Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs (October 6, 1764 – March 30, 1847) a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, was born at

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

. After studying philology and theology at

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, in 1785, Friedrich Jacobs (as he is known), became a teacher in the gymnasium of his native town, and in 1802 was appointed to an office in the public library. In 1807 he became classical tutor in the

lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, but, disgusted at the attacks made upon him by the old

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n Catholic party, who resented the introduction of north German teachers, he returned to Gotha in 1810 to take charge of the library and the numismatic cabinet. He remained in Gotha till his death on 30 March 1847. Jacobs was an extremely successful teacher; he took great interest in the affairs of his country, and was a publicist of no mean order. But his great work was a huge critical commentary to the '' Greek Anthology'' in 13 volumes (1798–1814), followed by the first modern edition based on the ''

Codex Palatinus The Codex Palatinus, designated by e or 2 (in Beuron system), is a 5th-century Latin Gospel Book. The text, written on purple dyed vellum in gold and silver ink (as are codices '' a b f i j''), is a version of the old Latin. Most of the manusc ...

'' (1814–1817). He published also notes on

Stobaeus Joannes Stobaeus (; grc-gre, Ἰωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος; fl. 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containin ...

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

and the ''Iliaca'' of John Tzetzes; translations of Aelian (''History of Animals''); many of the Greek romances (

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; grc-gre, Φιλόστρατος ; c. 170 – 247/250 AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He was born probab ...

); poetical versions of much of the ''Greek Anthology''; miscellaneous essays on classical subjects; and some very successful school books. His translation of the political speeches of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...

was undertaken with the express purpose of rousing his country against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, whom he regarded as a second

Philip of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the a ...

. In 1809 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands. Four years later, in 1813, he became associated member. Friedrich Jacobs was the great great great grandfather of the philosopher Ruth Anna Putnam''

Deutsches Geschlechterbuch The ''Deutsches Geschlechterbuch'', until 1943 known as the ''Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien'', is a major German genealogical handbook of bourgeois or patrician families. It is the bourgeois and patrician equivalent of the '' Gen ...

'', vol. 214, Limburg 2002, p. 267-946 (wife of Hilary Putnam).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Christian Friedrich Wilhelm 1764 births 1847 deaths German classical scholars Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences