Walther Kranz (; 23 November 1884 in

Georgsmarienhütte Georgsmarienhütte () is a town in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teutoburg Forest, approx. 7 km south of Osnabrück. History In 1856 the company "Georgs-Marien-Bergwerks- und Hüttenverein" wa ...

– 18 September 1960 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

) was a German

classical philologist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and ot ...

(the study of classical antiquity) and

historian of 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 ...

Biography

Kranz studied classical philology at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

from 1903 to 1907 with

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature ...

Hermann Diels Hermann Alexander Diels (; 18 May 1848 – 4 June 1922) was a German classical scholar, who was influential in the area of early Greek philosophy and is known for his standard work ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker''. Diels helped to import the ...

and Eduard Norden. He received his doctorate in 1910 with Wilamowitz-Moellendorf. For several years he was a teacher at the

Berlin-Grunewald Grunewald () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Famous for the homonymous forest, until 2001 administrative reform it was part of the former district of Wilmersdorf. Next to Licht ...

experimental school. In 1932, he joined the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

as an honorary professor of classical languages . He took over the publication of ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker'' ('' The Fragments of the Pre-Socratics'') from the 5th edition onwards. After the takeover by the Nazis, he experienced political difficulties because his wife was Jewish. In 1937 he lost his full teaching license, and in 1943 he accepted an invitation from the

University of Istanbul , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

and taught there until 1950. From 1950 to 1955 he served as an honorary professor of ancient history at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. He died in Bonn in 1960.

Works

* ''Stasimon. Untersuchungen zu Form und Gehalt der griechischen Tragödie'', Verlag Weidman, Berlin 1933. * ''Geschichte der griechischen Literatur''. Leipzig 1940; 1998. * ''Die griechische Philosophie: Zugleich eine Einführung in die Philosophie überhaupt''. Leipzig 1941; 2004 * ''Studien zur antiken Literatur und ihrem Fortwirken''. Heidelberg 1967.

References

* Gerhard Baader
''Kranz, Walther''
In: ''

Neue Deutsche Biographie ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (''NDB''; literally ''New German Biography'') is a biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 26 volumes published thus far cover ...

'' (NDB). Vol. 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, , p. 674. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kranz, Walther 1884 births 1960 deaths German classical scholars German scholars of ancient Greek philosophy People from Georgsmarienhütte University of Halle faculty University of Bonn faculty Humboldt University of Berlin alumni