Karl Otfried Müller


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Portrait of Karl Otfried Müller.

Karl Otfried Müller (August 28, 1797–August 1, 1840), was a German scholar and Philodorian, or admirer of ancient Sparta, who introduced the modern study of Greek mythology but whose life was cut tragically short.

Contents

Biography

His brothers were Julius Müller (1801-1878) and Eduard Müller (1818-1895).

He was born at Brieg in Silesia, raised in the atmosphere of Protestant Pietism and educated partly in Breslau and partly in Berlin. There his enthusiasm for the study of Greek literature, art and history was fostered by the influence of Philipp August Böckh. In 1817, after the publication of his first work, Aegineticorum liber, on the Aeginetans, he received an appointment at the Magdaleneum in Breslau, and in 1819 he was made adjunct professor of ancient literature at the University of Göttingen, his subject being the archaeology and history of ancient art. He deepened his understanding of Greek art by travelling in the summer of 1822 to the Netherlands, England and France.

His aim was to form a vivid conception of Greek life as a whole; and his books and lectures were a turning point in the development of Hellenic studies. Turning away from the Enlightenment conception of Greek myth as a reflection of a universal religion in its infancy, Müller placed the study squarely as the outcome of an encounter between the particular character of a people and a specific historical setting,[1] where, in the broadest sense it has remained, though his convictions that the core of each culture is uniquely its own led him to deny the influence of Egyptian art on Greek art,[2] already being recognised at the time.

Müller's position at Göttingen was made difficult by the political troubles which followed the accession of Ernest Augustus I of Hanover in 1837, he applied for permission to travel; and in 1839 he left Germany. In April of the following year he reached Greece, having spent the winter in Italy. He investigated the remains of ancient Athens, visited many places of interest in Peloponnesus, and finally went to Delphi, where he began excavations. He was attacked by intermittent fever, of which he died at Athens.

Bust of Müller at the University of Göttingen

The most important of his historical works was his Geschichten hellenischen Stämme und Städte: Orchomenos und die Minyer (1820), and Die Dorier (1824), including the essay Über die Makedonier, on the settlements, origin and early history of the Macedonians. He introduced a new standard of accuracy in the cartography of ancient Greece. In 1828 he published Die Etrusker, a treatise on Etruscan antiquities.

His Prolegomena zu einer wissenschaftlichen Mythologie (1825),[3] in which he avoided the extreme views of G. F. Creuzer and C. A. Lobeck, prepared the way for the scientific investigation of myths. Working without the benefit of modern understanding of psychology, he offered steps towards the "internal idea" of myth and presented techniques for determining the age of a mythus from the mentions of it in literary sources and a notable chapter on how to separate the mythus from the modifications of poets and prose writers, and examined the relations that Homer and Hesiod bore to their traditions, all of this before the supportive contributions of modern archaeology, philological analysis, or the understanding of oral transmission of myth, a remarkable achievement.

The study of ancient art was promoted by his Handbuch der Archäologie der Kunst (1830)[4], and Denkmäler der alten Kunst (1832), which he wrote in association with Carl Oesterley.

In 1841 appeared his posthumous Geschichte der griechischen Literatür,[5] which remained one of the best books on the subject for many years. Müller also published an admirable translation of the Eumenides of Aeschylus with introductory essays (1833), and new editions of Varro (1833) and Festus (1839).

Quotes

  • "A democracy likes a large mass and hates all divisions."[6]

Works

  • The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, 2nd. ed. rev., 2 Vol., translated from the German by Henry Tufnell and George Cornewall Lewis, John Murray, Albemarle Str., London, 1839.

Notes

  1. ^ Josine H. Blok, "Quests for a Scientific Mythology: F. Creuzer and K. O. Muller on History and Myth", History and Theory 33.4, "Proof and Persuasion in History" (December 1994:26-52)
  2. ^ In his article on "the alleged Egyptian origin of Greek art", "Ueber den angeblich ägyptischen Ursprung der griechischen Kunst", Kunstblatt: Beiblatt der Morgenblatt 79 (1820)' reprinted in Kleine deutsche Schriften'.
  3. ^ It was translated into English by J. Leitch in 1844; it has been reprinted, as Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology, 1978.
  4. ^ English translation, by J. Leitch, 1847.
  5. ^ It had been translated into English as History of the Literature of Ancient Greece and published the previous year in London: chapters i.-xxii. were translated by Sir George Cornewall Lewis; chapters xxiii.-xxxvi. by J. W. Donaldson, who carried the work down to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks.
  6. ^ The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol II, p. 396

References

  • August Baumeister: Müller, Karl Otfried. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, S. 656–667. (German)
  • A memoir of his life by his brother Eduard, prefixed to the posthumous edition of Müller's Kleine deutsche Schriften (1847), is the starting-point of all biographical essays.
  • F. Lucke, Erinnerungen an K.O. Müller (Göttingen, 1841)
  • F. Ranke, K.O. Müller, ein Lebensbild (Berlin, 1870)
  • Conrad Bursian, Geschichte der klassischen Philologie in Deutschland (1883), ii. 1007-1028
  • Calder, W.M., H. Flashar and R. Schlesirt, eds. K.O. Müller Reconsidered, (Urbana) 1995.
  • C. Dilthey, Otfried Müller (Göttingen, 1898)
  • E. Curtius, Altertum und Gegenwart
  • J. W. Donaldson's essay On the Life and Writings of Karl Otfried Müller in vol. i. of the English translation of the history of Greek literature.
  • A biography composed from his letters was published by O. and Else Kern, K. O. Müller, Lebensbild in Briefen an seine Eltern (1908); see also
  • J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, iii. (1908), 213-216.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Notes

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