Friedrich Solmsen
Encyclopedia
Friedrich W. Solmsen was a philologist
and professor
of classical studies
. His edition
of Hesiod
is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monograph
s, scholarly
articles
, and review
s from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas
. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus
, and the philosophy of the physical
world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato
and Aristotle
.
. He was among the "Graeca" of Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
, the Graeca being a group of "young scholars" who met in his home during his last decade of life. In an essay
fifty years later, Solmsen recalled those years and the legendary philologist in a biographical
sketch that combines politico-historical perspective, sociology of academia
, and personal, sometimes wry observations. "I do not recall Wilamowitz ever laughing aloud
," he mused in a footnote
d aside. "Nor did he ever grin." Solmsen was also a student of Eduard Norden, Otto Regenbogen, and Werner Jaeger
, to the three of whom along with Wilamowitz he dedicated the first volume of his collected papers. He was one of the last people to whom the terminally ill Wilamowitz addressed correspondence.
Solmsen was not untouched by the compromises of intellectual life in the Germany of the 1920s-1930s. The classicist
and historian of scholarship William M. Calder III produced documentation that indicates, in his view, Norden's complicity when Solmsen was let go from his academic position on the grounds that he was "non-aryan
." Calder also rebuked Solmsen for signing, along with six other scholars, a published letter objecting to a 1981 article by Calder calling Jaeger and Richard Harder "reluctant fellow-travelers to Fascism
". Also a student of Wilamowitz, Calder has characterized Solmsen's essay on their teacher as "the recollection of an adoring student" and his assessment of the philologist's relations with Friedrich Nietzsche
as "ignorant and vulgar" — remarks which have been taken to reveal the fine line between "psychologizing," as the classicist Hugh Lloyd-Jones
termed it, and ad hominem
criticism.
Solmsen's dissertation on Aristotelian logic
and rhetoric
was published in 1928. He left Germany to escape Nazism
in the mid-1930s, and after a time in England
came to the United States
, where he taught at Olivet College
(1937–1940) in Michigan
. He then moved to Cornell University
, becoming chair of the classics department
. He taught at Cornell for twenty-two years. Among his courses was "Foundations of Western Thought," which explored the history of philosophical, scientific and religious ideas from early Greece
through the Hellenistic
and Roman
periods.
In 1962, he was named Moses Slaughter Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. In 1972 he won the Goodwin Award of Merit, presented by the American Philological Association
for an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship, for his Oxford Classical Text
edition of Hesiod's works, the Theogony
, the Works and Days
, and The Shield of Heracles
. He retired in 1974.
In retirement, Solmsen lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
, and continued to publish. He gave occasional lectures at the University of North Carolina
, conducted a National Endowment for the Humanities
seminar, and led readings in Pindar
and Plotinus
. The bulk of his library was donated to the university upon his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Lieselotte. Colleagues mourned him as "one of the last giants of the German tradition of classical humanism
."
The Institute for Research in the Humanities
at the University of Wisconsin offers four one-year fellow
ships in his name for postdoctoral
work on literary and historical studies of the Classical
, Medieval
, and Renaissance
periods to 1700. The fellowship fund was established by a bequest
from Friedrich and Lieselotte Solmsen.
and an intellectual pursuit within a broadly historical context. "The post-World-War-I
generation for whom the value of the Classics had become a problem," he writes, "did not find [from Wilamowitz] an answer to their question what made ancient civilization particularly significant and worth intensive study," adding that Wilamowitz "did not realize the need of justifying their study to a generation for whom the continuity of a tradition that reached back to the age of Goethe
was weakened (though not completely broken) and whose outlook was still in the process of formation; many in fact were consciously striving for a new orientation."
The following bibliography, arranged by topic and then chronologically
within the topic, attempts to represent the range of Solmsen's contributions to scholarship but is by no means exhaustive. Omitted are most articles in German, reviews, and notes (i.e., articles of less than three pages). The articles are for the most part collected in his Kleine Schriften
, 3 vols. (Hildesheim 1968–1982).
Friedrich W. Solmsen (February 4, 1904 – January 30, 1989) was a philologist
and professor
of classical studies
. His edition
of Hesiod
is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monograph
s, scholarly
articles
, and review
s from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas
. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus
, and the philosophy of the physical
world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato
and Aristotle
.
. He was among the "Graeca" of Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
, the Graeca being a group of "young scholars" who met in his home during his last decade of life. In an essay
fifty years later, Solmsen recalled those years and the legendary philologist in a biographical
sketch that combines politico-historical perspective, sociology of academia
, and personal, sometimes wry observations. "I do not recall Wilamowitz ever laughing aloud
," he mused in a footnote
d aside. "Nor did he ever grin." Solmsen was also a student of Eduard Norden, Otto Regenbogen, and Werner Jaeger
, to the three of whom along with Wilamowitz he dedicated the first volume of his collected papers. He was one of the last people to whom the terminally ill Wilamowitz addressed correspondence.
Solmsen was not untouched by the compromises of intellectual life in the Germany of the 1920s-1930s. The classicist
and historian of scholarship William M. Calder III produced documentation that indicates, in his view, Norden's complicity when Solmsen was let go from his academic position on the grounds that he was "non-aryan
." Calder also rebuked Solmsen for signing, along with six other scholars, a published letter objecting to a 1981 article by Calder calling Jaeger and Richard Harder "reluctant fellow-travelers to Fascism
". Also a student of Wilamowitz, Calder has characterized Solmsen's essay on their teacher as "the recollection of an adoring student" and his assessment of the philologist's relations with Friedrich Nietzsche
as "ignorant and vulgar" — remarks which have been taken to reveal the fine line between "psychologizing," as the classicist Hugh Lloyd-Jones
termed it, and ad hominem
criticism.
Solmsen's dissertation on Aristotelian logic
and rhetoric
was published in 1928. He left Germany to escape Nazism
in the mid-1930s, and after a time in England
came to the United States
, where he taught at Olivet College
(1937–1940) in Michigan
. He then moved to Cornell University
, becoming chair of the classics department
. He taught at Cornell for twenty-two years. Among his courses was "Foundations of Western Thought," which explored the history of philosophical, scientific and religious ideas from early Greece
through the Hellenistic
and Roman
periods.
In 1962, he was named Moses Slaughter Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. In 1972 he won the Goodwin Award of Merit, presented by the American Philological Association
for an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship, for his Oxford Classical Text
edition of Hesiod's works, the Theogony
, the Works and Days
, and The Shield of Heracles
. He retired in 1974.
In retirement, Solmsen lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
, and continued to publish. He gave occasional lectures at the University of North Carolina
, conducted a National Endowment for the Humanities
seminar, and led readings in Pindar
and Plotinus
. The bulk of his library was donated to the university upon his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Lieselotte. Colleagues mourned him as "one of the last giants of the German tradition of classical humanism
."
The Institute for Research in the Humanities
at the University of Wisconsin offers four one-year fellow
ships in his name for postdoctoral
work on literary and historical studies of the Classical
, Medieval
, and Renaissance
periods to 1700. The fellowship fund was established by a bequest
from Friedrich and Lieselotte Solmsen.
and an intellectual pursuit within a broadly historical context. "The post-World-War-I
generation for whom the value of the Classics had become a problem," he writes, "did not find [from Wilamowitz] an answer to their question what made ancient civilization particularly significant and worth intensive study," adding that Wilamowitz "did not realize the need of justifying their study to a generation for whom the continuity of a tradition that reached back to the age of Goethe
was weakened (though not completely broken) and whose outlook was still in the process of formation; many in fact were consciously striving for a new orientation."
The following bibliography, arranged by topic and then chronologically
within the topic, attempts to represent the range of Solmsen's contributions to scholarship but is by no means exhaustive. Omitted are most articles in German, reviews, and notes (i.e., articles of less than three pages). The articles are for the most part collected in his Kleine Schriften
, 3 vols. (Hildesheim 1968–1982).
Friedrich W. Solmsen (February 4, 1904 – January 30, 1989) was a philologist
and professor
of classical studies
. His edition
of Hesiod
is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monograph
s, scholarly
articles
, and review
s from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas
. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus
, and the philosophy of the physical
world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato
and Aristotle
.
. He was among the "Graeca" of Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
, the Graeca being a group of "young scholars" who met in his home during his last decade of life. In an essay
fifty years later, Solmsen recalled those years and the legendary philologist in a biographical
sketch that combines politico-historical perspective, sociology of academia
, and personal, sometimes wry observations. "I do not recall Wilamowitz ever laughing aloud
," he mused in a footnote
d aside. "Nor did he ever grin." Solmsen was also a student of Eduard Norden, Otto Regenbogen, and Werner Jaeger
, to the three of whom along with Wilamowitz he dedicated the first volume of his collected papers. He was one of the last people to whom the terminally ill Wilamowitz addressed correspondence.
Solmsen was not untouched by the compromises of intellectual life in the Germany of the 1920s-1930s. The classicist
and historian of scholarship William M. Calder III produced documentation that indicates, in his view, Norden's complicity when Solmsen was let go from his academic position on the grounds that he was "non-aryan
." Calder also rebuked Solmsen for signing, along with six other scholars, a published letter objecting to a 1981 article by Calder calling Jaeger and Richard Harder "reluctant fellow-travelers to Fascism
". Also a student of Wilamowitz, Calder has characterized Solmsen's essay on their teacher as "the recollection of an adoring student" and his assessment of the philologist's relations with Friedrich Nietzsche
as "ignorant and vulgar" — remarks which have been taken to reveal the fine line between "psychologizing," as the classicist Hugh Lloyd-Jones
termed it, and ad hominem
criticism.
Solmsen's dissertation on Aristotelian logic
and rhetoric
was published in 1928. He left Germany to escape Nazism
in the mid-1930s, and after a time in England
came to the United States
, where he taught at Olivet College
(1937–1940) in Michigan
. He then moved to Cornell University
, becoming chair of the classics department
. He taught at Cornell for twenty-two years. Among his courses was "Foundations of Western Thought," which explored the history of philosophical, scientific and religious ideas from early Greece
through the Hellenistic
and Roman
periods.
In 1962, he was named Moses Slaughter Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. In 1972 he won the Goodwin Award of Merit, presented by the American Philological Association
for an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship, for his Oxford Classical Text
edition of Hesiod's works, the Theogony
, the Works and Days
, and The Shield of Heracles
. He retired in 1974.
In retirement, Solmsen lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
, and continued to publish. He gave occasional lectures at the University of North Carolina
, conducted a National Endowment for the Humanities
seminar, and led readings in Pindar
and Plotinus
. The bulk of his library was donated to the university upon his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Lieselotte. Colleagues mourned him as "one of the last giants of the German tradition of classical humanism
."
The Institute for Research in the Humanities
at the University of Wisconsin offers four one-year fellow
ships in his name for postdoctoral
work on literary and historical studies of the Classical
, Medieval
, and Renaissance
periods to 1700. The fellowship fund was established by a bequest
from Friedrich and Lieselotte Solmsen.
and an intellectual pursuit within a broadly historical context. "The post-World-War-I
generation for whom the value of the Classics had become a problem," he writes, "did not find [from Wilamowitz] an answer to their question what made ancient civilization particularly significant and worth intensive study," adding that Wilamowitz "did not realize the need of justifying their study to a generation for whom the continuity of a tradition that reached back to the age of Goethe
was weakened (though not completely broken) and whose outlook was still in the process of formation; many in fact were consciously striving for a new orientation."
The following bibliography, arranged by topic and then chronologically
within the topic, attempts to represent the range of Solmsen's contributions to scholarship but is by no means exhaustive. Omitted are most articles in German, reviews, and notes (i.e., articles of less than three pages). The articles are for the most part collected in his Kleine Schriften
, 3 vols. (Hildesheim 1968–1982).
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of classical studies
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
. His edition
Edition (book)
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
of Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
s, scholarly
Scholarly method
Scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public.-Methods:...
articles
Article (publishing)
An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
, and review
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
s from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas
History of ideas
The history of ideas is a field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. The history of ideas is a sister-discipline to, or a particular approach within, intellectual history...
. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, and the philosophy of the physical
History of physics
As forms of science historically developed out of philosophy, physics was originally referred to as natural philosophy, a term describing a field of study concerned with "the workings of nature".-Early history:...
world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
.
Life and career
Friedrich Solmsen, sometimes called "Fritz" by friends and intimates, was born and educated in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He was among the "Graeca" 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 :...
, the Graeca being a group of "young scholars" who met in his home during his last decade of life. In an essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
fifty years later, Solmsen recalled those years and the legendary philologist in a biographical
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
sketch that combines politico-historical perspective, sociology of academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, and personal, sometimes wry observations. "I do not recall Wilamowitz ever laughing aloud
Laughter
Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli...
," he mused in a footnote
Footnote
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of the text, or both...
d aside. "Nor did he ever grin." Solmsen was also a student of Eduard Norden, Otto Regenbogen, and Werner Jaeger
Werner Jaeger
Werner Wilhelm Jaeger was a classicist of the 20th century.Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia. He attended school at Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen Jaeger studied at the University of Marburg and University of Berlin. He received a Ph.D...
, to the three of whom along with Wilamowitz he dedicated the first volume of his collected papers. He was one of the last people to whom the terminally ill Wilamowitz addressed correspondence.
Solmsen was not untouched by the compromises of intellectual life in the Germany of the 1920s-1930s. The classicist
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and historian of scholarship William M. Calder III produced documentation that indicates, in his view, Norden's complicity when Solmsen was let go from his academic position on the grounds that he was "non-aryan
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
." Calder also rebuked Solmsen for signing, along with six other scholars, a published letter objecting to a 1981 article by Calder calling Jaeger and Richard Harder "reluctant fellow-travelers to Fascism
European fascist ideologies
Fascism in Europe was composed of numerous ideologies present during the 20th century which all developed their own differences from each other. Fascism was born in Italy and subsequently, across Europe several movements which took influence from it emerged...
