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{{Short description|German philologist (1866-1908)}}
[[File:Albrecht Dieterich.JPG|right|thumb|Albrecht Dieterich (1866-1908)]]
{{Infobox academic
'''Albrecht Dieterich''' (May 2, 1866 – May 6, 1908) was a German [[classical philology|classical philologist]] and religious scholar who was a native of [[Bad Hersfeld|Hersfeld]].
| name = Albrecht Dieterich
| image = Albrecht Dieterich - Imagines philologorum.jpg
| alt = A middle-aged man in formal dress, using a monocle to read.
| discipline = Classics, Philology
| spouse = Maria Usener
| parents = Albrecht Sr & Henriette Münscher D.
| thesis_title = PhD: Papyrus magica Musei Lugdunensis Batavi quam C. Leemans edidit in Papyrorum Graecarum tomo II, V. (Bonn, 1888)
| doctoral_advisor = Hermann Usener
| influences = {{bulleted list
| [[Aeschylus]] <br>
| [[Aristophanes]] <br>
| [[Hesiod]] <br>
| [[Erwin Rohde]] <br>
| [[Wilhelm Mannhardt]] <br>
| [[August Mau]] <br>
| [[Johann Jakob Bachofen]] <br>
| [[Albrecht Ritschl]]
}}
| notable_students = {{ill|Ludwig Deubner|de}}, {{ill|Friedrich Pfister|de}}, Eugen Fehrle, [[Otto Weinreich]], [[Richard Wünsch]], {{ill|Adam Abt|de}}, Ludwig Fahz, [[Adolf Erman]], [[Georg Möller]], {{ill|Karl Preisendanz|de}}
| influenced = {{bulleted list
| [[Carl Jung]] <br>
| [[Ludwig Klages]] <br>
| [[Walter Otto]] <br>
| [[Max Weber]] <br>
| [[Samson Eitrem]] <br>
| [[Friedrich Heiler]] <br>
| [[Joachim Wach]] <br>
| [[Gerard van der Leeuw]] <br>
| [[E. O. James]] <br>
| [[Raffaele Pettazzoni]] <br>
| [[Mircea Eliade]] <br>
| [[Richard Reitzenstein]]}}
| children = Hermann Sr., Hermann Jr.
| thesis_url = https://books.google.co.in/books?id=WUR82nJUEzYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=albrecht+dieterich&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=albrecht%20dieterich&f=false
| school_tradition = [[Eranos]]
}}
'''Albrecht Dieterich''' (2 May 1866 – 6 May 1908) was a German [[classical philology|classical philologist]] and [[Religious studies|scholar of religion]] born in [[Bad Hersfeld|Hersfeld]].


== Academic background ==
He studied at the Universities of [[University of Leipzig|Leipzig]] and [[University of Bonn|Bonn]], where at the latter he was a student of [[Hermann Usener]] (1834-1905), who in 1899 became Dieterich's father-in-law. In 1888 he earned his doctorate, and three years later received his habilitation in [[University of Marburg|Marburg]] with a dissertation on [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]]. Afterwards he travelled to Italy and Greece for research purposes.
He studied at the Universities of [[University of Leipzig|Leipzig]] and [[University of Bonn|Bonn]]. At Leipzig he studied with professors [[Georg Curtius]], [[Otto Crusius (1857–1918)|Otto Crusius]] and [[Otto Ribbeck]]. At Bonn he studied with [[Franz Bücheler]], [[Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz]] and [[Hermann Usener]] (1834–1905).<ref>{{Cite web |title=DIETERICH, Albrecht |url=https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/dieterich-albrecht |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=dbcs.rutgers.edu |publisher=Database of Classical Scholars, Rutgers University}}</ref> Usener in 1899 became Dieterich's father-in-law. In 1888 he earned his doctorate, and three years later received his [[habilitation]] in [[University of Marburg|Marburg]] with a dissertation on [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]]. He had come to Marburg on the insistence of [[Georg Wissowa]] and even contributed the entry on Aeschylus in the Pauly-Wissowa [[Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marchand |first=Suzanne |date=2003 |title=From Liberalism to Neoromanticism: Albrecht Dieterich, Richard Reitzenstein, and the Religious Turn in "Fin-De-Siècle" German Classical Studies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43768160 |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement |issue=79 |pages=129–160 |jstor=43768160 |issn=2398-3264}}</ref> For his [[Staatsexamen]], he chose the theme 'What do we know about [[Plato]]'s theism or pantheism?'. Afterwards he traveled to Italy and Greece for research purposes during the years 1892-1895.
[[File:Dieterich grab.JPG|thumb|200px|His grave in Heidelberg]]
[[File:Dieterich grab.JPG|thumb|200px|His grave in Heidelberg]]
In 1895 he returned to [[Marburg]] as an associate professor, and two years later succeeded [[Eduard Schwartz]] (1858-1940) as chair of classical [[philology]] at the [[University of Giessen]]. In 1903 he was a full professor at the [[University of Heidelberg]].
In 1895 he returned to [[Marburg]] as an associate professor, and two years later succeeded [[Eduard Schwartz]] (1858–1940) as chair of classical [[philology]] at the [[University of Giessen]]. From 1903 till his death in 1908, he was a full professor at the [[University of Heidelberg]]. He was working on his magnum opis, the ''Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Religion'', a detailed critical study of classical religion, but was unable to complete it.


