Wolfgang Schadewaldt (15 March 1900 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

– 10 November 1974 in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

) 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 and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

working mostly in the field of

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 ...

philology and a

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

. He also was a professor of

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 ...

and

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

Biography

The son of a Berlin doctor, Schadewaldt studied classical philology, archaeology, and German literature at the Friedrich Wilhelm University (now the

Humboldt 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 ...

) under

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 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 ...

and

Werner Jaeger Werner Wilhelm Jaeger (30 July 1888 – 19 October 1961) was a German-American classicist. Life Werner Wilhelm Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia in the German Empire. He attended school in Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in ...

. After his doctorate (1924) and

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

(1927), he was a

Docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

at the university. In 1928 he was appointed professor at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

. He moved in 1929 to the

, where as Dean in 1933 he was a supporter of the Rectorship of his friend

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

and of Nazi policies in higher education. In 1934, however, he resigned as Dean and in the fall moved to the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

as the successor to

Erich Bethe Erich Julius Adolf Bethe (2 May 1863 – 19 October 1940) was a German classical philologist who was a native of Stettin. In 1887 he earned his doctorate from the University of Göttingen, later receiving his habilitation at Bonn in 1891. From ...

. Schadewaldt was a co-editor of the philological journal ''Hermes'' from 1933 to 1944 and of the journal ''Die Antike'', which was aimed at a broader public, from 1937 to 1944. In 1941 he returned to the University of Berlin, where he took up the chair of classical philology. From 1942, as a member of the interdisciplinary Mittwochsgesellschaft (Wednesday Society), he would have encountered figures active in the resistance to Hitler. In 1942 he was inducted into 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 ...

. There he held various functions until 1950: he was a member of the Institute for Greek and Roman Antiquity and directed the Polybios-Lexicon, the

Inscriptiones Graecae The ''Inscriptiones Graecae'' (IG), Latin for ''Greek inscriptions'', is an academic project originally begun by the Prussian Academy of Science, and today continued by its successor organisation, the . Its aim is to collect and publish all known ...

, and the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum. He was also a member of the commission for German and of the commission for the history of late antique religion, and founder and editor of the Goethe Dictionary. From 1950 to 1972 he taught at the

, from which he officially retired in 1968. He is buried in the Bergfriedhof in Tübingen. The Egyptologist Dorothea Arnold is his daughter.

Scholarship

Schadewaldt is regarded as one of the most important twentieth-century German classical philologists as well as one of the most effective communicators of ancient Greek literature. Schadewaldt's published works cover all genres of ancient Greek poetry: epic, lyric, and drama as well as philosophy and historiography. His work on

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

marks a high point. In addition to countless separate publications, his analyses in all these areas are collected in his six volumes of ''Tübingen Lectures'', delivered between 1950 and 1972. Schadewaldt's influence is also felt in the form of his students, among whom are the early representatives of the Tübingen school of Platonic studies. This internationally recognized approach to Platonic interpretation was founded by Schadewaldt's students Hans Joachim Krämer and Konrad Gaiser, and subsequently advanced by Gaiser's successor Thomas A. Szlezák. Schadewaldt's students also include Wolfgang Kullmann and

Hellmut Flashar Hellmut Flashar (; 3 December 1929 – 17 August 2022) was a German classical philologist and translator. Life and career Flashar was born in Hamburg on 3 December 1929. As a professor, he taught at the University of Bochum (1965–1982) and ...

, who studied with him in Berlin, and the ancient historian

Alexander Demandt Alexander Demandt (born 6 June 1937 in Marburg, Hesse-Nassau) is a German historian. He was professor of ancient history at the Free University of Berlin from 1974 to 2005. Demandt is an expert on the history of Rome, Late Antiquity Late antiqui ...

Translations

Schadewaldt is known to a broader audience as translator of Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'', which along with the renderings of

Johann Heinrich Voss Johann Heinrich Voss (german: Johann Heinrich Voß, ; 20 February 1751 – 29 March 1826) was a Germans, German classicist and poet, known mostly for his translation of Homer's ''Odyssey'' (1781) and ''Iliad'' (1793) into German language, German ...

are regarded as the best German versions of the two epics. Unlike Voss, Schadewaldt opted not to employ the hexameter in his versions. He translated the ''Odyssey'' (1957) in prose; his posthumously published version of the ''Iliad'' (1975) employs free verse. In addition to Homer, Schadewaldt's translations include tragedies by Aeschylus and Sophocles, as well as the ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

''.

Publications

Monographs and collections

* ''Monolog und Selbstgeschpräch'' (1926) * ''Iliasstudien'' (1938; 2d ed. 1943; 3d ed. 1966) * ''Die Heimkehr des Odysseus'' (1946) * ''Legende von Homer dem fahrenden Sänger'' (1942, 1959) * ''Sophokles und das Leid'' (1948) * ''Sappho. Welt und Dichtung. Dasein in der Liebe'' (1950) * ''Griechische Sternsagen'' (1956) * ''Hellas und Hesperien. Gesammelte Schriften zur Antike und zur neueren Literatur'' (1960) * ''Goethe-Studien. Natur und Altertum'' (1963) * ''Tübinger Vorlesungen''. Vol. 1: ''Die Anfänge der Philosophie bei den Griechen'', ed. by Ingeborg Schudoma, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1978 * ''Tübinger Vorlesungen''. Vol. 2: ''Die Anfänge der Geschichtsschreibung bei den Griechen'', ed. by Ingeborg Schudoma, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1982 * ''Tübinger Vorlesungen''. Vol. 3: ''Die frühgriechische Lyrik'', ed. by Ingeborg Schudoma, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1989 * ''Tübinger Vorlesungen''. Vol. 4: ''Die griechische Tragödie'', ed by Ingeborg Schudoma, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1991

Translations

* Aristophanes: ''Die Frösche''. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1971 (Insel-Bücherei Nr. 962) * Aristophanes: ''Lysistrata''. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1972 (Insel-Bücherei Nr. 967) * ''Carmina Burana'', 1953 * Homer: ''Odyssee'', Hamburg, Rowohlt, 1958 * Homer: ''Ilias'', Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1975 * Sophokles: ''Aias'', Frankfurt am Main, Insel, 1993 * Sophokles: ''Antigone'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1974 * Sophokles: ''Elektra'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig 1994 * Sophokles: ''Die Frauen von Trachis'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig 2000 * Sophokles: ''Ödipus auf Kolonos'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig 1996 * Sophokles: ''Philoktet'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig 1999 * ''Sternsagen. Die Mythologie der Sternbilder'', Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig 2002

Honors and awards

* 1934: Member of the Leipzig Academy of Sciences * 1934: Member of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

* 1942: Member of the

* 1946

German Academy of Sciences at Berlin The German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, german: Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (DAW), in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent research institution ...

* 1958: Member of the

Heidelberg Academy of Sciences The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (German: ''Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften''), established in 1909 in Heidelberg, Germany, is an assembly of scholars and scientists in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The Academ ...

* 1962:

Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts Pour may refer to these people: * Kour Pour (born 1987), British artist of part-Iranian descent * Mehdi Niyayesh Pour (born 1992), Iranian footballer * Mojtaba Mobini Pour (born 1991), Iranian footballer * Pouya Jalili Pour (born 1976), Iranian si ...

* 1963: Reuchlin Prize * 1964: Grand Merit Cross with Star of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 1965: Translation Prize of the German Academy for Language and Poetry * 1972:

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

Biography

Scholarship

Translations

Publications

Monographs and collections

Translations

Honors and awards

See also

Further reading