Johann Friedrich Dübner (20 December 180213 December 1867) was a German classical scholar (naturalized a

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

Biography

He was born in

Hörselgau Hörselgau is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 December 2011, it is part of the municipality Hörsel. History Within the German Empire (1871–1918), Hörselgau was part of Saxe-Coburg a ...

, near

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 district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

. After studying at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

he returned to Gotha, where from 1827 to 1832 he held a post (''inspector coenobii'') in connection with the gymnasium. During this period he made his name known by editions of

Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

and

Persius Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Ancient Rome, Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan civilization, Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoicism, Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he ...

(after Casaubon). In 1832 he was invited by the brothers

Didot Didot may refer to: * Didot family, family of French printers, punch-cutters and publishers that flourished mainly in the 18th century * Didot (typeface) Didot is a group of typefaces. The word/name Didot came from the famous French printing and ...

to Paris, to cooperate in a new edition of Estienne's ''Greek Thesaurus''. He also contributed largely to the ''Bibliotheca Graeca'' published by the same firm, a series of Greek classics with Latin translation, critical notes and valuable indexes. One of Dübner's most important works was an edition of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

undertaken by command of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

, which obtained him the cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. His editions are considered to be models of literary and philological criticism, and did much to raise the standard of classical scholarship in France. He violently attacked Burnouf's method of teaching

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, but without result. Dübner may have gone too far in his zeal for reform, and his opinions may have been too harshly expressed. Dübner died in Montreuil, near Paris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubner, Johann Friedrich 1802 births 1867 deaths German classical scholars French classical scholars German emigrants to France University of Göttingen alumni Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur