All Scholars

GOLDBACHER, Alois

  • Alois Goldbacher
  • Date of Birth: June 27, 1837
  • Born City: Merano
  • Born State/Country: Italy
  • Parents: Johann G., a bailiff, & wife.
  • Date of Death: April 28, 1924
  • Death City: Graz
  • Death State/Country: Austria
  • Married: Anna Mayer, 1868.
  • Education:

    Study at Innsbruck, 1857-61; teaching cert., 1861; Vienna, 1861-2; Ph.D., Leipzig, 1867.
  • Dissertation:

    “De Apulei Floridorum origine et locis quibusdam corruptis” (Ph.D., Leipzig, 1867; publ. Leipzig: Melzer, 1867).
  • Professional Experience:

    Asst. teacher Olomouc Gymnasium, 1862-5; teacher, Troppau Gymnasium, 1865-8; nostrified, Graz, 1868; teacher, II. Staatsgymnasium, Graz, 1869-75; private lectr., Graz, 1871-5; prof., Czernowitz, 1875-1908; rector, 1891-2; corr. memb., Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  • Publications:

    Zur Kritik und Erklärung von L. Apuleius De dogmate Platonis (Vienna: K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1871); Über Handschriften der Briefe des Augustinus: Reisebericht (Vienna: Gerold, 1873); Apulei Madaurensis opuscula quae sunt de philosophia (Vienna: Gerold, 1876); Lateinische grammatik für schulen (Schworella & Heick, 1883; 3rd ed., 1889); “P. Terenti Phormio v. 175,” WS 7 (1885) 163-4; Der Hellenismus in Rom zur Zeit der Scipionen und seine Gegner (Graz: Leuschner & Lubensky, 1891); Zur Kritik und Erklärung des Platonischen Dialoges Lysis (Graz: K.K. Universitäts-Buchdruckerei ‘Styria’, 1893); “Dialoges Charmides,” WS 16 (1894) 1-7; S. Aureli Augustini Hipponiensis episcopi Epistulae in Corpus scriptorium ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vols. 34, 44, 57, 58, Austrian Acad. Sciences: Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1895-1923); “Beiträge zur Erklärung einiger Oden des Horaz,” WS 20 (1898) 277-92; “Über die symmetrische Verteilung des Stoffes in den Menaechmen des Plautus,” in Festschrift Johannes Vahlen zum Siebenzigsten Geburtstag (Berlin: Reimer, 1900) 203-18; “Zur Kritik und Erklärung des zweiten Buches der Tristien des Ovid,” WS 26 (1904) 260-89; “Das 51. Gedicht des Catullus,” WS 29 (1908) 110-15; “Die Reste einer Handschrift des VI. Jahrhunderts in Paris und Genf und die Cambridger Handschrift|Add. 3479,” WS 35 (1913) 158-69; “Kritische Beiträge zum XLIV. und XLV. Buche des T. Livius,” WS 40 (1918) 116-28, 41 (1919) 15-32, 145-60, 42 (1920-1) 47-62; Kritische Beiträge zum XLI, XLII, und XLIII Buche des T. Livius (Vienna: Hölder, 1919); “Cicero, De finibus I 4, 17, 25 u. 50,” WS 42 (1921) 134-9; “Zur Kritik von Ciceros Schrift De officiis (Vienna: Hölder, 1921-2); “Der Laurentianus zu Ovids Tristien,” WS 43 (1924) 71-80.
  • Notes:

    Alois Goldbacher’s career was greatly influenced by the Latinist Karl Schenkl (1827-1900) at his Philological Institute established in Innsbruck. Like Goldbacher, Schenkl taught at various gymnasia before landing a university professorship and composed Die Griechisches Elementarbuch (1852) which was widely used throughout Austria. Goldbacher’s Lateinische Grammatik was the first Latin grammar for schools that was based on the new German scientific principles. It was widely used and often reprinted. Schenkl had edited several Church Fathers for the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum and Goldbach made his major contribution to the series with his critical edition of St. Augustine’s letters. He also was known for his critical edition of the philosophical works of Apuleius.

    Goldbacher had gained expertise in Latin prose in Vienna under Johannes Vahlen (1830-1911), who published widely on early Roman authors, and Hermann Bonitz (1814-88), who reformed the Prussian school program. After his German degree was accepted for employment in Austria, Goldbacher began to publish while still a docent in Graz. When Schenkl and others founded Wiener Studien (Schenkl was the first editor, 1879-99), Goldbacher published frequently in its pages. From Graz he moved to the Franz-Josephs-Universität, Czernowitz, where he remained for the rest of his career. 
  • Sources:

    A. Engelbrecht, Alm. d. Ak. d. Wiss. in Wien 74 (1925) 220-4; Osterreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950(Vienna: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1959) 2:21; Gerhard Baader, NDB 6 (1964) 602-3; “Das Fach Klassische Philologie an der Universität Graz vom Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart,” Beiträge und Materialien zur Geschichte der Wissenschaften in Österreich, ed. Walter Höflechner (Graz: Graz U. Press, 1981) 132-51.
  • Author: Ward Briggs