". Also a student of Wilamowitz, Calder has characterized Solmsen's essay on their teacher as "the recollection of an adoring student" and his assessment of the philologist's relations with Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
as "ignorant and vulgar" — remarks which have been taken to reveal the fine line between "psychologizing," as the classicist Hugh Lloyd-Jones
Hugh Lloyd-Jones
Sir Peter Hugh Jefferd Lloyd-Jones FBA was a British classical scholar and Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford....
termed it, and ad hominem
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
criticism.
Solmsen's dissertation on Aristotelian logic
Organon
The Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic:* Categories* On Interpretation* Prior Analytics* Posterior Analytics...
and rhetoric
Rhetoric (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled ΤΕΧΝΗ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗ, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on...
was published in 1928. He left Germany to escape Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in the mid-1930s, and after a time in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
came to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he taught at Olivet College
Olivet College
Olivet College is a coeducational, liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan, United States, south of Lansing and west of Detroit. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and accredited by the North Central...
(1937–1940) in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. He then moved to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, becoming chair of the classics department
Academic department
An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level....
. He taught at Cornell for twenty-two years. Among his courses was "Foundations of Western Thought," which explored the history of philosophical, scientific and religious ideas from early Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
through the Hellenistic
Hellenistic period
The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
and Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
periods.
In 1962, he was named Moses Slaughter Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. In 1972 he won the Goodwin Award of Merit, presented by the American Philological Association
American Philological Association
The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...
for an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship, for his Oxford Classical Text
Oxford Classical Texts
Oxford Classical Texts , or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, in the original language with a critical apparatus...
edition of Hesiod's works, the Theogony
Theogony
The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...
, the Works and Days
Works and Days
Works and Days is a didactic poem of some 800 verses written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts...
, and The Shield of Heracles
The Shield of Heracles
thumb|An early 5th c. BCE depiction of Heracles fighting Cycnus The Shield of Heracles is an archaic Greek epic poem that was attributed to Hesiod during antiquity...
. He retired in 1974.
In retirement, Solmsen lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, and continued to publish. He gave occasional lectures at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, conducted a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
seminar, and led readings in Pindar
Pindar
Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...
and Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
. The bulk of his library was donated to the university upon his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Lieselotte. Colleagues mourned him as "one of the last giants of the German tradition of classical humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
."
The Institute for Research in the Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
at the University of Wisconsin offers four one-year fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ships in his name for postdoctoral
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
work on literary and historical studies of the 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...
, Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
periods to 1700. The fellowship fund was established by a bequest
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
from Friedrich and Lieselotte Solmsen.
Works
In his essay on Wilamowitz, Solmsen reflected on classical studies as a disciplineDiscipline
In its original sense, discipline is referred to systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Often, the phrase "to discipline" carries a negative connotation. This is because enforcement of order –...
and an intellectual pursuit within a broadly historical context. "The post-World-War-I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
generation for whom the value of the Classics had become a problem," he writes, "did not find [from Wilamowitz] an answer to their question what made ancient civilization particularly significant and worth intensive study," adding that Wilamowitz "did not realize the need of justifying their study to a generation for whom the continuity of a tradition that reached back to the age of Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
was weakened (though not completely broken) and whose outlook was still in the process of formation; many in fact were consciously striving for a new orientation."
The following bibliography, arranged by topic and then chronologically
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
within the topic, attempts to represent the range of Solmsen's contributions to scholarship but is by no means exhaustive. Omitted are most articles in German, reviews, and notes (i.e., articles of less than three pages). The articles are for the most part collected in his Kleine Schriften
Kleine Schriften
is a German phrase often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These shorter works were usually published previously in various periodicals or in collections of papers written...
, 3 vols. (Hildesheim 1968–1982).
Friedrich W. Solmsen (February 4, 1904 – January 30, 1989) was a philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of classical studies
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
. His edition
Edition (book)
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
of Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
s, scholarly
Scholarly method
Scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public.-Methods:...
articles
Article (publishing)
An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
, and review
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
s from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas
History of ideas
The history of ideas is a field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. The history of ideas is a sister-discipline to, or a particular approach within, intellectual history...
. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, and the philosophy of the physical
History of physics
As forms of science historically developed out of philosophy, physics was originally referred to as natural philosophy, a term describing a field of study concerned with "the workings of nature".-Early history:...
world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
.
Life and career
Friedrich Solmsen, sometimes called "Fritz" by friends and intimates, was born and educated in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He was among the "Graeca" 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 :...
, the Graeca being a group of "young scholars" who met in his home during his last decade of life. In an essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
fifty years later, Solmsen recalled those years and the legendary philologist in a biographical
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
sketch that combines politico-historical perspective, sociology of academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, and personal, sometimes wry observations. "I do not recall Wilamowitz ever laughing aloud
Laughter
Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli...
," he mused in a footnote
Footnote
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of the text, or both...
d aside. "Nor did he ever grin." Solmsen was also a student of Eduard Norden, Otto Regenbogen, and Werner Jaeger
Werner Jaeger
Werner Wilhelm Jaeger was a classicist of the 20th century.Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia. He attended school at Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen Jaeger studied at the University of Marburg and University of Berlin. He received a Ph.D...
, to the three of whom along with Wilamowitz he dedicated the first volume of his collected papers. He was one of the last people to whom the terminally ill Wilamowitz addressed correspondence.
Solmsen was not untouched by the compromises of intellectual life in the Germany of the 1920s-1930s. The classicist
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and historian of scholarship William M. Calder III produced documentation that indicates, in his view, Norden's complicity when Solmsen was let go from his academic position on the grounds that he was "non-aryan
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
." Calder also rebuked Solmsen for signing, along with six other scholars, a published letter objecting to a 1981 article by Calder calling Jaeger and Richard Harder "reluctant fellow-travelers to Fascism
European fascist ideologies
Fascism in Europe was composed of numerous ideologies present during the 20th century which all developed their own differences from each other. Fascism was born in Italy and subsequently, across Europe several movements which took influence from it emerged...
". Also a student of Wilamowitz, Calder has characterized Solmsen's essay on their teacher as "the recollection of an adoring student" and his assessment of the philologist's relations with Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
as "ignorant and vulgar" — remarks which have been taken to reveal the fine line between "psychologizing," as the classicist Hugh Lloyd-Jones
Hugh Lloyd-Jones
Sir Peter Hugh Jefferd Lloyd-Jones FBA was a British classical scholar and Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford....
termed it, and ad hominem
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
criticism.
Solmsen's dissertation on Aristotelian logic
Organon
The Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic:* Categories* On Interpretation* Prior Analytics* Posterior Analytics...
and rhetoric
Rhetoric (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled ΤΕΧΝΗ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗ, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on...
was published in 1928. He left Germany to escape Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in the mid-1930s, and after a time in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
came to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he taught at Olivet College
Olivet College
Olivet College is a coeducational, liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan, United States, south of Lansing and west of Detroit. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and accredited by the North Central...
(1937–1940) in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. He then moved to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, becoming chair of the classics department
Academic department
An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level....
. He taught at Cornell for twenty-two years. Among his courses was "Foundations of Western Thought," which explored the history of philosophical, scientific and religious ideas from early Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
through the Hellenistic
Hellenistic period
The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
and Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
periods.
In 1962, he was named Moses Slaughter Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. In 1972 he won the Goodwin Award of Merit, presented by the American Philological Association
American Philological Association
The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...
for an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship, for his Oxford Classical Text
Oxford Classical Texts
Oxford Classical Texts , or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, in the original language with a critical apparatus...
edition of Hesiod's works, the Theogony
Theogony
The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...
, the Works and Days
Works and Days
Works and Days is a didactic poem of some 800 verses written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts...
, and The Shield of Heracles
The Shield of Heracles
thumb|An early 5th c. BCE depiction of Heracles fighting Cycnus The Shield of Heracles is an archaic Greek epic poem that was attributed to Hesiod during antiquity...
. He retired in 1974.
In retirement, Solmsen lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, and continued to publish. He gave occasional lectures at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, conducted a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
seminar, and led readings in Pindar
Pindar
Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...
and Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
. The bulk of his library was donated to the university upon his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Lieselotte. Colleagues mourned him as "one of the last giants of the German tradition of classical humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
."
The Institute for Research in the Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
at the University of Wisconsin offers four one-year fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ships in his name for postdoctoral
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
work on literary and historical studies of the 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...
, Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
periods to 1700. The fellowship fund was established by a bequest
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
from Friedrich and Lieselotte Solmsen.
Works
In his essay on Wilamowitz, Solmsen reflected on classical studies as a disciplineDiscipline
In its original sense, discipline is referred to systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Often, the phrase "to discipline" carries a negative connotation. This is because enforcement of order –...
and an intellectual pursuit within a broadly historical context. "The post-World-War-I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
generation for whom the value of the Classics had become a problem," he writes, "did not find [from Wilamowitz] an answer to their question what made ancient civilization particularly significant and worth intensive study," adding that Wilamowitz "did not realize the need of justifying their study to a generation for whom the continuity of a tradition that reached back to the age of Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
was weakened (though not completely broken) and whose outlook was still in the process of formation; many in fact were consciously striving for a new orientation."
The following bibliography, arranged by topic and then chronologically
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
within the topic, attempts to represent the range of Solmsen's contributions to scholarship but is by no means exhaustive. Omitted are most articles in German, reviews, and notes (i.e., articles of less than three pages). The articles are for the most part collected in his Kleine Schriften
Kleine Schriften
is a German phrase often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These shorter works were usually published previously in various periodicals or in collections of papers written...
, 3 vols. (Hildesheim 1968–1982).
Friedrich W. Solmsen (February 4, 1904 – January 30, 1989) was a philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of classical studies
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
. His edition
Edition (book)
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
of Hesiod
Hesiod
Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
is considered definitive. He published nearly 150 books, monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
s, scholarly
Scholarly method
Scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public.-Methods:...
articles
Article (publishing)
An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
, and review
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
s from the 1930s through the 1980s. Solmsen's work is characterized by a prevailing interest in the history of ideas
History of ideas
The history of ideas is a field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. The history of ideas is a sister-discipline to, or a particular approach within, intellectual history...
. He was an influential scholar in the areas of Greek tragedy, particularly for his work on Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, and the philosophy of the physical
History of physics
As forms of science historically developed out of philosophy, physics was originally referred to as natural philosophy, a term describing a field of study concerned with "the workings of nature".-Early history:...
world and its relation to the soul, especially the systems of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
.
Life and career
Friedrich Solmsen, sometimes called "Fritz" by friends and intimates, was born and educated in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He was among the "Graeca" 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 :...
, the Graeca being a group of "young scholars" who met in his home during his last decade of life. In an essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
fifty years later, Solmsen recalled those years and the legendary philologist in a biographical
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
sketch that combines politico-historical perspective, sociology of academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, and personal, sometimes wry observations. "I do not recall Wilamowitz ever laughing aloud
Laughter
Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli...
," he mused in a footnote
Footnote
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of the text, or both...
d aside. "Nor did he ever grin." Solmsen was also a student of Eduard Norden, Otto Regenbogen, and Werner Jaeger
Werner Jaeger
Werner Wilhelm Jaeger was a classicist of the 20th century.Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia. He attended school at Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen Jaeger studied at the University of Marburg and University of Berlin. He received a Ph.D...
, to the three of whom along with Wilamowitz he dedicated the first volume of his collected papers. He was one of the last people to whom the terminally ill Wilamowitz addressed correspondence.
Solmsen was not untouched by the compromises of intellectual life in the Germany of the 1920s-1930s. The classicist
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and historian of scholarship William M. Calder III produced documentation that indicates, in his view, Norden's complicity when Solmsen was let go from his academic position on the grounds that he was "non-aryan
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
." Calder also rebuked Solmsen for signing, along with six other scholars, a published letter objecting to a 1981 article by Calder calling Jaeger and Richard Harder "reluctant fellow-travelers to Fascism
European fascist ideologies
Fascism in Europe was composed of numerous ideologies present during the 20th century which all developed their own differences from each other. Fascism was born in Italy and subsequently, across Europe several movements which took influence from it emerged...
". Also a student of Wilamowitz, Calder has characterized Solmsen's essay on their teacher as "the recollection of an adoring student" and his assessment of the philologist's relations with Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
as "ignorant and vulgar" — remarks which have been taken to reveal the fine line between "psychologizing," as the classicist Hugh Lloyd-Jones
Hugh Lloyd-Jones
Sir Peter Hugh Jefferd Lloyd-Jones FBA was a British classical scholar and Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford....
termed it, and ad hominem
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
criticism.
Solmsen's dissertation on Aristotelian logic
Organon
The Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic:* Categories* On Interpretation* Prior Analytics* Posterior Analytics...
and rhetoric
Rhetoric (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled ΤΕΧΝΗ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗ, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on...
was published in 1928. He left Germany to escape Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in the mid-1930s, and after a time in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
came to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he taught at Olivet College
Olivet College
Olivet College is a coeducational, liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan, United States, south of Lansing and west of Detroit. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and accredited by the North Central...
(1937–1940) in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. He then moved to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, becoming chair of the classics department
Academic department
An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level....
. He taught at Cornell for twenty-two years. Among his courses was "Foundations of Western Thought," which explored the history of philosophical, scientific and religious ideas from early Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
through the Hellenistic
Hellenistic period
The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
and Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
periods.
In 1962, he was named Moses Slaughter Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. In 1972 he won the Goodwin Award of Merit, presented by the American Philological Association
American Philological Association
The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...
for an outstanding contribution to classical scholarship, for his Oxford Classical Text
Oxford Classical Texts
Oxford Classical Texts , or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, in the original language with a critical apparatus...
edition of Hesiod's works, the Theogony
Theogony
The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...
, the Works and Days
Works and Days
Works and Days is a didactic poem of some 800 verses written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts...
