Johann Schweighäuser (; ; June 25, 1742 – January 19, 1830) was a French classical scholar.

Biography

He was born at

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, the son of a pastor of the church of Saint Thomas. From an early age his favourite subjects were

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

(especially Scottish

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

as represented by John Hutchinson and

Adam Ferguson Adam Ferguson, (Scottish Gaelic: ''Adhamh MacFhearghais''), also known as Ferguson of Raith (1 July N.S. /20 June O.S. 1723 – 22 February 1816), was a Scottish philosopher and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment. Ferguson was sympath ...

) and Oriental languages;

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

he took up later, and although he owes his reputation to his editions of Greek authors, he was always diffident as to his classical attainments. After visiting

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the principal cities of Germany, he became assistant professor of philosophy (1770) at

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

. When the French Revolution broke out, he was banished; in 1794 he returned, and after the reorganization of the Academy in 1809 was appointed professor of Greek. He resigned his post in 1824, making way for his son. In 1826 he was decorated by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London.

Works

Schweighäuser's first important work was his edition of

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; ; ; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who prospered during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. He was born c. 95 in Alexandria. After holding the senior offices in the pr ...

(1785), with Latin translation and commentary, and an account of the MSS. On Brunck's recommendation, he had collated an Augsburg MS. of Appian for Samuel Musgrave, who was preparing an edition of that author, and after Musgrave's death he felt it a duty to complete it. His

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

, with translation, notes and special lexicon, appeared between 1789 and 1795. But his chief work is his edition of

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

(1801–1807), in fourteen volumes, one of the Bipont editions. According to Paul Louis Courier, this edition is a great progress on the one of

Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two F ...

, which was two centuries old at the time. His

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

(1816; lexicon, 1824) is less successful; he depends too much on earlier editions and inferior MSS., and lacks the finer scholarship necessary in dealing with such an author. Mention may also be made of his ''Enchiridion'' of Epictetus and '' Tabula'' of Cebes (1798), which appeared at the time when the doctrines of the

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...

were fashionable; the letters of Seneca to Lucilius (1809); corrections and notes to Suidas (1789); and some moral philosophy essays. His minor works are collected in his ''Opuscula academica'' (1806).

Family

His son, Johann Gottfried, was also a distinguished scholar and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Bibliography

See monographs by J. G. Dahler, C. L. Cuvier, F. J. Stiévenart (all 1830), L. Spach (1868), Ch. Rabany (1884), the two last containing an account of both father and son.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweighauser, Johann 1742 births 1830 deaths French classical scholars Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg