Matthias Gelzer (19 December 1886, Liestal – 23 July 1974,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

) was a Swiss-German classical historian, known for his studies of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

in regard to its politics and society. He was the author of highly regarded biographies on

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

and

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 ...

. He studied history and

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, ...

at the universities of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

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 ...

, where in 1909 he received his doctorate as a student of Ulrich Wilcken. In 1912 he obtained 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 ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

with a thesis on the nobility of the Roman Republic. In 1915 he became a professor of ancient history at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

, and in 1918 relocated as a professor to the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

. From 1919 to 1955 he was a professor of ancient history at the University of Frankfurt am Main, where he served as its rector in 1924/25.Matthias Gelzer
Personenlexikon des Kantons Basel-Landschaft

Selected works

* ''Studien zur byzantinischen Verwaltung Ägyptens'', 1909 – Studies on Byzantine-administered Egypt. * ''Die Nobilität der römischen Republik'', 1912 – Nobility of the Roman Republic, * ''Die Nobilität der Kaiserzeit'', 1915 – Nobility of the Empire. * ''Caesar, der Politiker und Staatsmann'', 1921, translated into English and published in 1968 as "Caesar: politician and statesman". * ''Vom römischen Staat; zur Politik und Gesellschaftgeschichte der römischen Republik'', 1944 – The Roman state. Politics and social history of the Roman Republic. * ''Pompeius'', 1949 – Biography of Pompey. * ''Cicero; ein biographischer Versuch'', 1969 – Biography of Cicero.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works From 1925 to 1962 he was on the editorial board of the journal "''Gnomon''", for which he contributed numerous reviews. He was also the author of several entries in the Pauly-Wissowa "''Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft''".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelzer, Matthias 1886 births 1974 deaths People from Liestal University of Basel alumni Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the University of Greifswald Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt 20th-century German historians Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences