Karl-Wilhelm Welwei is a German historian, who is regarded as one of the most notable experts on the history of Ancient Greece.

Biopgraphy

Welwei was born on 17 October 1930 in Witten

Witten

Witten is a university city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the home of the Witten/Herdecke University, the first private university in Germany.-Bordering municipalities:* Bochum* Dortmund* Herdecke* Wetter * Sprockhoevel* Hattingen...

. He studied history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and classical philology

Classical philology

Classical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...

 at the University of Cologne

University of Cologne

The University of Cologne is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with over 44,000 students, one of the largest universities in Germany. The university is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, an association of Germany's leading research universities...

. In 1963, he received a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 under the tutorage of Hans Volkmann, and earned his habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 in 1970 at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Between 1972 and 1996 he was 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 Ancient History

Ancient history

Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

. Since 1993 he has been a member of the German Archaeological Institute

German Archaeological Institute

The German Archaeological Institute is an institution of research within the field of archaeology , and a "scientific corporation", with parentage of the federal Foreign Office of Germany-Origin:...

.

Many of Welwei's book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s, including Die griechische Polis, Athen, Das klassische Aten have reached a standard status. The focus of his research, in addition to Ancient 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...

 are the Republic and Imperial epochs of Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

.

Works

Books

• Athen. Vom neolithischen Siedlungsplatz zur archaischen Großpolis. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1992, ISBN 3-534-07541-2.
• Die griechische Frühzeit 2000 bis 500 v. Chr. (Becksche Reihe; 2185). 2nd Edition. Beck Wissen, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-47985-4.
• Die griechische Polis. Verfassung und Gesellschaft in archaischer und klassischer Zeit. 2nd Edition. Verlag Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07174-1.
• Das klassische Athen. Demokratie und Machtpolitik im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 3-89678-117-0.
• Sparta. Aufstieg und Niedergang einer antiken Großmacht. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-608-94016-2.

Essays

• Römische Herrschaftsideologie und augusteische Germanienpolitik. In: Gymnasium Volume 93, 1986, p. 118 ff.
• The Peloponnesian War and its Aftermath. In: Konrad Kinzl (Hrsg.): A Companion to the Classical Greek World. Blackwell, Malden, Ma. 2008, ISBN 978-0-631-23014-4.