, and The Shield of Heracles
The Shield of Heracles
thumb|An early 5th c. BCE depiction of Heracles fighting Cycnus The Shield of Heracles is an archaic Greek epic poem that was attributed to Hesiod during antiquity...
. He retired in 1974.
In retirement, Solmsen lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, and continued to publish. He gave occasional lectures at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, conducted a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
seminar, and led readings in Pindar
Pindar
Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...
and Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
. The bulk of his library was donated to the university upon his death at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Lieselotte. Colleagues mourned him as "one of the last giants of the German tradition of classical humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
."
The Institute for Research in the Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
at the University of Wisconsin offers four one-year fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ships in his name for postdoctoral
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
work on literary and historical studies of the 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...
, Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
periods to 1700. The fellowship fund was established by a bequest
Bequest
A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...
from Friedrich and Lieselotte Solmsen.
Works
In his essay on Wilamowitz, Solmsen reflected on classical studies as a disciplineDiscipline
In its original sense, discipline is referred to systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Often, the phrase "to discipline" carries a negative connotation. This is because enforcement of order –...
and an intellectual pursuit within a broadly historical context. "The post-World-War-I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
generation for whom the value of the Classics had become a problem," he writes, "did not find [from Wilamowitz] an answer to their question what made ancient civilization particularly significant and worth intensive study," adding that Wilamowitz "did not realize the need of justifying their study to a generation for whom the continuity of a tradition that reached back to the age of Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
was weakened (though not completely broken) and whose outlook was still in the process of formation; many in fact were consciously striving for a new orientation."
The following bibliography, arranged by topic and then chronologically
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
within the topic, attempts to represent the range of Solmsen's contributions to scholarship but is by no means exhaustive. Omitted are most articles in German, reviews, and notes (i.e., articles of less than three pages). The articles are for the most part collected in his Kleine Schriften
Kleine Schriften
is a German phrase often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These shorter works were usually published previously in various periodicals or in collections of papers written...
, 3 vols. (Hildesheim 1968–1982).
Hesiod and Homer
- HesiodHesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
and Aeschylus. Cornell University Press, 1949; republished with a new foreword by G.M. Kirkwood, 1995. Online preview. ISBN 0-8014-8274-7
- "The Gift of Speech in Homer and Hesiod." Transactions of the American Philological Association 85 (1954) 1-15.
- "Zur Theologie im grossen Aphrodite-HymnusHomeric HymnsThe Homeric Hymns are a collection of thirty-three anonymous Ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. The hymns are "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter—dactylic hexameter—as the Iliad and Odyssey, use many similar formulas and are couched in the same dialect...
." Hermes 88 (1960) 1-13.
- "Hesiodic Motifs in Plato." In Hésiode et son influence: six exposées et discussions, edited by Kurt von Fritz (Geneva: Fondation Hardt, 1962) 171-211.
- "The Days of the Works and Days." Transactions of the American Philological Association 94 (1963) 293-320.
- "IliasIliadThe Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
XVIII, 535-540." Hermes 93 (1965) 1-6.
- Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum (with selected fragments edited by R. Merkelbach and M.L. WestMartin Litchfield WestMartin Litchfield West is an internationally recognised scholar in classics, classical antiquity and philology...
). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. Second edition with a new appendix of fragments, 1983. Third edition, 1990. Oxford Classical TextOxford Classical TextsOxford Classical Texts , or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, in the original language with a critical apparatus...
edition of the Greek text of HesiodHesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...
's TheogonyTheogonyThe Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...
, Works and DaysWorks and DaysWorks and Days is a didactic poem of some 800 verses written by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts...
, and Shield (usually in translation as The Shield of HeraclesThe Shield of Heraclesthumb|An early 5th c. BCE depiction of Heracles fighting Cycnus The Shield of Heracles is an archaic Greek epic poem that was attributed to Hesiod during antiquity...
).
- "Hesiodic φρόνησιςPhronesisPhronēsis is an Ancient Greek word for wisdom or intelligence which is a common topic of discussion in philosophy. In Aristotelian Ethics, for example in the Nicomachean Ethics it is distinguished from other words for wisdom as the virtue of practical thought, and is usually translated "practical...
." Classical Philology 71 (1976) 252-253.
- "The Sacrifice of AgamemnonAgamemnonIn Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
's Daughter in Hesiod's Ehoeae." American Journal of Philology 102 (1981) 353-358.
- "The Earliest Stages in the History of Hesiod's Text." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 86 (1982) 1-31.
- "The Two Near Eastern Sources of Hesiod." Hermes 117 (1989) 413-422.
Greek tragedy
- EuripidesEuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' IonIon (play)Ion is an ancient Greek play by Euripides, thought to be written between 414 and 412 BC. It follows the orphan Ion in the discovery of his origins.-Background:...
im Vergleich mit anderen Tragödien. Berlin 1934.
- "Ὄνομα and πρᾶγμα in Euripides' HelenHelen (play)Helen is a drama by Euripides, probably first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia. The play shares much in common with another of Euripides' works, Iphigenia in Tauris.-Background:...
." Classical Review 48 (1934) 119–121.
- "The ErinysErinyesIn Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"...
in AischylosAeschylusAeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
' Septem." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 68 (1937) 197–211.
- "Strata of Greek Religion in Aeschylus." Harvard Theological Review 40 (1947) 211–226.
- Hesiod and Aeschylus. See under "Hesiod and Homer" (preceding).
- ElectraElectraIn Greek mythology, Electra was an Argive princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father Agamemnon...
and OrestesOrestes (mythology)In Greek mythology, Orestes was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older ones....
: Three Recognitions in Greek Tragedy. Berlin 1967.
- "'Bad Shame' and Related Problems in PhaedraPhaedra (mythology)In Greek mythology, Phaedra is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus and the mother of Demophon of Athens and Acamas. Phaedra's name derives from the Greek word φαιδρός , which meant "bright"....
's Speech (Eur. Hipp. 380-388)." Hermes 101 (1973) 420-425. On a passage from the HippolytusHippolytus (play)Hippolytus is an Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. The play was first produced for the City Dionysia of Athens in 428 BC and won first prize as part of a trilogy....
of Euripides.
- "Φρήν, καρδία, ψυχή in Greek tragedy." In Greek Poetry and Philosophy: Studies in Honour of Leonard Woodbury. Edited by Douglas E. Gerber. Scholars Press, 1984, pp. 265–274.
- "Ἀλλ᾽ εἰδέναι χρὴ δρῶσαν: The Meaning of SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
' TrachiniaiThe TrachiniaeWomen of Trachis is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles.-Synopsis:The story begins with Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, relating the story of her early life and her plight adjusting to married life. She is now distraught over her husband's neglect of her family. Often involved in some adventure, he...
588-93." American Journal of Philology 106 (1985) 490-496.
Plato
- "The Background of PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's TheologyTheologyTheology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 67 (1936) 208–218. On Book 10 of Plato's LawsLaws (dialogue)The Laws is Plato's last and longest dialogue. The question asked at the beginning is not "What is law?" as one would expect. That is the question of the Minos...
.
- "Plato and the Unity of Science." Philosophical Review 49 (1940) 566–571.
- PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's TheologyTheologyTheology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
. Cornell University Press, 1942. Reviewed at length by William C. Greene in Classical Philology 40 (1945) 128–133.
- "On Plato's Account of Respiration." Studi italiani di filologia classica 27–28 (1956) 544-548.
- "Platonic Influences in the Formation of Aristotle's Physical System." In Aristotle and Plato in the Mid-Fourth Century. Papers of the Symposium Aristotelicum Held at Oxford in August, 1957. Edited by Ingemar During and G.E.L. Owen. Göteborg 1960, pp. 213–235.
- "Hesiodic Motifs in Plato." See under "Hesiod and Homer" above.
- "Republic III,389b2–d6: Plato's Draft and the Editor's Mistake." Philologus 109 (1965) 182-185.
- Review of Preface to Plato by Eric A. HavelockEric A. HavelockEric Alfred Havelock was a British classicist who spent most of his life in Canada and the United States. He was a professor at the University of Toronto and was active in the Canadian socialist movement during the 1930s. In the 1960s and 1970s, he served as chair of the classics departments at...
(Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963). In American Journal of Philology 87 (1966) 99–105.
- "Plato's First MoverCosmological argumentThe cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of a First Cause to the universe, and by extension is often used as an argument for the existence of an "unconditioned" or "supreme" being, usually then identified as God...
in the Eighth Book of Aristotle's PhysicsPhysics (Aristotle)The Physics of Aristotle is one of the foundational books of Western science and philosophy...
." Philomathes: Studies and Essays in the Humanities in Memory of Philip Merlan. Edited by Robert B. Palmer and Robert Hamerton-Kelly. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1971, pp. 171–182.
- "Plato and Science." In Interpretations of Plato: A Swarthmore Symposium. Edited by Helen F. North. E. J. Brill, 1977.
- "Platonic Values in Aristotle's Science." Journal of the History of Ideas 39 (1978) 3-23.
- "Some Passages in Plato's LawsLaws (dialogue)The Laws is Plato's last and longest dialogue. The question asked at the beginning is not "What is law?" as one would expect. That is the question of the Minos...
IV and V." Illinois Classical Studies 5 (1980) 44-48.
- "The Academic and the Alexandrian editions of Plato's Works." Illinois Classical Studies 6 (1981) 102-111.
- "Plato and the Concept of the Soul (Psyche): Some Historical Perspectives." Journal of the History of Ideas 44 (1983) 355-367.
Aristotle
- Die aristotelische Methodenlehre und die spätplatonische Akademie, dissertation. Berlin 1928. Revised and published as Die Entwicklung der aristotelischen LogikOrganonThe Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic:* Categories* On Interpretation* Prior Analytics* Posterior Analytics...
und RhetorikRhetoric (Aristotle)Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled ΤΕΧΝΗ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗ, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on...
in 1975 and again in 2001.
- "The Origins and Methods of Aristotle's Poetics." Classical Quarterly 29 (1935) 192–201.
- "The Aristotelian Tradition in Ancient Rhetoric." American Journal of Philology 62 (1941) 35–50 and 169–190.
- "BoethiusAnicius Manlius Severinus BoethiusAnicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius was a philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and important family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls. His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after...
and the History of the OrganonOrganonThe Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic:* Categories* On Interpretation* Prior Analytics* Posterior Analytics...
." American Journal of Philology 65 (1944) 69–74.
- "AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's SyllogismSyllogismA syllogism is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is inferred from two or more others of a certain form...
and Its Platonic Background." Philosophical Review 60 (1951) 563-571.
- Introduction to the Modern LibraryModern LibraryThe Modern Library is a publishing company. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, it was purchased in 1925 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer...
edition of Aristotle's RhetoricRhetoric (Aristotle)Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. In Greek, it is titled ΤΕΧΝΗ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗ, in Latin Ars Rhetorica. In English, its title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of Rhetoric, or a Treatise on...
, translated by W. Rhys Roberts, and Poetics, translated by Ingram BywaterIngram BywaterIngram Bywater was an English classical scholar.He was born in London. He was educated at University College School and King's College School, then at Queens College, Oxford...
. New York 1954.
- "Antecedents of Aristotle's Psychology and Scale of Beings." American Journal of Philology 76 (1955) 148-164.
- "Aristotle and Prime MatterCosmological argumentThe cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of a First Cause to the universe, and by extension is often used as an argument for the existence of an "unconditioned" or "supreme" being, usually then identified as God...
: A Reply to H. R. King." Journal of the History of Ideas 19 (1958) 243-252.
- "Aristotle and PresocraticPre-Socratic philosophyPre-Socratic philosophy is Greek philosophy before Socrates . In Classical antiquity, the Presocratic philosophers were called physiologoi...
CosmogonyCosmogonyCosmogony, or cosmogeny, is any scientific theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. The word comes from the Greek κοσμογονία , from κόσμος "cosmos, the world", and the root of γίνομαι / γέγονα "to be born, come about"...
." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 63 (1958) 265-282.
- Aristotle's System of the Physical WorldAristotelian physicsAristotelian Physics the natural sciences, are described in the works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle . In the Physics, Aristotle established general principles of change that govern all natural bodies; both living and inanimate, celestial and terrestrial—including all motion, change in respect...
: A Comparison with His Predecessors. Cornell University Press, 1960. This lengthy, densely packed book investigates the natural philosophy of the PresocraticsPre-Socratic philosophyPre-Socratic philosophy is Greek philosophy before Socrates . In Classical antiquity, the Presocratic philosophers were called physiologoi...
and Plato as well as Aristotle's Physics, De caeloOn the HeavensOn the Heavens is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the terrestrial world...
, De generatione et corruptioneOn Generation and CorruptionOn Generation and Corruption , , also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic...
and MeteorologicaMeteorology (Aristotle)Meteorology is a treatise by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
.
- "Aristotle's Word for MatterMatterMatter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. A common way of defining matter is as anything that has mass and occupies volume...
." In Didascaliæ: Studies in Honor of Anselm M. AlbaredaJoaquín Albareda y RamonedaJoaquín Anselmo María Albareda y Ramoneda, OSB was a Spanish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Prefect of the Vatican Library from 1936 to 1962, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1962.-Biography:...
, PrefectPrefectPrefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
of the Vatican LibraryVatican LibraryThe Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
. Edited by Sesto Prete. New York 1961, pp. 393–408.
- "Misplaced Passages at the End of Aristotle's Physics." American Journal of Philology 82 (1961) 270-282.
- "LeisureLeisureLeisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....
and PlayPlay (activity)Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
in Aristotle's Ideal stateState (polity)A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
." Rheinisches Museum 107 (1964) 193-220.
- Review of Aristotle and the Problem of ValueValue (ethics)In ethics, value is a property of objects, including physical objects as well as abstract objects , representing their degree of importance....
by Whitney J. Oates (Princeton University Press, 1963). In Journal of Philosophy 62 (1965) 298–303.
- Ursprünge und Methoden der aristotelischen Poetik. Darmstadt 1968.
