Johann Georg Baiter (May 31, 1801 – October 10, 1877) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and textual critic.

Life

He was born at

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, where he received his early education. He went on in 1818 to the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, but could not afford to stay there, and had to return to Zürich, where for several years he was a private tutor. From 1824 to 1829 he studied at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

under

Friedrich Thiersch Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (17 June 178425 February 1860), was a German classical scholar and educationist. Biography He was born at Kirchscheidungen (now a part of Laucha an der Unstrut, Saxony-Anhalt). In 1809 he became professor at the g ...

; at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

, under Georg Ludolf Dissen; at

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, under

Christian Lobeck Christian August Lobeck (; 5 June 1781 – 25 August 1860) was a German classical scholar. Lobeck was born at Naumburg, in the Electorate of Saxony. After studying at the universities of Jena and Leipzig, he became ''Privatdozent'' at the Uni ...

. From 1833 to 1876 he was ''Oberlehrer'' at the gymnasium in Zürich, where he died.

Work

Baiter's strong point was

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in ...

, applied chiefly to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

and the Attic orators; he was very successful in finding the best manuscript authorities, and his collations were made with the greatest accuracy. Most of his works were produced in collaboration with other scholars, such as

Johann Caspar von Orelli Johann Caspar von Orelli (Latin ''Iohannes Caspar Orellius''; 13 February 1787 – 6 January 1849), was a Swiss classical scholar. Life He was born at Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and ...

, who regarded him as his right-hand man. He edited

Isocrates Isocrates (; grc, Ἰσοκράτης ; 436–338 BC) was an ancient Greek rhetorician, one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education throu ...

, Panegyricus (1831); with

Hermann Sauppe Hermann Sauppe (9 December 1809 – 15 September 1893) was a German classical philologist and epigraphist born in Weesenstein, near Dresden. In 1832 he earned his doctorate from the University of Leipzig, where he was a student of Gottfried H ...

Lycurgus Lycurgus or Lykourgos () may refer to: People * Lycurgus (king of Sparta) (third century BC) * Lycurgus (lawgiver) (eighth century BC), creator of constitution of Sparta * Lycurgus of Athens (fourth century BC), one of the 'ten notable orators' ...

' ''Leocracea'' (1834) and ''Oratores Atticae'' (1838–1850); with Orelli and

Winckelmann Winckelmann may refer to: * George Winckelmann (1884–1962), a Finnish lawyer and a diplomat * Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768), a German art historian and archaeologist * Johann Just Winckelmann Johann Just Winckelmann (19 August 1620 ...

, a critical edition of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

(1839–1842), which marked a distinct advance in the text, two new manuscripts being laid under contribution; with Orelli, ''Babrius, Fabellae Iambicae nuper repertae'' (1845); ''Isocrates'', in the

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 ...

collection of classics (1846).

Collaborators

He had been associated with Orelli in his great work on Cicero, and assisted in ''Ciceronis Scholiastae'' (1833) and ''Onomasticon Tullianum'' (1836–1838). The ''Fasti Consulares'' and ''Triumphales'' were all his own work. With Orelli and (after his death)

Karl Felix Halm Karl Felix Halm (also ''Carl''; ''Karl Felix Ritter von Halm'' after 1872; 5 April 1809 – 5 October 1882), was a German classical scholar and critic. Life He was born at Munich. In 1849, having held appointments at Speyer and Hadamar, he ...

, he assisted in the second edition of the Cicero, and, with Carl Ludwig Kayser, edited the same author for the

Tauchnitz Tauchnitz was the name of a family of German printers and publishers. They published English language literature for distribution on the European continent outside Great Britain, including initial serial publications of novels by Charles Dickens. ...

series (1860–1869). New editions of Orelli's

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

and

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

were also due to him. It is worth noting that, with Sauppe, he translated

William Martin Leake William Martin Leake (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English military man, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British military, spending much of his career in the Mediterrane ...

's ''Topography of Athens''.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baiter, Johann Georg 1801 births 1877 deaths Writers from Zürich Swiss philologists Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni University of Göttingen alumni University of Königsberg alumni Swiss classical scholars