Othon Riemann (13 June 1853, in Nancy – 16 August 1891, in

Interlaken Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss ...

) was a French

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, ...

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, ...

. He studied at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(ENS) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and in 1874 became a member of the

École française d'Athènes The French School at Athens (, EfA; ''Gallikí Scholí Athinón'') is one of the seventeen foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. History Founded in 1846, the EfA is the oldest foreign institute in Athens. Its early f ...

(French School of Athens). While a member, he visited various libraries in Italy, during which he collated manuscripts of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

. He then conducted archaeological research of the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

, about which, he produced a massive report. After returning to France, he taught classes in

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

in his hometown of Nancy.American Journal of Philology, Volume 15
edited by Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, Charles William Emil Miller, Tenney Frank, Benjamin Dean Meritt, Henry Thompson Rowell, Harold Fredrik Cherniss In 1880 he became an editor of the "''Revue de philologie, de littérature et d'histoire anciennes''", and during the following year, attained the chair of grammar at the École Normale Supérieure. From 1885 he taught classes at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

, while still maintaining his post at the ENS. He died on August 16, 1871 (age 38) from the effects of a fall on the Morgenberg, located near

, Switzerland.

Selected works

* ''Études sur la langue et la grammaire de Tite-Live'', 1879 – Studies on the language and grammar of Livy. * ''Qua rei criticae tractandae ratione Hellenicon Xenophontis'' (edition of

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

), 1879. * ''Recherches archéologiques sur les îles ioniennes'', 1879-80 – Archaeological research on the Ionian islands. * ''Titi Livii ab urbe condita. Libri XXI et XXII'' (as editor, with

Eugène Benoist Eugène Benoist (28 November 1831, Nangis – 23 May 1887, Paris) was a French classical philologist. From 1852 he studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, followed by work as a schoolteacher at the lycée in Marseille. In 1862 he ...

), 1881. * ''Syntaxe latine d'après les principes de la grammaire historique'', 1886 – Latin

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

according to the principles of historical grammar. * ''Traité de rhythmique & de métrique grecques'', (with Médéric Dufour) 1893 – Treatise on Greek rhythm and meter. * ''Grammaire comparée du grec et du latin. Syntaxe'' (with

Henri Goelzer Henri Goelzer (29 September 1853, Beaumont-le-Roger – 1 August 1929, Esprels) was a French classical philologist. In 1883 he obtained his doctorate at Paris with a dissertation-thesis on Sulpicius Severus, titled "''Grammaticæ in Sulpici ...

), 1897 – Comparative grammar of Greek and Latin; syntax.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riemann, Othon 1853 births 1891 deaths People from Nancy, France French philologists French archaeologists French Latinists French textbook writers École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure Members of the French School at Athens Mountaineering deaths