In 1903, he co-founded the study group [[Eranos]] with a fellow Marburg student, [[Gustav Adolf Deissmann]]. The two, along with Wissowa and Wilhelm Schulze, were part of a daily ''Tischrunde'' 'von glücklischter Zusammensetzung', an informal learned society of Classics scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gerber |first=Albrecht |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmyU7wUNZ3gC&dq=albrecht+dieterich&pg=PA121 |title=Deissmann the Philologist |date=2010-03-26 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-022432-0 |pages=69–70, 109 |language=de}}</ref>
Much of Dieterich's work involved research of traditional beliefs, [[mythology]] and religion of the [[Greco-Roman world]]. He was the author of an influential work titled ''Abraxas: Studien zur Religionsgeschichte des spätern Altertums'', which was based on a [[Greek magical papyri|magical papyri]] housed at the [[Leyden]] Museum. In 1903 he published ''Eine Mithrasliturgie'', in which he proposes that lines 475 – 834 of the Paris Magical Papyrus contained the official liturgy of the [[Mithraic Mysteries|Mithras Cult]]. His theory was met with skepticism and criticized by several scholars in regards to the [[Mithraic]] origin of the liturgy.<ref>[http://www.hermetic.com/pgm/mithras-liturgy.html The "Mithras" Liturgy] from the Paris Codex, edited and Translated by Marvin W. Meyer</ref> Other significant works by Dieterich include:
* ''[[Nekyia]]: Beiträge zur Erklärung der neuentdeckten Petrusapokalypse'', (1883)
* ''Die Grabschrift des Aberkios'', (1896)
* ''Mutter Erde'', (1905)
* ''Kleine Schriften'', (1911)


He died at Heidelberg from [[cerebral apoplexy]].
== References ==

* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.''
== Ideas ==
Dieterich was notable for identifying the origin & use of ''manuum vellatio''. He notes that the ritual was originally [[Iranian religions|Persian]], brought to the West by [[Alexander the Great]], interwoven into the worship of [[Isis]] and then seeped into the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] sphere of influence. Dieterich cites the works of [[Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus]], which noted the ritual being used from Diocletian's time till the Byzantine period.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=Gregg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oD2vKMCu_JgC&dq=albrecht+dieterich&pg=PA271 |title=Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World |last2=Osterloh |first2=Kevin Lee |date=2008 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-149411-6 |pages=271 |language=en}}</ref>

Dieterich also noted parallels between the myths of the [[Python (mythology)|Pythian Dragon]], the birth of [[Apollo]] to [[Leto]] and the [[Woman of the Apocalypse]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Benko |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=el_iYlS2qCQC&dq=albrecht+dieterich&pg=PA85 |title=The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology |date=2004 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-13639-7 |pages=85 |language=en}}</ref>

