Martin Persson Nilsson (
Stoby,
Kristianstad County
Kristianstad County ( sv, Kristianstads län) was a county of Sweden from 1719 to 31 December 1996 when it was merged with Malmöhus County to form Skåne County.
The seat of residence for the Governor was in Kristianstad.
See also
* List of g ...
, 12 July 1874 –
Lund, 7 April 1967) was a Swedish philologist,
mythographer
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 a scholar of the Greek, Hellenistic and Roman religious systems. In his studies he combined literary evidence with archaeological evidence, linking historic and prehistoric evidence for the evolution of the Greek mythological cycles.
Biography
Beginning in 1900 as a tutor at the
University of Lund
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion [Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...]
, in 1905. In 1909 he was appointed Professor of Ancient Greek, Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund. Later, Nilsson was Secretary of the Royal Society of Letters in Lund and an Associate of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, in Stockholm. In 1924 he was made a corresponding member of the
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...
.
Works
Nilsson's best-known work in German is ' () in the ' (), which went through several editions. Nilsson had previously published it in Swedish under the title ' (1922). In English his ''Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, and Its Survival in Greek Religion'' is more often quoted. Other important works include:
*''Primitive Time-Reckoning; A Study in the Origins and First Development of the Art of Counting Time Among the Primitive and Early Culture Peoples'' (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup) 1920
*''The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology'' (Berkeley: University of California Press) 1932
On-line text This work had its origins in the Sather Classical Lectures
*''Homer and Mycenae'' (London: Methuen) 1933
*''Primitive Religion'' 1934
*"Early Orphism and Kindred Religious Movements" ''Harvard Theological Review'' 28 (1935):180-230
*''The Age of the Early Greek Tyrants'' (Belfast) 1936 (The Dill Memorial Lecture)
*''Greek Popular Religion'' (New York: Cat) 1940
*
**Translated as ''Greek Piety'' (Norton/Oxford University Press) 1969
**Translated as
*''Greek Folk Religion''. Reprinted with a foreword by Arthur Darby Nock, 1972
*
**Translated as
*''Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, and Its Survival in Greek Religion'' (Lund: Gleerup); revised 2nd ed. 1950
*''The Bacchic Mysteries in Italy''
**See also "The Bacchic Mysteries in the Roman Age" ''Harvard Theological Review'' 46 (1953):175-202
*''Cults, Myths, Oracles, and Politics in Ancient Greece'' (Studies in Mediterranean Archeology)
*''The Historical Hellenistic Background of the New Testament'' (The Bedell Lecture, Kenyon College)
References
*"Martin P. Nilsson: In Memoriam" ''The Harvard Theological Review'' 60.4 (October 1967), p. 373.
Further reading
*
Einar Gjerstad
Einar Nilson Gjerstad (Örebro, 30 October 1897 – 8 January 1988) was a Swedish archaeologist. He was most noted for his research of the ancient Mediterranean, particularly known for his work on Cyprus, as well as his studies of early Rome.
B ...
, ''Martin P. Nilsson in memoriam.'' (Lund: Gleerup) 1968. (With Erik Johan Knudtzon et al., ''Bibliographie Martin P. Nilsson.'')
*John Granlund, "Martin Persson Nilsson (1874–1967)" 'in Dag Strömbäck (ed.) ''Leading folklorists of the North'' (Oslo) 1971:135–170.
External links
About the Bookplate of Martin P. Nilsson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Martin P.
1874 births
1967 deaths
Swedish classical scholars
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
Members of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy