Friedrich Leo was a German classical philologist

Classical philology

Classical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...

 born in Regenwalde, today known as Resko, Poland.

From 1868 he was a student at the University of Göttingen, and following military duty in 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 continued his education at the University of 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...

, where he had as instructors Franz Bücheler

Franz Bücheler

Franz Bücheler was a German classical scholar, was born in Rheinberg, and educated at Bonn.He held professorships successively at Freiburg , Greifswald , and Bonn , and in 1878 became joint-editor of the Rheinisches Museum für Philologie...

 and Hermann Usener

Hermann Usener

Hermann Karl Usener was a German scholar in the fields of philology and comparative religion.-Life:...

. At Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 his fellow students included Georg Kaibel

Georg Kaibel

Georg Kaibel was a German classical philologist born in Lübeck.He studied classical philology at the Universities of Göttingen and Bonn. At Bonn he was a pupil of Hermann Usener and Franz Bücheler...

, Friedrich von Duhn

Friedrich von Duhn

Friedrich von Duhn was a German Classical scholar who taught at the University of Heidelberg, where he headed the Institut für Klassische Archäologie ; his most memorable feat was in recognizing scattered fragments of sculpture as the remains of Augustus' Ara Pacis.His masterwork on the funerary...

, Georg Dehio

Georg Dehio

Georg Gottfried Julius Dehio , was a Baltic German art historian ....

 and Hans Delbrück

Hans Delbrück

Hans Delbrück was a German historian. Delbrück was one of the first modern military historians, basing his method of research on the critical examination of ancient sources, the use of auxiliary disciplines, like demography and economics, to complete the analysis and the comparison between...

. After graduation in 1873 he toured countries of the Mediterranean extensively.

In 1881 he became an associate professor at the University of 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...

, followed by professorships at the Universities of Rostock

University of Rostock

The University of Rostock is the university of the city Rostock, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Founded in 1419, it is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area...

 (1883), Strasbourg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

 (1888) and Göttingen (1889). At the latter institution he was university rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 (1903-04), and was a colleague of Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff

Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff was a German Classical Philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature.- Youth :...

. In 1889 he became a member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences

Göttingen Academy of Sciences

The Göttingen Academy of Sciences is the second oldest of the seven academies of sciences in Germany. It has the task of promoting research under its own auspices and in collaboration with academics in and outside Germany...

.

Much of Leo's earlier work concerned research of Seneca

Seneca the Younger

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...

's tragedies and the writings of Venantius Fortunatus

Venantius Fortunatus

Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian Court, and a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. He was never canonised but was venerated as Saint Venantius Fortunatus during the Middle Ages.-Life:Venantius Fortunatus was born between 530 and 540 A.D....

. Later his focus dealt largely with works of Roman playwright Plautus

Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...

 and early Roman literature in general. A few of his better known publications are the following:

• Die griechisch-römische Biographie nach ihrer literarischen Form, 1901
• Plautinische Forschungen (Plautine Research), 1912
• Geschichte der römischen Literatur (History of Roman Literature), 1913

In 1883 Leo married Cécile Hensel (1858-1928), daughter of the landowner and entrepreneur Sebastian Hensel, granddaughter of the composer Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn , later Fanny Hensel, was a German pianist and composer, the sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn and granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn...

 and the painter Wilhelm Hensel

Wilhelm Hensel

Wilhelm Hensel was a German painter, brother of Luise Hensel, husband to Fanny Mendelssohn, and brother-in-law to Felix Mendelssohn....

 and descendant of the entrepreneur and philosopher Moses Mendelssohn

Moses Mendelssohn

Moses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...

 and sister of the philosopher Paul Hensel

Paul Hensel

----Paul Hugo Hensel was a German philosopher, son of the landowner and entrepreneur Sebastian Hensel, brother of the mathematician Kurt Hensel , grandson of the composer Fanny Mendelssohn and the painter Wilhelm Hensel, and a descendant of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.Hensel was born in...

 and the mathematician Kurt Hensel

Kurt Hensel

Kurt Wilhelm Sebastian Hensel was a German mathematician born in Königsberg, Prussia.He was the son of the landowner and entrepreneur Sebastian Hensel, brother of the philosopher Paul Hensel, grandson of the composer Fanny Mendelssohn and the painter Wilhelm Hensel, and a descendant of the...

. The couple had three children: Erika Brecht (1887-1949), the writer Ulrich Leo (1890-1964) and the theologian Paul Leo (1893-1958).