Friedrich Cornelius (2 July 1893 – 8 January 1976) was a German historian who specialized in

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

Biography

Friedrich Cornelius was born in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany, on 2 July 1893. He was the son of

Hans Cornelius Johannes Wilhelm Cornelius (; 27 September 1863 – 23 August 1947) was a German neo-Kantian philosopher and psychologist. Biography Born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria on 27 September 1863, he originally studied mathematics, physics, and chemistr ...

, grandson of Carl Adolph Cornelius, great-nephew of

Peter Cornelius Carl August Peter Cornelius (24 December 1824 – 26 October 1874) was a German composer, writer about music, poet and translator. Life He was born in Mainz to Carl Joseph Gerhard (1793–1843) and Friederike (1789–1867) Cornelius, actors in ...

and great-great-nephew of

Peter von Cornelius Peter von Cornelius (23 September 1783, Düsseldorf – 6 March 1867, Berlin) was a German Painting, painter; one of the main representatives of the Nazarene movement. He was the uncle of the composer Peter Cornelius (1824–1874). Life Earl ...

. He gained his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich in 1912, and subsequently studied history at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. He was in the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and gained his

Ph.D. 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 ...

in history at Munich in 1919. After gaining his Ph.D., Cornelius worked as a freelance writer for many years. He joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in July 1930 and subsequently became

Ortsgruppenleiter ''Ortsgruppenleiter'' (Local Group Leader) was a Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, Nazi Party political rank and title which existed between 1930 and 1945. The term first came into being during the German elections of 1930, and was held by t ...

and Mayor of

Garching bei München Garching bei München (, ''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a city in Bavaria, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments, located at Campus Garching. History Spatial urban planning Garching wa ...

. He completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

Roman history The history of Rome includes the history of the Rome, city of Rome as well as the Ancient Rome, civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman la ...

at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

in 1939 under the supervision of

Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg Count Alexander von Stauffenberg (German: ''Alexander Franz Clemens Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg''; 15 March 1905 – 27 January 1964) was a German aristocrat and historian. His twin brother Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and young ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Cornelius worked at the

Institute for Research on the Jewish Question The Institute for Research on the Jewish Question (''Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage'') was a Nazi Party political institution, founded in April 1939.Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy (2005). "Roads to Ratibor: Library and archival plunder by th ...

. During this time, Cornelius wrote a work on

Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (; 9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general and politician. He achieved fame during World War I (1914–1918) for his central role in the German victories at Battle of Liège, Liège and Battle ...

and, with

Walter Eckhardt Walter Eckhardt (March 23, 1906 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Hesse-Nassau – January 1, 1994) was a German politician, who represented the All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE) and subsequently the Christian ...

, a multi-volume series on the early history of the

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

. Both works were banned in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

in the aftermath of the war. After 1957, Cornelius lectured on the ancient history of the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Following the retirement of at Munich, he lectured on religion in

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

. Cornelius was well-known for having used

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

tablets to correctly estimate the years in which

Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...

reigned. He was the author of a number of works which covered a diverse set of topics, including the histories of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, the Germanic peoples and the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

, and Germanic and

Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Ind ...

. Cornelius died in Schondorf am Ammersee, Germany, on 8 January 1976.

Selected works

* 1925: ''Die Weltgeschichte und ihr Rhythmus''. Ernst Reinhardt Verlag München * 1929: ''Die Tyrannis in Athen.'' Ernst Reinhardt Verlag München * 1932: ''Cannae: Das militärische und das literarische Problem'' (= '' Klio. Beihefte.'' volume 26). Dieterich, Leipzig *''Schäffers Abriß aus Kultur und Geschichte''. Verlag W. Kohlhammer Abteilung Schäffer Leipzig: :* 1938: ''Abriß der Germanischen Götterlehre''. Heft 10 :* 1942: ''Abriß der Germanischen Geschichte''. * 1940: ''Untersuchungen zur frühen römischen Geschichte.'' Ernst Reinhardt Verlag München * 1942: ''Indogermanische Religionsgeschichte''. Ernst Reinhardt Verlag München * ''Schäffers Abriß aus Kultur und Geschichte, Abteilung I Geschichte''; W. Kohlhammer Verlag Stuttgart und Köln: :* 1950: ''Geschichte des Alten Orients'', volume 3. :* 1950: ''Griechische Geschichte''. volume 4. :* 1950: ''Römische Geschichte''. volume 5. :* 1950: ''Das Zeitalter des Absolutismus''. volume 9. * 1959: ''Wilhelm Esch-Expedition nach Kleinasien'' * 1960: ''Geistesgeschichte der Frühzeit. I. Teil''. Verlag E. J. Brill, Leiden * 1962: ''Geistesgeschichte der Frühzeit. II. Teil volume 1'' * 1967: ''Geistesgeschichte der Frühzeit. II. Teil volume 2'' * 1969: Mitarbeiter bei der deutschen Ausgabe des zweibändigen enzyklopädischen Werkes: ''Die Bibel und ihre WELT''. Herausgegeben von Gaalyahu Cornfeld und Johannes Botterweck, Gustav Lübbe Verlag. * 1969: ''Die Glaubwürdigkeit der Evangelien (Philologische Untersuchungen)'' Ernst Reinhardt Verlag München/Basel * 1973: ''Geschichte der Hethiter.'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Darmstadt

References

Sources

* Kurzbiografie bei: Werner Schubert, Werner Schmid, Jürgen Regge: ''Akademie für deutsches Recht, 1933–1945: Protokolle der Ausschüsse'', volume 3, Familienrechtsausschuss, volume 3, S. 40. 1893 births 1976 deaths German classical scholars 20th-century German historians Germanic studies scholars Indo-Europeanists Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich People from Munich Scholars of Greek mythology and religion Writers on Germanic paganism German Army personnel of World War I {{Germany-linguist-stub

Biography

Selected works

See also

References

Sources