

. He was the father of physicist

Hans Benndorf Hans Benndorf (13 December 1870 – 11 February 1953) was an Austrian physicist born in Zurich, and died in Graz. He made several contributions in the field of seismology and in his research of atmospheric electricity. He was the son of archaeolo ...

(1870–1953). He studied under

Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker (4 November 1784 – 17 December 1868) was a German classical philologist and archaeologist. Biography Welcker was born at Grünberg, Hesse-Darmstadt. Having studied classical philology at the University of Giessen ...

(1784–1868),

Otto Jahn Otto Jahn (; 16 June 1813, in Kiel – 9 September 1869, in Göttingen), was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music. Biography After the completion of his university studies at Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, ...

(1813–1869) and

Friedrich Ritschl Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl (6 April 1806 – 9 November 1876) was a German scholar best known for his studies of Plautus. Biography Ritschl was born in Großvargula, in present-day Thuringia. His family, in which culture and poverty were hereditar ...

(1806–1876) 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 ...

. Later, he worked as an instructor at

Schulpforta Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercian monastery (1137–1540), near Naumburg on the Saale River in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school since the 16th century. Notable past ...

, where one of his students 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 ...

. From 1864 to 1868 he was a member of a scientific expedition that toured

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 ...

(

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

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

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. In 1868 he obtained his habilitation at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

under the guidance of Friedrich Wieseler (1811–1892). In 1869 he became an associate professor of archaeology at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, relocating to

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

in 1871 and to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

the following year. With

Alexander Conze Alexander Christian Leopold Conze (10 December 1831 – 19 July 1914) was a German archaeologist, who specialized in ancient Greek art. He was a native of Hanover, and studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In 1855 he obtained his ...

(1831–1914), he took part in the second Austrian archaeological expedition to

Samothrace Samothrace (also known as Samothraki, el, Σαμοθράκη, ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,859 (2011 ...

(1875). Two years later, he succeeded Conze as chair of archaeology at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

. Among his students at Vienna were

Michael Rostovtzeff Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff, or Rostovtsev (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Росто́вцев; – October 20, 1952), was a Russian historian whose career straddled the 19th and 20th centuries and who produced important works ...

(1870–1952),

Emil Szántó Emil Szántó (22 November 1857, in Vienna – 14 December 1904, in Vienna) was a classical historian and epigrapher from Austria-Hungary. From 1875 he studied philology and history at the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 1880 ...

(1857–1904),

Julius von Schlosser Julius Alwin Franz Georg Andreas Ritter von Schlosser (23 September 1866, Vienna – 1 December 1938, Vienna) was an Austrian art historian and an important member of the Vienna School of Art History. According to Ernst Gombrich, he was "One of t ...

(1866–1938) and Franz Studniczka (1860–1929). In 1881–82, he excavated the so-called "

Heroon of Trysa The Heroon of Trysa is the modern name for an ancient tomb, built around in Trysa, in ancient Lycia in southwest Turkey. It was discovered in 1841 by the gymnasium teacher Julius August Schönborn during his field research in Lycia. The figura ...

" in

Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is ...

, shipping more than 100 boxes of material to the '' Kunsthistorisches Museum'' in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. With Carl Humann, he organized an excavation of Ephesus (1895). In 1898 he founded the ''Österreichisches Archäologische Institut'' (

Austrian Archaeological Institute at Athens The Austrian Archaeological Institute at Athens (german: Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut (ÖAI) Athen; el, Αυστριακό Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αθηνών) is one of the 19 foreign archaeological institut ...

), serving as its director until his death in 1907.

References

Dictionary of Art Historians
A Biographical Dictionary of Historic Scholars, Museum Professionals and Academic Historians of Art. * This article contains some information based on a translation of an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia. 1838 births 1907 deaths People from Greiz People from the Principality of Reuss-Greiz Austrian archaeologists University of Bonn alumni Charles University faculty Academics of the University of Vienna University of Zurich faculty Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities {{Austria-archaeologist-stub