Carl Andreas Duker (1670 – November 5, 1752) was a German classical scholar and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

Biography

He was born at Unna in

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

, and studied at the

University of Franeker The University of Franeker (1585–1811) was a university in Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands. It was the second-oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University. History Also known as ''Academia Franekerensis'' ...

under Jacob Perizonius. In 1700 he was appointed teacher of history and eloquence at the Herborn gymnasium, in 1704 vice-principal of the school at

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, and in 1716 he succeeded (with Drakenborch as colleague) to the professorship formerly held by Peter Burmann at Utrecht. After eighteen years' tenure he resigned his post, and lived in retirement at

IJsselstein IJsselstein () is a municipality and city in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. IJsselstein received city rights in 1331. IJsselstein owes its name to the river Hollandse IJssel which flows through the city. It is a major commuting su ...

and

Vianen Vianen () is a city and a former municipality in the central Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is located south of the Lek river. Before 2002 it was part of the province of South Holland. Vianen is made up of a historic town centre tha ...

. His health finally broke down under excessive study, and he died, almost blind, at the house of a relative in

Meiderich Meiderich is a quarter of the city of Duisburg. It is divided into Unter-, Mittel- and Obermeiderich. Meiderich belongs to the city district Meiderich/Beeck, which started in 1975, during the course of municipal reorganization. On 31 December 2004, ...

near

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, on 5 November 1752.

Works

His chief classical works were editions of

Florus Three main sets of works are attributed to Florus (a Roman cognomen): ''Virgilius orator an poeta'', the ''Epitome of Roman History'' and a collection of 14 short poems (66 lines in all). As to whether these were composed by the same person, or ...

(1722) and

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

(1731, considered his best). He brought out the 2nd edition of Perizonius's ''Origines Babylonicae et Aegyptiacae'' (1736) and his commentary on

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest known Roman geographer. He was born at the end of the 1st century BC in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nea ...

(1736–1737). Duker was also an authority on ancient

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, and published ''Opuscula varia de latinitate veterum jurisconsultorum'' (1711), and a revision of the ''Leges Atticae of S. Petit'' (1741).

Notes

References

* This work in turn cites: ** C. Saxe, ''Onomasticon litterarium'', vi. 267 ** ** Article in

Ersch Johann Samuel Ersch (23 June 1766 – 16 January 1828) was a German bibliographer, generally regarded as the founder of German bibliography. Biography He was born in Großglogau (now Głogów), in Silesia. In 1785 he entered the University of H ...

and Gruber's ''Allgemeine Encyklopädie'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Duker, Carl Andreas 1670 births 1752 deaths German classical scholars University of Franeker alumni Academic staff of Utrecht University 18th-century German people People from Unna