Jürgen Anton Benedikt Niese (24 November 1849 – 1 February 1910), also known as Benedict, Benediktus or Benedictus Niese, was a German classical

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

 scholar.

Niese was born in Burg, on the island of Fehmarn

Fehmarn

Fehmarn is an island and - since 2003 - a town on this island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and ca. 18 kilometers south of the Danish island of Lolland...

, then part of the German Confederation

German Confederation

The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...

 but ruled by King Frederick VII of Denmark

Frederick VII of Denmark

Frederick VII was a King of Denmark. He reigned from 1848 until his death. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and also the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch...

. His father was Emil August Niese, pastor in the town, and his mother was born Benedicte Marie Matthiessen. He was educated at the Domgymnasium in Schleswig and then from 1867 at Bonn

University of Bonn

The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...

 and Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

, studying under Alfred von Gutschmid

Alfred von Gutschmid

Hermann Alfred Freiherr von Gutschmid , German historian and Orientalist, was born at Loschwitz near ....

. After volunteering for the army during the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

, he was awarded a PhD in 1872. After teaching for a short time in a secondary school in Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

, he travelled in Italy and France. In 1876 he became a lecturer at the University of Göttingen. He was a professor at the University of Marburg from 1877 to 1881, after which he became Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Breslau. In 1885 he took the same post at Marburg and was rector there in 1900/01. In 1906 he was appointed Professor of Ancient History at the University of Halle, and died there in 1910. In 1881 he married Bertha Zimmerman (1859–1937). Their son Hans was born in 1882. He became a lecturer in History at University of Göttingen and died in 1915 in the First World War. Their daughter Annemarie was born in 1890 and died in 1975.

Niese is best known for his then definitive editio maior of the works of the Jewish historian Josephus

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

 (Weidmann, Berlin, 1885–1895), based on a detailed study of the best manuscripts available. His numbering system is still the most commonly used when referring to the text. His other works include Grundriß der römischen Geschichte, 1889–1905), Studien insbesondere über klassische griechische Autoren and Die Entwicklung der homerischen Poesie, 1882. Geschichte der griechischen und makedonischen Staaten seit der Schlacht bei Chaeronea was published between 1893 and 1899.

Niese's sister was the writer Charlotte Niese

Charlotte Niese

Charlotte Niese was a German writer, poet and teacher.Niese was born in Burg on the island of Fehmarn, then under the direct rule of King Frederick VII of Denmark. Her father was the local pastor who later became director of a seminary in Eckernförde. Her mother was Benedicte Marie Niese...

.

Works

• De Stephani Byzantii auctoribus. Commentatio prima, etc. (A study of Stephanus of Byzantium
  Stephanus of Byzantium
  Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus , was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
  
  . Kiel, 1873.)
• Der homerische Schiffskatalog als historische Quelle betrachtet. (The Homeric Ship Catalogue Considered as a Historical Source) (Kiel, 1873.)
• Die Entwickelung der Homerischen Poesie (The development of Homeric poetry. Berlin, 1882)
• Flavii Josephi opera (Works of Flavius Josephus, 7 volumes, Weidmann, Berlin 1885–1895).
• De Annalibus Romanis observationes. (Marburg, 1886)
• Geschichte der griechischen und makedonischen Staaten seit der Schlacht bei Chaeronea (History of the Greek and Macedonian states after the battle of Chaeronea) (Published in three parts, 1893-1903.)
• Grundriss der römischen Geschichte (Sketches of Roman History) (1889–1905)
• Kritik der beiden Makkabäerbücher, nebst Beiträgen zur Geschichte der makkabäischen Erhebung (Berlin, 1900)
• Staat und Gesellschaft der Römer
• Zur Geschichte Solons und seiner Zeit