Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739 in

Viitasaari Viitasaari is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. There are all together 230 lakes in Viitasaari. Biggest lakes are Lake Keit ...

– 1804 in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; 1 ...

) was a professor and rector at the Royal Academy of Turku. He was a scholar sometimes known as ''The Father of Finnish History''.

Biography

He was born at

in Tavastland, Finland. Parents were Sigfrid Porthan and Kristina Juslenius. His father was a vicar who became mentally ill in 1744. He was raised by his uncle Gustaf Juslenius (1702-1774) who was the vicar of

Kronoby Kronoby ( fi, Kruunupyy) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population dens ...

in the county of Ostrobothnia. In 1754, at the age of 15, Porthan entered the

Royal Academy of Turku The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo ( sv, Kungliga Akademin i Åbo or ; la, Regia Academia Aboensis; fi, Turun akatemia) was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country ...

(now

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the R ...

). He was a student of professor

Daniel Juslenius Daniel Juslenius (10 June 1676, Mynämäki – 17 July 1752, Skara) was a Finnish writer and bishop. He was a professor of Hebrew, Greek and theology at the Royal Academy of Turku. Juslenius is considered Finland's first Fennoman and a firm ad ...

(1676–1752) who later served at Bishop of the

Diocese of Borgå The Diocese of Borgå ( sv, Borgå stift, fi, Porvoon hiippakunta) is a diocese for the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland. It is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Porvoo (''Borgå'' in Swedish) is also the old seat of th ...

. Porthan was awarded his Master of Philosophy in 1760. In 1762, he became an associate professor. He was a professor 1777–1804 and served as rector 1786–1787 and 1798–1799. He became a Fennophile and brought Finnish history-writing, study of

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

and

folk poetry Folk poetry (sometimes referred to as ''poetry in action'') is poetry that is part of a society's folklore, usually part of their oral tradition. When sung, folk poetry becomes a folk song. Description Folk poetry in general has several characte ...

, and other humanistic sciences to an international level. His ''De Poësi Fennica'' (published in five parts 1776-78), a study on Finnish folk poetry, had great importance in awakening public interest in the

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...

-poetry and

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology is a commonly applied description of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many features shared with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies, ...

, and the study was also the basis of all later study of the poetry. He was among the founders of the Aurora Society that advocated Finnish literary pursuits and was the editor of the first Finnish newspaper, ''Tidningar ugifne af et sällskap i Åbo'', founded in 1771. He instructed Kristian Erik Lencqvist (1761–1808) whose 1782 dissertation ''De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica'' was a seminal study of historic Finnish customs. Porthan was also the instructor of poet Frans Mikael Franzén (1772–1847) and also inspired the following generation of Finnish authors, poets and researchers, many of whom were among the founders of the

Finnish Literature Society The Finnish Literature Society ( fi, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura ry or fi, SKS) was founded in 1831 to promote literature written in Finnish. Among its first publications was the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic A national epi ...

in 1831. The Porthania building of the University of Helsinki is named after Porthan.

Editions

The main edition of Porthan's works remains ''Opera selecta. Skrifter i urval'', ed. by Sven Gabriel Elmgren and Josef August Schauman, 5 vols (Helsingfors: Finska Litteratur-Sällskapets tryckeri, 1859–73). However, scans of the original publications are now available via http://www.doria.fi.

References

External links

Lauri Henrik Gabriel Porthan in 375 humanists 15.02.2015, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki

Biography

Editions

See also

References

External links

Further reading