Jürgen Leonhardt (born 12 August 1957) is a German classical

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 ...

. He taught at the universities of Rostock, Marburg and at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, there from 2004. He has been dean of the faculty of humanities there from 2010. His standard work about the history of

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 ...

was translated into French and English.

Life

Leonhardt was born in

Lahr Lahr (officially Lahr/Schwarzwald since 30 September 1978) (); ) is a city in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, approximately 50 km north of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, 40 km southeast of Strasbourg, and 95 km southwest of Ka ...

. After studying

musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

and classical philology at the

and

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 ...

from 1976 to 1982, he worked as a research assistant in Munich until 1993. He achieved his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

there in 1985 and 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 ...

in 1994. The same year, Leonhardt was appointed full professor at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

. In 1997, he moved to the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

, and in 2004 to the chair of Latin Philology II in Tübingen. Leonhardt has been a full member of the

Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (German: ''Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften''), established in 1909 in Heidelberg, Germany, is an assembly of scholars and scientists in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The acade ...

since 2006 and was vice-chairman of the from 2001 to 2005. From 2008, Leonhardt served as dean of the Faculty of Cultural Studies. After being elected merger commissioner in July 2009, he prepared the merger of this faculty with two others to form a new faculty of humanities. As a result, he was elected dean of the new faculty in 2010. Leonhardt's research interests include Latin and Greek literature from

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 ...

to the

Early Modern Period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

. He has written monographs on Latin verse theory from

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

to the early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, on the origins of

Greek drama A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as par ...

and on Cicero's ''Criticism of the Schools of Philosophy''. His non-fiction book on the history of Latin, first published in 2009, appeared in French in 2010 and in English in 2013. Leonhardt's other research interests include the importance and reception of Latin in Europe, the history of education in the early modern period and

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

literature. He has also appeared as an editor of choral music, including

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German composer and musician of the Baroque and Classical period. He was the fifth ch ...

's ''Die alte Litanei 1'' and ''Die neue Litanei 2''. His 2009 standard work ''Latein. Geschichte einer Weltsprache'' was translated into French by Bertrand Vacher in 2010 as ''La grande histoire du Latin'', and into English as ''Latin : Story of a World Language'' by Kenneth Kronenberg, published by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

in 2013. A reviewer summarised that the book "outlines the changing uses of the Latin language from its first literary attestations to the present day", in chronology over the language of the Roman empire, then the Carolingian Renaissance, and finally a period when fluency in spoken Latin deteriorated but Latin was still part of education. She thought that the book's breadth and "accessible and engaging style" made it accessible to a public even outside academia.

Personal life

Leonhardt is married; the couple has three children.

Publications

Leonhardt's publications include: * ''Dimensio syllabarum. Studien zur lateinischen Prosodie- und Verslehre von der Spätantike bis zur frühen Renaissance. Mit einem ausführlichen Quellenverzeichnis bis zum Jahr 1600''. Göttingen 1989 (' 92; zugleich Dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), . * ''Phalloslied und Dithyrambos. Aristoteles über den Ursprung des griechischen Dramas''. Heidelberg 1991 (''Abhandlungen der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse'' 1991,4) . * ''Ciceros Kritik der Philosophenschulen''. Munich 1999 (' 103; at the same time habilitation thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), . * ''Latein. Geschichte einer Weltsprache''. Munich 2009, . ** translated into French by Bertrand Vacher: ''La grande histoire du latin''. Paris 2010, . New edition 2015, . ** Translated in English by Kenneth Kronenberg:
Latin. Story of a World Language
'.

, Cambridge, Massachusetts / London 2013, . As editor: * ''Melanchthon und das Lehrbuch des 16. Jahrhunderts. Begleitband zur Ausstellung im Kulturhistorischen Museum Rostock, 25 April until 13 July 1997''. Rostock 1997, .

References

External links

* German classical philologists Academic staff of the University of Marburg Academic staff of the University of Rostock Academic staff of the University of Tübingen German publishers (people) 1957 births Living people Neo-Latin studies Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni People from Lahr {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonhardt, Jürgen