Georg Friedrich Schömann (28 June 1793 – 25 March 1879), was a German classical scholar of Swedish heritage.ADB:Schömann, Georg Friedrich
@ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie GFSchoemann

Background

He was born at Stralsund in

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

. He studied at the Universities of

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rosto ...

and

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

, earning his PhD at Greifswald in 1815. In 1820 he obtained his habilitation with the thesis "''De sortitione iudicum apud Athenienses''". In 1827 he was appointed professor of ancient literature and rhetoric at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

, where in 1844, he was named first librarian. He died in Greifswald on 25 March 1879.

Classical studies

Schömann's main interest was in the constitutional and religious antiquities of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. His first works on the subject were "''De comitiis Atheniensium''" (1819), the first independent account of the forms of Athenian political life, and a treatise "''De sortitione judicum apud Athenienses''" (1820). In conjunction with M. H. E. Meier, Schömann wrote "''Der attische Process''" (1824). Among his other works are: *editions of

Isaeus Isaeus ( el, Ἰσαῖος ''Isaios''; fl. early 4th century BC) was one of the ten Attic orators according to the Alexandrian canon. He was a student of Isocrates in Athens, and later taught Demosthenes while working as a ''metic'' logographer (s ...

(1831) and

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

's "''Agis and Cleomenes''" (1839, important for the Attic law of inheritance and the history of the

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

n constitution). *"
Antiquitates juris publici Graecorum
'" (1838). *a critical examination of Grote's account of the

Athenian constitution Constitution of the Athenians (Greek: ''Athenaion politeia'') may refer to either of two ancient treatises on the subject of the government of Athens: * Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle), a treatise on the Athenian constitution written by A ...

(1854, Eng. trans. by Bernard Bosanquet, 1878) from a conservative point of view. *"''Griechische Alterthümer''" (2 volumes, 1855, 1859, 2nd edition 1861, 3rd edition 1871-73), treating of the general historical development of the Greek states, followed by a detailed account of the constitutions of Sparta,

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

and

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, the cults and international relations of the Greek tribes. The question of the religious institutions of the Greeks, which Schömann considered an essential part of their public life, soon attracted his attention, and he took the view that everything really religious was akin to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, and that the greatest intellects of Greece produced intuitively Christian,

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...

tic ideas. From this point of view he edited the "''Theogony''" of

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet ...

(1868), with a commentary, chiefly mythological, and Cicero's "''De natura deorum''" (1850, 4th ed. 1876);WorldCat Title
De natura deorum (1876) translated with introduction and notes

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

's "''

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' ( grc, Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης, ''Promētheús Desmṓtēs'') is an Ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ant ...

''", and wrote a "''Prometheus Unbound''" (1844), in which

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...

is brought to see the greatness of his offense and is pardoned by

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

. Of his contributions on grammatical subjects special mention may be made of "
Die Lehre von den Redetheilen nach den Alten dargestellt und beurtheilt
'" (1862), an introduction to the elements of the science of grammar. His many-sidedness is shown in his "''Opuscula academica''" (4 volumes, 1856-1871). In Samuel Butler’s '' The Way of All Flesh'' (1903), the protagonist, Earnest Pontifex, is given a copy of ''De Comitiis Atheniensibus'' by his headmaster, Dr. Skinner.

Background

Classical studies

References

Further reading