Adolf Kiessling (15 February 1837 – 3 May 1893) was a German

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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

born in Culm (present-day Chełmno,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

). He was a specialist in the field of Roman literature.Biography of Kiessling
@ NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie

Biography

He obtained his classical education at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

as a student of Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker, Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, Franz Bücheler and

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, ...

. In 1863, he became a professor of classical philology at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, and in 1869 began teaching classes at the ''

Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums The ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums'' ( ''Academic School of the Johanneum'', short: Johanneum) is a '' Gymnasium'', or grammar school, in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The sch ...

'' in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In 1872 he relocated to the University of Greifswald, where from a scientific standpoint, he spent the most important years of his life. In 1889 he became successor to Friedrich Leo (1851–1914) at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

Works

Kiessling's research largely dealt with critiques and commentaries of ancient classical texts. His best written effort being an extensive commentary on the works of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

, a work that appeared in three volumes from 1884 to 1889, and after Kiessling's death, was edited by Richard Heinze (1867–1929). * "Quintus Horatius Flaccus ad lectiones probatiores diligenter emendatus, et interpunctione nova saepius illustratus" ** Book I: "Oden und Epoden" ** Book II: "Satiren" ** Book III: "Briefe".WorldCat Title
Q. Horatius Flaccus He also explained and critiqued the writings of the historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

, the philosopher Seneca, the playwright

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...

and the poets

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

and

Propertius Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium (now Assisi) and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of '' Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the ...

. Other noted published works by Kiessling include: * ''Philologische Untersuchungen'' (Philological studies, with Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff). * "Dionysi Halicarnasensis Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt", 1867. * ''Aristoteles Schrift vom Staatswesen der Athener'', (German translation with Georg Kaibel) 1891.

References

* "This article incorporates text from a translation of an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia".
WorldCat Identities
(list of publications) Linguists from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German linguists German philologists Academic staff of the University of Greifswald Academic staff of the University of Göttingen 1837 births 1893 deaths {{Germany-linguist-stub