Christian August Lobeck (; 5 June 1781 – 25 August 1860) was a German classical scholar. Lobeck was born at

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, in the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

. After studying at the universities of

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, he became ''

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

'' at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

in 1802, and in 1810 was appointed to a professorship there. Four years later, he accepted the chair of

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

and ancient literature at

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

, which he occupied till within two years of his death. His literary activities were devoted to the history of Greek religion and to the

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

and literature. His most important work, ''Aglaophamus'' (1829), maintains, against the views put forward by G. F. Creuzer in his ''Symbolik'' (1810–1823), that the religion of the Greek mysteries (especially those of

Eleusis Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost ...

) did not essentially differ from the national religion; that it was not esoteric, and that the priests as such neither taught nor possessed any higher knowledge of God; that the Oriental elements were a later importation. In his treatment of

Orphic literature Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greece, ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underwo ...

, he argued that the evidence left by the

Neoplatonists Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common i ...

cannot necessarily be considered to "represent the oldest strands of Orphic ideas". According to

Radcliffe Edmonds Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * ...

, it is with Lobeck's work that the "history of modern Orphic scholarship begins".Edmonds 2004, p. 37. Lobeck's edition of the ''

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

'' of

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

(1809) had gained him a reputation a scholar and

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

; his ''Phrynichus'' (1820), ''Paralipomena grammaticae Graecae'' (vol. I–II; 1837), ''Pathologiae sermonis Graeci prolegomena'' (1843), and ''Pathologiae Graeci sermonis elementa'' (vol. I–II; 1853–62) reveal his wide acquaintance with

Greek grammar Greek grammar may refer to: *Ancient Greek grammar *Koine Greek grammar *Modern Greek grammar The grammar of Modern Greek, as spoken in present-day Greece and Cyprus, is essentially that of Demotic Greek, but it has also assimilated certain ele ...

. He had little sympathy with comparative

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

, holding that it needed a lifetime to acquire a thorough knowledge of a single language. See the article by L. Friedländer in ''Allgemeine deutsche Biographie'';

Conrad Bursian Conrad Bursian (; 14 November 1830 – 21 September 1883) was a German philologist and archaeologist. Biography He was born at Mutzschen in Saxony. When his parents moved to Leipzig, he received his early education at Thomasschule zu Leipzig. ...

's ''Geschichte der klassischen Philologie in Deutschland'' (1883); Lehrs, ''Populäre Aufsätze aus dem Altertum'' (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1875); Lüdwich, ''Ausgewählte Briefe von und an Chr. Aug. Lobeck und K. Lehrs (1894); also JE Sandys, ''History of Classical Scholarship'' (1st ed. 1908).

Notes

References

Sources

* Edmonds, Radcliffe G. (2004), ''Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the 'Orphic' Gold Tablets'', Cambridge University Press, 2004. . * Edmonds, Radcliffe G. (2013), ''Redefining Ancient Orphism: A Study in Greek Religion'', Cambridge University Press, 2013. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lobeck, Christian 1781 births 1860 deaths People from Naumburg (Saale) People from the Electorate of Saxony German classical scholars Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) 18th-century German scholars