== Works ==
Much of Dieterich's work involved research of traditional beliefs, [[mythology]] and religion of the [[Greco-Roman world]]. He was the author of an influential work titled "''Abraxas: Studien zur Religionsgeschichte des spätern Altertums''", a study based on a [[Greek magical papyri|magical papyri]] that was housed at the [[Lateran Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Richard Turcan |date=1987 |title=Dieterich, Albrecht {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dieterich-albrecht |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> In 1903 he published "''Eine Mithrasliturgie''", in which he proposed that lines 475 – 834 of the Paris Magical Papyrus contained the official [[Mithras Liturgy|liturgy]] of the [[Mithraic Mysteries|Mithras Cult]]. His theory was met with skepticism and criticized by several scholars in regards to the [[Mithraic]] origin of the [[liturgy]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Marvin W. |last= Meyer|title=The "Mithras liturgy" |year=1976 |place=Missoula, MT |publisher=Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=0891301135 |url=https://archive.org/details/mithrasliturgy0000unse |url-access=registration}}</ref> He participated in a long standing debate with [[Franz Cumont]] over his Mithraic interpretation of the papyrus.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Faraone |first1=Christopher A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWFMCAAAQBAJ&dq=albrecht+dieterich&pg=PA175 |title=Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion |last2=Obbink |first2=Dirk |date=1997-02-13 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-028319-3 |pages=252 |language=en}}</ref> Other significant works by Dieterich include:
* ''De hymnis Orphicis capitula quinque'' (Marburg, 1891).
* ''Nekyia: Beiträge zur Erklärung der neuentdeckten Petrusapokalypse'', (1893) &ndash; [[Nekyia]]; contributions to the explanation of the newly revealed [[Apocalypse of Peter]].
* ''Die Grabschrift des Aberkios'', (1896) &ndash; The grave inscriptions of [[Abercius of Hieropolis|Aberkios]].
* ''Mutter Erde'', (1905) &ndash; Mother Earth.
* ''Kleine Schriften'', (1911). [[Richard Wünsch]] (ed). &ndash; Smaller works.
* ''Pulcinella: pompejanische Wandbilder und römische Satyrspiele'' (Leipzig, 1897). Comic characters from classical antiquity to contemporary times.
* ''{{ill|Archiv fur Religionwissenschaft|de}}'' (edited 1904 with Thomas Achelis, 1905-1908 sole editor)
* ''{{ill|Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten|de}} (1902-1908)
* [[Greek Magical Papyri|''Papyri Graecea Magicae'']]: Compiled papyri which were published posthumously in two editions.

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
* [http://openlibrary.org/a/OL1371575A/Albrecht-Dieterich Open Library] List of Publications
* Stephan A. Hoeller, [http://books.google.com/books?id=XDSSXDezdBMC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=%22Albrecht+Dieterich%22+Abraxas&source=bl&ots=aXZUjrK8pq&sig=nscDcxBUwpJhvvHbHWYHLWqjrXc&hl=en&ei=A9grSrSDH5n4MISy2MgJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4 The gnostic Jung and The Seven Sermons to the dead] Quest Books, 1982. ISBN 978-0-8356-0568-7


== References ==
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
* [[Stephan A. Hoeller]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=XDSSXDezdBMC&pg=PA92 The gnostic Jung and The Seven Sermons to the dead] Quest Books, 1982, page 92. {{ISBN|978-0-8356-0568-7}}
| NAME = Dieterich, Albrecht
* "This article incorporates text from an equivalent article at the [[German Wikipedia]]"; which includes [https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd116111585.html#ndbcontent ''Dieterich, Albrecht''] In: [[Neue Deutsche Biographie]] (NDB). Band 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, {{ISBN|3-428-00184-2}}, S. 669 f.
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =

| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
==External links==
| DATE OF BIRTH = May 2, 1866
* {{OL author|1371575A}}
| PLACE OF BIRTH =

| DATE OF DEATH = May 6, 1908
{{Authority control}}
| PLACE OF DEATH =

}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dieterich, Albrecht}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dieterich, Albrecht}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Hersfeld-Rotenburg]]
[[Category:People from Bad Hersfeld]]
[[Category:People from the Electorate of Hesse]]
[[Category:German classical philologists]]
[[Category:German classical philologists]]
[[Category:University of Giessen faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Giessen]]
[[Category:University of Heidelberg faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Heidelberg University]]


{{Germany-academic-bio-stub}}

[[de:Albrecht Dieterich]]
[[fr:Albrecht Dieterich]]
[[ru:Дитрих, Альбрехт]]
[[sv:Albrecht Dieterich]]

Latest revision as of 22:17, 30 August 2024

Albrecht Dieterich
A middle-aged man in formal dress, using a monocle to read.
SpouseMaria Usener
ChildrenHermann Sr., Hermann Jr.
ParentAlbrecht Sr & Henriette Münscher D.
Academic background
ThesisPhD: Papyrus magica Musei Lugdunensis Batavi quam C. Leemans edidit in Papyrorum Graecarum tomo II, V. (Bonn, 1888)
Doctoral advisorHermann Usener
Influences
Academic work
DisciplineClassics, Philology
School or traditionEranos
Notable studentsLudwig Deubner [de], Friedrich Pfister [de], Eugen Fehrle, Otto Weinreich, Richard Wünsch, Adam Abt [de], Ludwig Fahz, Adolf Erman, Georg Möller, Karl Preisendanz [de]
Influenced

Albrecht Dieterich (2 May 1866 – 6 May 1908) was a German classical philologist and scholar of religion born in Hersfeld.

