Eiliv Skard (19 October 1898 – 30 September 1978) was a Norwegian

classical philologist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

Personal life

He was born in

Levanger Levanger may refer to: Places * Levanger Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Levanger (town), a town within Levanger Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Levanger landsogn, a former municipality (1856–1962) in Trø ...

as a son of educators Matias Skard (1846–1927) and Gyda Christensen (1868–1916). The family moved to

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

in 1901. He was a nephew of Johannes Skar and

Christopher Bruun Christopher Arndt Bruun (23 September 1839 – 17 July 1920) was a Norwegian priest and educator. Biography He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was a son of jurist Johan Peter Bruun (1810–1843) and Line Stenersen (1816–1901). Af ...

, a brother of

Bjarne Bjarne is a Nordic countries, Nordic male name, a variant of Bjorn, and can refer to the following people: *Bjarne Andersson, a cross-country skier *Bjarne Berg-Sæther, a Norwegian politician *Bjarne Berntsen, a Norwegian football coach and for ...

and

Sigmund Skard Sigmund Skard (31 July 1903 – 26 May 1995) was a Norwegian poet, essayist and professor of American literature. Biography Skard was born in Kristiansand, Norway. He was a son of educators Matias Skard (1846–1927) and Gyda Christensen (1868� ...

and a half-brother of Olav and Torfinn Skard. When Sigmund Skard married

Åse Gruda Skard Åse Gruda Skard (née Koht) (2 December 1905 – 13 August 1985) was a Norwegian university professor, child psychologist and author. She was a noted pioneer in the field of childhood development and psychology. Biography She was born at ...

, Åsa became Eiliv's sister-in-law. In 1940 he married teacher Sigrid Nordang (1903–1988). They had met in Gudbrandsdalen in the same year.

Career

He finished his secondary education at

Kristiansand Cathedral School Kristiansand Cathedral School (''Kristiansand katedralskole Gimle''), known in Latin as ''Schola Christiansandensis'', is a high school in Kristiansand, Agder, Norway. It is the oldest high school on the southern coast of Norway, having been f ...

in 1916, and graduated from the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

in 1922. He worked at the secondary schools in Hornnes Municipality from 1922 to 1924 and

Orkdal Municipality Orkdal is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the O ...

from 1925 to 1929. He was a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

teacher at the university from 1929, having specialized in

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

during studies in Germany, Italy and Greece. He took the

dr.philos. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in 1931 on the thesis ''Zwei religiös-politische Begriffe. Euergetes. Concordia''. When writing in Norwegian, he used the

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

form. In 1934 he was promoted to professor of classical philology at the Royal Frederick University (from 1939: the University of Oslo). In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

Skard marked himself as an opponent of Fascism, first and foremost as a follower of the

Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921, originally under the name First Century Christian Fellowship. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. ...

. When Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Skard participated in the

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is resorted to either as a method of ...

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer (town), Lillehammer and the lake ...

. Germany won, but one of the many civil protests ensued when the Nazi authorities were about to change the rules for admission to the university in autumn 1943. In retaliation, the authorities arrested 11 staff, 60 male students and 10 female students. The staff

Johannes Andenæs Johannes Bratt Andenæs, often shortened to Johs. Andenæs (7 September 1912 – 3 July 2003) was a Norway, Norwegian jurist. He was a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Oslo from 1945 to 1982, and served as Rector (academia), recto ...

, Bjørn Føyn, Johan Christian Schreiner, Harald Krabbe Schjelderup,

Anatol Heintz Anatol Heintz (9 February 1898 – 23 February 1975) was a Russo-Norwegian palaeontologist. He was born in Petrograd to the geophysicist Yevgeniy Alfredovich Heintz (1869–1918) and Olga Fyodorovna Hoffmann (1871–1958). He had two older si ...

, Odd Hassel,

Ragnar Frisch Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch (3 March 1895 – 31 January 1973) was an influential Norwegian economist and econometrician known for being one of the major contributors to establishing economics as a quantitative and statistically informed science ...

, Carl Jacob Arnholm, Endre Berner and Eiliv Skard were sent to

Grini concentration camp Grini prison camp (, ) was a Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, Norway, which operated between 1941 and May 1945. Ila Detention and Security Prison is now located here. History Grini was originally built as a women's prison, near an old croft ...

. Skard was first incarcerated at

Bredtveit Bredtvet is a neighborhood in the borough of Bjerke in Oslo, Norway. The area is located on a ridge between the neighborhoods of Veitvet to the west and Kalbakken to the east. Its origin was as a farm of the same name. It is not mentioned in w ...

from 15 October to 22 November, then at

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

until 8 December, then at Grini until 5 May 1945. An exception came in the last winter, when Skard spent a month at

Victoria Terrasse Victoria Terrasse is an historic building complex located in central Oslo, Norway. The complex now houses the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. History Victoria Terrasse was built between 1884 and 1890 as an apartment complex. It was designe ...

. After the war Skard returned as professor, and was dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 1947 to 1952. On 1 February 1948 he became professor of the

history of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

with an emphasis on the

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

. He edited the journal ''Symbolae Osloenses'', and his most notable books were ''Filosofien i oldtiden'' (1951) and the three-volume anthology ''Vestens tenkere'' (1962) which he edited together with Andreas Hofgaard Winsnes. He died in September 1978 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skard, Eiliv 1898 births 1978 deaths People from Levanger People from Kristiansand People educated at Kristiansand Cathedral School Classical philologists Norwegian Latinists Nynorsk-language writers University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian resistance members Bredtveit concentration camp survivors Berg concentration camp survivors Grini concentration camp survivors 20th-century Norwegian philologists