- "DialecticDialecticDialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
without the Forms." In Aristotle on Dialectic: The Topics. Proceedings of the Third Symposium Aristotelicum. Edited by G. E. L. Owen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968, pp. 49–68.
- "The Fishes of Lesbos and Their Alleged Significance for the Development of Aristotle." Hermes 106 (1978) 467-484.
- "Citations in Their Bearing on the Origin of 'Aristotle' MeteorologicaMeteorology (Aristotle)Meteorology is a treatise by Aristotle which contains his theories about the earth sciences. These include early accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and earthquakes....
IV." Hermes 113 (1985) 448-459.
Empedocles, Epicurus, Lucretius
- Review of T. LucretiLucretiusTitus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...
Cari, De rerum natura, Libri sex, edition and commentaryCommentary (philology)In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and...
by William Ellery Leonard and Stanley Barney Smith (University of Wisconsin Press, 1942), in Philosophical Review 53 (1944) 208–211.
- "EpicurusEpicurusEpicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...
and Cosmological Heresies." American Journal of Philology 72 (1951) 1-23.
- "Epicurus on the Growth and Decline of the CosmosCosmosIn the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
." American Journal of Philology 74 (1953) 34-51.
- Αἴσθησισ in Aristotelian and Epicurean Thought. Amsterdam, 1961. Aisthesis originally meant both cognitive perceptions and feelings (as of pleasure and pain); Solmsen traces the restriction of the term by Plato to cognitive perceptions and so in Aristotle and the StoicsStoicismStoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...
; Epicurus, however, uses the word to mean the capacity of feeling pleasure and pain as conveyed by the "soul atoms" generally to the body.
- "Love and Strife in EmpedoclesEmpedoclesEmpedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four Classical elements...
' Cosmology." Phronesis 10 (1965) 109-148.
- "Ζωρός in Empedocles." Classical Review 17 (1967) 245-246.
- "A Peculiar Omission in LucretiusLucretiusTitus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...
' Account of Human Civilization." Philologus 114 (1970) 256-261.
- "Eternal and Temporary Beings in Empedocles' Physical Poem." Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 57 (1975) 123-145.
- "Epicurus on Void, Matter and Genesis: Some Historical Observations." Phronesis 22 (1977) 263-281.
- "Empedocles' Hymn to ApolloApolloApollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
." Phronesis 35 (1980) 219-227.
- "Abdera's Arguments for the Atomic TheoryAtomismAtomism is a natural philosophy that developed in several ancient traditions. The atomists theorized that the natural world consists of two fundamental parts: indivisible atoms and empty void.According to Aristotle, atoms are indestructible and immutable and there are an infinite variety of shapes...
." Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 29 (1988) 59-73.
- "Lucretius' Strategy in De rerum natura I." Rheinisches Museum 131 (1988) 315-323.
Philosophical and literary topics
- "CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
's First Speeches: A Rhetorical Analysis." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 69 (1938) 542–556.
- "Some Works of Philostratus the Elder." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 71 (1940) 556–572.
- "EratosthenesEratosthenesEratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
as Platonist and Poet." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 73 (1942) 192–213.
- "Chaos and ApeironApeiron (cosmology)Apeiron is a Greek word meaning unlimited, infinite or indefinite from ἀ- a-, "without" and πεῖραρ peirar, "end, limit", the Ionic Greek form of πέρας peras, "end, limit, boundary".-Apeiron as an origin:...
." Studi italiani di filologia classica 24 (1949) 235-248.
- Review of Empedocles' Mixture, Eudoxan Astronomy and Aristotle's Connate PneumaPneumaPneuma is an ancient Greek word for "breath," and in a religious context for "spirit" or "soul." It has various technical meanings for medical writers and philosophers of classical antiquity, particularly in regard to physiology, and is also used in Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible and in...
by Harald A. T. Reiche (Amsterdam 1960), in American Journal of Philology 84 (1963) 91–94.
- The EleaticEleaticsThe Eleatics were a school of pre-Socratic philosophers at Elea , a Greek colony in Campania, Italy. The group was founded in the early fifth century BCE by Parmenides. Other members of the school included Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos...
One in MelissusMelissus of SamosMelissus of Samos was the third and last member of the ancient school of Eleatic philosophy, whose other members included Zeno and Parmenides. Little is known about his life except that he was the commander of the Samian fleet shortly before the Peloponnesian War. Melissus’ contribution to...
. Amsterdam, 1969.
- "Tissues and the Soul: Philosophical Contributions to Physiology." Philosophical Review 59 (1950) 435-468.
- "Neglected Evidence for Cicero's De re publicaDe re publicaDe re publica is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. It is written in the format of a Socratic dialogue in which Scipio Africanus Minor takes the role of a wise old man — an obligatory part for the genre...
." Museum Helveticum 13 (1956) 38-53.
- "The Vital Heat, the Inborn Pneuma and the Aether." Journal of Hellenic Studies 77 (1957) 119-123.
- "Greek Philosophy and the Discovery of the Nerves." Museum Helveticum 18 (1961) 150-167 and 169-197.
- CleanthesCleanthesCleanthes , of Assos, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and the successor to Zeno as the second head of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxer, he came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno's lectures. He supported himself by working as water-carrier at night. After the...
or PosidoniusPosidoniusPosidonius "of Apameia" or "of Rhodes" , was a Greek Stoic philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and teacher native to Apamea, Syria. He was acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age...
? The Basis of Stoic physics. Amsterdam 1961. A study of the sources of Cicero's De natura deorumDe Natura DeorumDe Natura Deorum is a philosophical dialogue by Roman orator Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three "books", each of which discuss the theology of different Roman and Greek philosophers...
, II, 23-32.
- "AnaximanderAnaximanderAnaximander was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia; Milet in modern Turkey. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales...
's Infinite: Traces and Influences." Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophi 44 (1962) 109-131.
- "AnaxagorasAnaxagorasAnaxagoras was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae in Asia Minor, Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to bring philosophy from Ionia to Athens. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the sun, which he described as a fiery mass larger than...
B 19 Diels-Kranz." Hermes 91 (1963) 250-251.
- "Nature as Craftsman in Greek Thought." Journal of the History of Ideas 24 (1963) 473-496.
- "Diogenes of Apollonia B3D.-K." Classical Review 20 (1970) 6.
- "ThucydidesThucydidesThucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
' Treatment of Words and Concepts." Hermes 99 (1971) 385-408.
- "The Tradition about Zeno of EleaZeno of EleaZeno of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic. He is best known for his paradoxes, which Bertrand Russell has described as "immeasurably subtle and profound".- Life...
Re-examined." Phronesis 16 (1971) 116-141.
- "ParmenidesParmenidesParmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
and the Description of Perfect Beauty in Plato's SymposiumSymposium (Plato)The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385–380 BCE. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love....
." American Journal of Philology 92 (1971) 62-70.
- Intellectual Experiments of the Greek EnlightenmentIonian EnlightenmentThe Ionian Enlightenment is a term used to describe the advances in scientific thought, naturalistic explanations, and the application of rational and scientific criticisms to all spheres of life in Ionia of ancient Greece in 6th century BC. The Ionian Enlightenment received its origins in both...
. Princeton University Press, 1975. Six chapters dealing with such topics as argumentation, persuasion, utopianism and reform, language experiments, and empirical psychology.
- "Light from Aristotle's Physics on the text of Parmenides B 8 D-K." Phronesis 1977 XXII : 10-12.
- "TheophrastusTheophrastusTheophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and...
and Political Aspects of the Belief in Providence." Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 19 (1978) 91-98.
- "Emendations in Cosmological Texts." Rheinisches Museum 124 (1981) 1-18.
- "PlotinusPlotinusPlotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
v,5,3,21 ff.: A Passage on ZeusZeusIn the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
." Museum Helveticum 43 (1986) 68-73.
Augustan poetry
- "HoraceHoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
's First Roman OdeOdeOde is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist...
." American Journal of Philology 68 (1947) 337–352.
- "PropertiusSextus PropertiusSextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC.Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of Elegies...
in his Literary Relations with TibullusTibullusAlbius Tibullus was a Latin poet and writer of elegies.Little is known about his life. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to Tibullus are of questionable origins. There are only a few references to him in later writers and a short Life of doubtful authority...
and VergilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
." Philologus 105 (1961) 273-289.
- "Three Elegies of Propertius' First Book." Classical Philology 57 (1962) 73-88.
- "Tibullus as an Augustan poetAugustan poetryIn Latin literature, Augustan poetry is the poetry that flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus as Emperor of Rome, most notably including the works of Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. In English literature, Augustan poetry is a branch of Augustan literature, and refers to the poetry of the...
." Hermes 90 (1962) 295-325.
- "On Propertius I, 7." American Journal of Philology 86 (1965) 77-84.
- "CatullusCatullusGaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
' Artistry in C. 68: A Pre-Augustan Subjective Love-Elegy." Monumentum Chiloniense: Studien zur augusteischen Zeit. Kieler Festschrift für Erich Burck zum 70. Geburtstag. Edited by Eckard Lefèvre. Amsterdam 1975, pp. 260–276.
Afterlife, religion, myth
- Review of The Greeks and the Irrational by E.R. Dodds, in American Journal of Philology 75 (1954) 190–196.
- Review of ΑἰώνAeonThe word aeon, also spelled eon or æon , originally means "life", and/or "being", though it then tended to mean "age", "forever" or "for eternity". It is a Latin transliteration from the koine Greek word , from the archaic . In Homer it typically refers to life or lifespan...
da OmeroHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
ad Aristotele by Enzo Degani (University of Padua, 1961). In American Journal of Philology 84 (1963) 329–332.
- "Two PindarPindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...
ic Passages on the HereafterAfterlifeThe afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
." Hermes 96 (1968) 503-506.
- "Greek Ideas of the HereafterAfterlifeThe afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
in Vergil'sVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
Roman Epic." "Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society" 92 (1968) 8-14.
- "Ἀμοιβή in the Recently Discovered 'OrphicOrphism (religion)Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world, as well as by the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned...
' KatabasisDescent to the underworldThe descent to the underworld is a mytheme of comparative mythology found in a diverse number of religions from around the world, including Christianity. The hero or upper-world deity journeys to the underworld or to the land of the dead and returns, often with a quest-object or a loved one, or...
." Hermes 96 (1968) 631-632.
- "The World of the Dead in Book 6 of the AeneidAeneidThe Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
." Classical Philology 67 (1972) 31-41.
- "Symphytos AionAeonThe word aeon, also spelled eon or æon , originally means "life", and/or "being", though it then tended to mean "age", "forever" or "for eternity". It is a Latin transliteration from the koine Greek word , from the archaic . In Homer it typically refers to life or lifespan...
(A., Ag. 106)." American Journal of Philology 100 (1979) 477-479. On Aeschylus, Agamemnon, line 106.
- IsisIsisIsis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
among the Greeks and Romans. Harvard University Press, 1979. "It was a surprise, but also a pleasure," noted J. Gwyn GriffithsJ. Gwyn GriffithsJohn Gwyn Griffiths , was a Welsh poet, Egyptologist and nationalist political activist who spent the largest span of his career lecturing at Swansea University.-Early history:...
, "to find Friedrich Solmsen concerning himself with the impact of Isis on the Graeco-Roman world."
- "Achilles on the Islands of the BlessedFortunate IslesIn the Fortunate Isles, also called the Isles of the Blessed , heroes and other favored mortals in Greek mythology and Celtic mythology were received by the gods into a winterless blissful paradise...
: Pindar vs. Homer and Hesiod." American Journal of Philology 103 (1982) 19-24.
- "'AeneasAeneasAeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
Founded Rome with OdysseusOdysseusOdysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
.'" Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 90 (1986) 93-110.
Christian topics
- "The Powers of Darkness in PrudentiusPrudentiusAurelius Prudentius Clemens was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis in 348. He probably died in Spain, as well, some time after 405, possibly around 413...
' Contra SymmachumQuintus Aurelius SymmachusQuintus Aurelius Symmachus was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391...
: A Study of His Poetic Imagination." Vigiliae Christianae 19 (1965) 237–257.
- "The Conclusion of TheodosiusTheodosius ITheodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
' Oration in Prudentius' Contra Symmachum." Philologus 109 (1965) 310-313.
- "ProvidenceDivine ProvidenceIn Christian theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's activity in the world. " Providence" is also used as a title of God exercising His providence, and then the word are usually capitalized...
and the Soul: A PlatonicNeoplatonism and ChristianityNeoplatonism was a major influence on Christian theology throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the West notably due to St. Augustine of Hippo, who was influenced by the early Neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry, and the works of the Christian writer Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, who...
Chapter in Clement of AlexandriaClement of AlexandriaTitus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
." Museum Helveticum 26 (1969) 229-251.
- "George A. WellsGeorge Albert WellsGeorge Albert Wells , usually known as G. A. Wells, is an Emeritus Professor of German at Birkbeck, University of London. He is best known as an advocate of the idea that Jesus is a largely mythical rather than a historical figure....
on ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
in Early New TestamentNew TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
Criticism." Journal of the History of Ideas 31 (1970) 277-280.
- "Early Christian Interest in the Theory of Demonstration." In Romanitas et Christianitas; studia Iano Henrico Waszink. Edited by W. den Boer. Amsterdam 1973, pp. 281–291.
- "ReincarnationMetempsychosisMetempsychosis is a philosophical term in the Greek language referring to transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. It is a doctrine popular among a number of Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Druzism wherein an individual incarnates from one...
in Ancient and Early Christian Thought." In Kleine SchriftenKleine Schriftenis a German phrase often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These shorter works were usually published previously in various periodicals or in collections of papers written...
, vol. 3. Hildesheim 1982, pp. 465–494.
External links
- Georgia Mouroutsou, "Friedrich Solmsen: German and Anglo-Saxon Virtue," a tribute at Harmonia, A Forum for the Mediation of Dialogue in Ancient and Modern Academies