Christian Daniel Beck
Encyclopedia
Christian Daniel Beck was a German philologist, historian
, theologian
and antiquarian
, one of the most learned men of his time.
and studied at Leipzig University, where in 1785 he was appointed professor of Greek and Latin literature. This post he resigned in 1819 in order to take up the professorship of history, but resumed it in 1825. In 1819, he also became editor of the Allgemeines Reportorium der neuesten in- und ausländischen Litteratur (Reports on the latest in domestic and foreign literature). He also had the management of the university library, was director of the institute for the deaf and dumb, and filled many educational and municipal offices.
In 1784 he founded a philological society, which grew into a philological seminary, superintended by him until his death. In 1808 he was made a Hofrath by the king of Saxony, and in 1820 a knight of the civil order of merit. His philological lectures, in which grammar and criticism were subordinated to history, were attended by hearers from all parts of Germany. He possessed a large and valuable library of 24,000 volumes.
He died at Leipzig on 13 December 1832.
He translated Ferguson
's Fall of the Roman Republic and Goldsmith's History of Greece, and added two volumes to Bauer
's Thucydides. He also wrote on theological and historical subjects, and edited philological and bibliographical journals. Examples of his other works are:
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, theologian
Theology
Theology 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...
and antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
, one of the most learned men of his time.
Biography
Beck was born at LeipzigLeipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and studied at Leipzig University, where in 1785 he was appointed professor of Greek and Latin literature. This post he resigned in 1819 in order to take up the professorship of history, but resumed it in 1825. In 1819, he also became editor of the Allgemeines Reportorium der neuesten in- und ausländischen Litteratur (Reports on the latest in domestic and foreign literature). He also had the management of the university library, was director of the institute for the deaf and dumb, and filled many educational and municipal offices.
In 1784 he founded a philological society, which grew into a philological seminary, superintended by him until his death. In 1808 he was made a Hofrath by the king of Saxony, and in 1820 a knight of the civil order of merit. His philological lectures, in which grammar and criticism were subordinated to history, were attended by hearers from all parts of Germany. He possessed a large and valuable library of 24,000 volumes.
He died at Leipzig on 13 December 1832.
Works
He edited a number of classical authors:- Albinovanus PedoAlbinovanus PedoAlbinovanus Pedo, Roman poet, flourished during the Augustan age.He wrote Theseis, referred to in a letter from his friend Ovid, epigrams which are commended by Martial and an epic poem on the exploits of Germanicus...
(1783) - 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...
and the Scholia (1792–1795) - AristophanesAristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
(with Filippo Invernizzi and Wilhelm Dindorf, 1794, etc.) - 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...
(1778–1788) - Apollonius Rhodius (1797)
- DemosthenesDemosthenesDemosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
De Pace (1799) - 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...
(1813–1819) - 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...
(1795–1807) - Titus Calpurnius SiculusTitus Calpurnius SiculusTitus Calpurnius was a Roman bucolic poet. Eleven eclogues have been handed down to us under his name, of which the last four, from metrical considerations and express manuscript testimony, are now generally attributed to Nemesianus, who lived in the time of the emperor Carus and his sons .Hardly...
(1803)
He translated Ferguson
Adam Ferguson
Adam Ferguson FRSE, also known as Ferguson of Raith was a Scottish philosopher, social scientist and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment...
's Fall of the Roman Republic and Goldsmith's History of Greece, and added two volumes to Bauer
Bruno Bauer
Bruno Bauer was a German philosopher and historian. As a student of GWF Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism...
's Thucydides. He also wrote on theological and historical subjects, and edited philological and bibliographical journals. Examples of his other works are:
- Anleitung zur Kenntnis der allgemeinen Welt- und Völkergeschichte (4 vols., 1787-1807)
- Commentarii Historici Decretorum Religionis Christianæ et Formulæ Lutheranæ (1801)
- Commentarii Societatis Philologicæ Lipsiensis (1801-04)