Kaspar von Barth (21 June 1587 – 17 September 1658) was a German

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

and writer. Barth was born at Küstrin (today Kostrzyn in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) in the

Neumark The Neumark (), also known as the New March ( pl, Nowa Marchia) or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945. Call ...

region of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

. A precocious child, he was looked upon as a marvel of learning. After studying at

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...

, 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 ...

, he travelled extensively, visiting most of the countries of Europe. Too independent to accept any regular post, he lived alternately at

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

and on his property at Sellerhausen in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Because his library and manuscripts were destroyed by a fire at Sellerhausen, Barth moved to the Paulinum at Leipzig, where he died. Barth was a voluminous writer. Regarding Barth and his output,

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * ...

gives the following judgment: "his works, which were the fruits of extensive reading and a retentive memory, are unmethodical and uncritical and marred by want of taste and of clearness. He appears to have been excessively vain and of an unamiable disposition." That article considered the following to be his most important writings: *''Adversariorum commentariolum'' in 60 books (Frankfurt 1624, reprinted in 1658), a storehouse of miscellaneous learning, dealing not only with classical but also with medieval and modern writers *commentaries on Claudian (1650) *commentaries on Statius (published posthumously at

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...

in 1664 under the direction of his friend Christian Daum). In addition, another work can be noted: *''Caspar Barthen Deutscher Phoenix'' (Caspar Barthen German Phoenix, 1626)

References

External links

''Adversariorum Commentariorum Libri LX'', Francofurti: Aubrius & Schleichius, 1624
(digitization from the copy at the Universitätsbibliothek

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, with the missing folia supplied from the copy at the Universitätsbibliothek

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 three ...

.
Friedrich August Wolf's assessment of Barth, from J.D. Gürtler, ed., ''Fr. Aug. Wolf's Vorlesung über die Encyclopädie der Alterthumswissenschaft'' (Leipzig, 1831), p. 486
1587 births 1658 deaths German philologists People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg University of Wittenberg alumni University of Jena alumni {{Germany-academic-bio-stub