All Scholars
FOERSTER, Paul Richard
- Date of Birth: March 2, 1843
- Born City: Görlitz
- Born State/Country: Germany
- Parents: Carl, owner of a wagon-building business, and Auguste Weider F.
- Date of Death: August 7, 1922
- Death City: Breslau
- Death State/Country: Germany
- Education:
Abitur Görlitz, 1861; study philology and theology, Jena, 1861; ancient studies, Breslau, 1862-6; Ph.D., Breslau, 1866; Phil. Habil., 1868.
Teacher, Magdalenen-Gymnasium, Breslau, 1866-8; travel in Italy and Greece, 1868-70; private docent for philology & archaeology, Breslau, 1870-5; extraordinarius, classical philology, Breslau; Rostock, 1875-81; classical philology and eloquence, Kiel, 1881-9; eloquence, Breslau, 1890-8; classical archaeology and Greek philology, 1898-1922.
- Dissertation:
De attractionis in Graeca lingua usu questionum particular I. de attractionis usu Aeschyleo(Ph.D. Breslau, 1866); Tragödien des Aischylos (Phil. Habil., 1868).
- Professional Experience:
Teacher, Magdalenen-Gymnasium, Breslau, 1866-8; travel in Italy and Greece, 1868-70; private docent for philology & archaeology, Breslau, 1870-5; extraordinarius, classical philology, Breslau; Rostock, 1875-81; classical philology and eloquence, Kiel, 1881-9; eloquence, Breslau, 1890-8; classical archaeology and Greek philology, 1898-1922.
- Publications:
De Libanii libris manuscriptis Upsaliensibus et Lincopiensibus commentatio (Thesis, Rostock, 1877); Ueber die ältesten Herabilder nebst einem Excurs über die Glaubwürdigkeit der kunstgeschichtlichen Angaben des Athenagoras (Breslau, 1868); Der Raub und die Rückkehr der Persephone in ihrer Bedeutung für die Mythologie, Literatur- und Kunst-Geschichte (Stuttgart 1874); De apulei quae fertur physiognomonia: recensenda et emendanda (Leipzig, 1887); “Laokoon-denkmäler und -inschriften,” Jahrbuch Kaiserliche Deutsches Archäologisches Institut 6 (1891) 177-96; Scriptores physiognomonici graeci et latini / Vol. 1, Physiognomonica Pseudaristotelis, graece et latine, Adamantii cum epitomis graece, Polemonis e recensione Georgii Hoffmanni arabice et latine (Leipzig: Teubner, 1893); “Amor und Psyche von Raffael,” Jahrbuch der Preußischen Kunstsammlungen/Preußische Kunstsammlungen 16 (1895) 215-23;“Antiocha am Orontes,” Jahrbuch 12 (1897) 103-49; “Zu den skulpturen und inschriften von Antiocha” Jahrbuch 16 (1901) 39-55; Moritz von Schwinds philostratische Gemälde (Leipzig, 1903); Libanii opera, 12 vols. (ed. with Eberhard Reichsteig, Gregory of Cyprus patriarch of Constantinople) (Leipzig: Teubner, 1903-27; repr. Hildesheim, 1963; 1985-8); Klassische Altertumswissenschaft: (Philologie, Archäologie, Eloquenz) (Breslau: Koebner, 1911); Das Erbe der Alten (Breslau: Koebner, 1911).
- Notes:
Richard Foerster was one of the last figures to pursue August Boeckh’s ideal of Alterumswissenschaft by attempting to master not only philology, but also art, and archaeology to achieve a seamless understanding of the world in which great literature and great events were accomplished. As a text critic he produced editions of Libanius, the physiognomists, and the rhetorician Chorikos of Gaza; as an archaeologist he examined the remains of Libanius’s home, Antioch, and also the Laocoon group; and as an art historian he produced work on the depiction of myths in modern paintings. He gave popular public lectures and served his home city as president of the Schlesischen Gesellschaft für vaterländische Kultur.
- Sources:
Jonathan Groß, Schlesische Lebensbilder. 11 (Insingen, 2012) 399–415; Wilhelm Kroll, Jahresbericht der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für vaterländische Kultur, 97 (1919–1924) 1–8; Eberhard Richtsteig, Biographisches Jahrbuch für Altertumskunde. 43 (1923) 34–57;Wolfhart Unte, “Richard Foerster (1843–1922). Sein wissenschaftliches Werk in der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Kunstgeschichte und Kulturgeschichte Schlesiens,” Jahrbuch der Schlesischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau 25 (1984) 249–72.
- Author: Ward Briggs