Georg Friedrich Creuzer (; 10 March 1771 – 6 February 1858) 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 ...

and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Life

He was born at

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, the son of a bookbinder. After studying at Marburg and at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

, he went to

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 ...

as a private tutor; but in 1802 he was appointed professor at Marburg, and two years later professor of philology and ancient history at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. He held the latter position for nearly forty-five years, with the exception of a short time spent at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

, where his health was affected by the Dutch climate. Creuzer was one of the principal founders of the Philological Seminary established at Heidelberg in 1807. The

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

, Paris, appointed him one of its members, and from the

Grand Duke of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a margravi ...

he received the dignity of privy councillor. In 1844 Creuzer received a medal for his 40th anniversary of employment at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. This medal was made by the engraver Ludwig Kachel.

Works

Creuzer's first and most famous work was his ''Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker, besonders der Griechen'' (1810–12, 2nd ed. 1819, 3rd ed. 1837), in which he maintained that the mythology of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

and

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

came from an Eastern source through the

Pelasgian The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greece, Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the Greeks#Origins, emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" h ...

s, and reflected the symbolism of an ancient revelation; as a reconciliation with Judeo-Christian religion, it was,

Walter Burkert Walter Burkert (; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult. A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of student ...

has said, "the last large-scale and thoroughly unavailing endeavor of this kind." This work ran counter to the ideology of

romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

, which held literature and culture to be intimately connected with a ''Volk'', epitomized by Karl Otfried Müller's concept of a Greek ''Stammeskultur'', a Greek "tribal culture". For this and the next generations, "origins and organic development rather than reciprocal cultural influences became the key to understanding." Creuzer's work was vigorously attacked by Johann Gottfried Jakob Hermann in his ''Briefen über Homer und Hesiod'', and in his letter, addressed to Creuzer, ''Über das Wesen und die Behandlung der Mythologie''; by Johann Heinrich Voss in his ''Antisymbolik''; and by Christian Lobeck in his ''Aglaophamus''. It was briefly praised, however, by

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

in his '' Philosophy of Right''.Section 203; the history of this public dialogue is retraced in E. Howald, ''Der Kampf um Creuzers Symbolik''1926. Creuzer's other works include: *an edition of

Plotinus Plotinus (; , ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a Greek Platonist philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius ...

*a partial edition of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, in preparing which he was assisted by Moser *''Epochen der griechischen Literaturgeschichte'' (1802) *''Die historische Kunst der Griechen'' (1803) *''Abriss der römischen Antiquitaten'' (1824) *''Zur Geschichte altrömischer Cultur am Oberrhein und Neckar'' (1833) *''Zur Gemmenkunde'' (1834) *''Das Mithreum von Neuenheim'' (1838) *''Zur Galerie der alten Dramatiker'' (1839) *''Zur Geschichte der classischen Philologie'' (1854). See the autobiographical ''Aus dem Leben eines alten Professors'' (Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1848), to which was added in the year of his death ''Paralipomena der Lebenskunde eines alten Professors'' (Frankfurt, 1858); also Starck, ''Friederich Kreuzer, sein Bildungsgang und seine bleibende Bedeutung'' (Heidelberg, 1875).

Notes

References

* Edmonds, Radcliffe G. (2013), ''Redefining Ancient Orphism: A Study in Greek Religion'', Cambridge University Press, 2013. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Creuzer, Georg Friedrich 1771 births 1858 deaths 18th-century German scholars People from Marburg German philologists Archaeologists from Hesse People from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)