Johann Schweighäuser (; french: Jean Geoffroy Schweighaeuser; June 25, 1742 – January 19, 1830), was a French classical scholar.

Biography

He was born at

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, the son of a pastor of the church of Saint Thomas. From an early age his favourite subjects were

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

(especially Scottish

moral philosophy Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

as represented by John Hutchinson and

Adam Ferguson Adam Ferguson, (Scottish Gaelic: ''Adhamh MacFhearghais''), also known as Ferguson of Raith (1 July N.S./20 June O.S. 1723 – 22 February 1816), was a Scottish philosopher and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment. Ferguson was sympathet ...

) and Oriental languages;

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 ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

he took up later, and although he owes his reputation to his editions of Greek authors, he was always diffident as to his classical attainments. After visiting

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and the principal cities of Germany, he became assistant professor of philosophy (1770) at

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. When the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

broke out, he was banished; in 1794 he returned, and after the reorganization of the Academy in 1809 was appointed professor of Greek. He resigned his post in 1824, making way for his son. In 1826 he was decorated by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London.

Works

Schweighäuser's first important work was his edition of

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...

(1785), with Latin translation and commentary, and an account of the MSS. On Brunck's recommendation, he had collated an Augsburg MS. of Appian for Samuel Musgrave, who was preparing an edition of that author, and after Musgrave's death he felt it a duty to complete it. His

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

, with translation, notes and special lexicon, appeared between 1789 and 1795. But his chief work is his edition of

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 ...

(1801–1807), in fourteen volumes, one of the Bipont editions. According to

Paul Louis Courier Paul Louis Courier (; 4 January 177210 April 1825), French Hellenist and political writer, was born in Paris. Life Brought up on his father's estate of Méré in Touraine, he conceived a bitter aversion for the nobility, which seemed to strengt ...

, this edition is a great progress on the one of

Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two Fr ...

, which was two centuries old at the time. His

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

(1816; lexicon, 1824) is less successful; he depends too much on earlier editions and inferior MSS., and lacks the finer scholarship necessary in dealing with such an author. Mention may also be made of his ''Enchiridion'' of Epictetus and ''

Tabula Tabula may refer to: *Tabula (company), a semiconductor company *Tabula (game), a game thought to be the predecessor to backgammon * ''Tabula'' (magazine), a magazine published in Tbilisi, Georgia *Tabula ansata, a tablet with handles See also * ...

'' of

Cebes Cebes of Thebes ( el, Κέβης Θηβαῖος, ''gen''.: Κέβητος; ''c''. 430 – 350 BCEDebra Nails, (2002), ''The people of Plato: a prosopography of Plato and other Socratics'', page 82.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher from Thebes rem ...

(1798), which appeared at the time when the doctrines of the

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting that th ...

were fashionable; the letters of Seneca to Lucilius (1809); corrections and notes to

Suidas The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

(1789); and some moral philosophy essays. His minor works are collected in his ''Opuscula academica'' (1806).

Family

His son, Johann Gottfried, was also a distinguished scholar and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Bibliography

See monographs by J. G. Dahler, C. L. Cuvier, F. J. Stiévenart (all 1830), L. Spach (1868), Ch. Rabany (1884), the two last containing an account of both father and son.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweighauser, Johann 1742 births 1830 deaths French classical scholars University of Strasbourg faculty