Academic background

[edit]

He studied at the Universities of Leipzig and Bonn. At Leipzig he studied with professors Georg Curtius, Otto Crusius and Otto Ribbeck. At Bonn he studied with Franz Bücheler, Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz and Hermann Usener (1834–1905).[1] Usener in 1899 became Dieterich's father-in-law. In 1888 he earned his doctorate, and three years later received his habilitation in Marburg with a dissertation on Orphism. He had come to Marburg on the insistence of Georg Wissowa and even contributed the entry on Aeschylus in the Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft.[2] For his Staatsexamen, he chose the theme 'What do we know about Plato's theism or pantheism?'. Afterwards he traveled to Italy and Greece for research purposes during the years 1892-1895.

His grave in Heidelberg

In 1895 he returned to Marburg as an associate professor, and two years later succeeded Eduard Schwartz (1858–1940) as chair of classical philology at the University of Giessen. From 1903 till his death in 1908, he was a full professor at the University of Heidelberg. He was working on his magnum opis, the Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Religion, a detailed critical study of classical religion, but was unable to complete it.

In 1903, he co-founded the study group Eranos with a fellow Marburg student, Gustav Adolf Deissmann. The two, along with Wissowa and Wilhelm Schulze, were part of a daily Tischrunde 'von glücklischter Zusammensetzung', an informal learned society of Classics scholars.[3]

He died at Heidelberg from cerebral apoplexy.

Ideas

[edit]

Dieterich was notable for identifying the origin & use of manuum vellatio. He notes that the ritual was originally Persian, brought to the West by Alexander the Great, interwoven into the worship of Isis and then seeped into the Roman sphere of influence. Dieterich cites the works of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, which noted the ritual being used from Diocletian's time till the Byzantine period.[4]

Dieterich also noted parallels between the myths of the Pythian Dragon, the birth of Apollo to Leto and the Woman of the Apocalypse.[5]

Works

[edit]

Much of Dieterich's work involved research of traditional beliefs, mythology and religion of the Greco-Roman world. He was the author of an influential work titled "Abraxas: Studien zur Religionsgeschichte des spätern Altertums", a study based on a magical papyri that was housed at the Lateran Museum.[6] In 1903 he published "Eine Mithrasliturgie", in which he proposed that lines 475 – 834 of the Paris Magical Papyrus contained the official liturgy of the Mithras Cult. His theory was met with skepticism and criticized by several scholars in regards to the Mithraic origin of the liturgy.[7] He participated in a long standing debate with Franz Cumont over his Mithraic interpretation of the papyrus.[8] Other significant works by Dieterich include:

  • De hymnis Orphicis capitula quinque (Marburg, 1891).
  • Nekyia: Beiträge zur Erklärung der neuentdeckten Petrusapokalypse, (1893) – Nekyia; contributions to the explanation of the newly revealed Apocalypse of Peter.
  • Die Grabschrift des Aberkios, (1896) – The grave inscriptions of Aberkios.
  • Mutter Erde, (1905) – Mother Earth.
  • Kleine Schriften, (1911). Richard Wünsch (ed). – Smaller works.
  • Pulcinella: pompejanische Wandbilder und römische Satyrspiele (Leipzig, 1897). Comic characters from classical antiquity to contemporary times.
  • Archiv fur Religionwissenschaft [de] (edited 1904 with Thomas Achelis, 1905-1908 sole editor)
  • Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten [de] (1902-1908)
  • Papyri Graecea Magicae: Compiled papyri which were published posthumously in two editions.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ "DIETERICH, Albrecht". dbcs.rutgers.edu. Database of Classical Scholars, Rutgers University. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  2. ^ Marchand, Suzanne (2003). "From Liberalism to Neoromanticism: Albrecht Dieterich, Richard Reitzenstein, and the Religious Turn in "Fin-De-Siècle" German Classical Studies". Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement (79): 129–160. ISSN 2398-3264. JSTOR 43768160.
  3. ^ Gerber, Albrecht (2010-03-26). Deissmann the Philologist (in German). Walter de Gruyter. pp. 69–70, 109. ISBN 978-3-11-022432-0.
  4. ^ Gardner, Gregg; Osterloh, Kevin Lee (2008). Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World. Mohr Siebeck. p. 271. ISBN 978-3-16-149411-6.
  5. ^ Benko, Stephen (2004). The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology. BRILL. p. 85. ISBN 978-90-04-13639-7.
  6. ^ Richard Turcan (1987). "Dieterich, Albrecht | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  7. ^ Meyer, Marvin W. (1976). The "Mithras liturgy". Missoula, MT: Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 0891301135.
  8. ^ Faraone, Christopher A.; Obbink, Dirk (1997-02-13). Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. Oxford University Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-19-028319-3.

References

[edit]
[edit]
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