All Scholars
CHRIST, Wilhelm von
- Date of Birth: August 02, 1831
- Born City: Geisenhaim
- Born State/Country: Germany
- Parents: Anton, a baker, & Maria Anna Krayer C.
- Date of Death: August 02, 1906
- Death City: Munich
- Death State/Country: Germany
- Married: Sidonie Griesenbach, 1859.
- Education:
Study at Hadamar, study at Munich, Ph.D. Berlin, 1853.
- Dissertation:
Studia in Aristotelis libros metaphysicos collata (Berlin 1853).
- Professional Experience:
Teacher, Maximiliansgymnasium, Munich, 1854-60; asso. prof. classical philology & curator of Antiquarium, Munich, 1860-3; ordinarius, 1863-1903; 90; extraordinary member, Bavarian Academy of Sciences, 1858; full member, 1864; member, Hellenic Philological Society of Constantinople, 1870; member, Obersten Schulrates, 1872; Reichsschulkommission, 1890; Bavarian Order of the Crown, 1876.
- Publications:
Die Verskunst der Horaz (1868); Anthologia Graeca Carminum Christianorum (Leipzig, 1871); Metrik der Grieche und Römer (1874, 1879); Fastorum Horatianorum epicrisis (Munich, 1877); Aristotelis de arte poetica (ed.) (Leipzig, 1878); “Die Atticusausgabe des Demosthenes,” I BAW( 1882) 153-234; Platonische Studien: Der Kritias ein historischer Roman, in Abhandlungen der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 12, 2nd part, (Munich, 1886) 451-512; Geschichte der griechische Literatur bis auf die Zeit Justinians (Munich, 1888, 1904; 5th ed., 1905); Homeri Ilias (ed. with intro.), 2 vols. (1884); Horatiana (1893); Pindari carmina (ed. with prolegomena & commentary) (1896); Aristotelis Metaphysica (ed.) (1903); “Sprachliche Verwandtschaft der Graeco-Italer,” BAW (1906) 151-246.
- Notes:
Christ was a student under Karl Felix Ritter von Halm (1809-82), headmaster at the newly founded (1849) Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich. After a year as professor at Vienna, Halm went to Munich in 1856 and Christ followed him. He was influenced by Halm’s teacher, the grammarian and archaeologist Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (1784-1860), the philosopher Karl von Prantl (1820-88), and particularly the Aristotelian Leonhard Spengel (1803-80). He moved on to Berlin, where he studied under A. Boeckh (1785-1867), who influenced his work on Pindar, the comparative linguist Franz Bopp (1791-1867), and the Aristotelian Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg (1802-72), who encouraged his work on the Metaphysics and Poetics, but Schmidt did not lose the interest Halm’s work on Cicero’s De divinatione. This variety of influences led to a wide variety of interests as he published on poets from Homer to those of the Byzantine Age, informed by his knowledge of linguistics and archaeology. He was perhaps most known in his own time for his history of Greek literature, a handbook that ran to many editions, though his name was removed in the seventh edition . His lasting work has been his metrical and rhythmic studies. With this wide scholarly interest, he was devoted to the improvement of Bavarian schools, for which he was recognized by the Bavarian Academy. He was a popular teacher who was lecturing to large audiences even in the last months of his life.
- Sources:
H. Ostern, BBJ 38 (1916) 26-90; bibl. 90-98; O. Crusius, Gedächtnisrede (Munich, 1907); M. Offner, BBG 67 (1931) 281-85; Sandys, 3:153-4.
- Author: Ward Briggs
