Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

NIEBUHR, BARTHOLD GEORG (1776–1831)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 669 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

NIEBUHR, BARTHOLD GEORG (1776–1831) , See also:German states-See also:man and historian, son of See also:Karsten Niebuhr (q.v.), was See also:born at See also:Copenhagen on the 27th of See also:August 1776. From the earliest See also:age See also:young Niebuhr manifested extraordinary precocity, and from 1794 to 1796, being already a finished classical See also:scholar and acquainted with several See also:modern See also:languages, he studied at the university of See also:Kiel. After quitting the university he became private secretary to See also:Count Schimmelmann, Danish See also:minister of See also:finance. But in 1798 he gave up this See also:appointment and travelled in See also:Great See also:Britain, spending a See also:year at See also:Edinburgh studying See also:agriculture and See also:physical See also:science. In 1799 he returned to See also:Denmark, where he entered the See also:state service; in ',Soo he married and settled at Copenhagen. In 1804 he became See also:chief director of the See also:National See also:Bank, but in See also:September 18o6 quitted this for a similar appointment in See also:Prussia. He arrived in Prussia on the See also:eve of the See also:catastrophe of See also:Jena. He accompanied the fugitive See also:government to See also:Konigsberg, where he rendered considerable service in the See also:commissariat, and was afterwards still more useful as See also:commissioner of the national See also:debt and by his opposition to See also:ill-considered schemes of See also:taxation. He was also for a See also:short See also:time Prussian minister in See also:Holland, where he endeavoured without success to See also:contract a See also:loan. The extreme sensitiveness of his temperament, however, disqualified him for politics; he proved impracticable in his relations with See also:Hardenberg and other ministers, and in 1810 retired for a time from public See also:life, accepting the more congenial appointment of royal historiographer and See also:professor at the university of See also:Berlin. He commenced his lectures with a course on the See also:history of See also:Rome, which formed the basis of his great See also:work Romische Geschichte. The first two volumes, based upon his lectures, were published in 1812, but attracted little See also:attention at the time owing to the absorbing See also:interest of See also:political events.

In 1813 Niebuhr's own attention was diverted from history by the uprising of the German See also:

people against See also:Napoleon; he entered the See also:Landwehr and ineffectually sought See also:admission into the See also:regular See also:army. He edited for a short time a patriotic See also:journal, the Prussian Correspondent, joined the headquarters of the allied sovereigns, and witnessed the See also:battle of See also:Bautzen, and was subsequently employed in some See also:minor negotiations. In 1815 he lost both his See also:father and his wife. He next accepted (1816) the See also:post of See also:ambassador at Rome, and on his way thither he discovered in the See also:cathedral library of See also:Verona the See also:long-lost Institutes of Gains, afterwards edited by See also:Savigny, to whom he communicated the See also:discovery under the impression that he had found a portion of See also:Ulpian. During his See also:residence in Rome Niebuhr discovered and published fragments of See also:Cicero and See also:Livy, aided See also:Cardinal See also:Mai in his edition of Cicero De Republica, and shared in framing the See also:plan of the great work on the See also:topography of See also:ancient Rome by See also:Christian C. J. von See also:Bunsen and See also:Ernst Platner (1773–1855), to which he contributed several chapters. He also, on a See also:journey See also:home from See also:Italy, deciphered in a See also:palimpsest at St See also:Gall the fragments of Flavius See also:Merobaudes, a See also:Roman poet of the 5th See also:century. In 1823 he resigned the See also:embassy and established himself at See also:Bonn, where the See also:remainder of his life was spent, with the exception of some visits to Berlin as councillor of state. He here rewrote and republished (1827–1828) the first two volumes of his Roman History, and composed a third See also:volume, bringing the narrative down to the end of the First Punic See also:War, which, with the help of a fragment written in 1811, was edited after his See also:death (1832) by Johannes Classen (1805–1891). He also assisted in August See also:Bekker's edition of the See also:Byzantine historians, and delivered courses of lectures on ancient history, ethnography, See also:geography, and on the See also:French Revolution. In See also:February 1830 his See also:house was burned down, but the greater See also:part of his books and See also:manuscripts were saved. The revolution of See also:July in the same year was a terrible See also:blow to him, and filled him with the most See also:dismal anticipations of the future of See also:Europe.

He died on the 2nd of See also:

January 1831. Niebuhr's Roman History See also:counts among See also:epoch-making histories both as marking an era in the study of its See also:special subject and for its momentous See also:influence on the See also:general conception of history. " The See also:main results," says Leonhard Schmitz, " arrived at by the inquiries of Niebuhr, such as his views of the ancient See also:population of Rome, the origin of the See also:plebs, the relation between the See also:patricians and plebeians, the real nature of the ager publicus, and many other points of interest, have been acknowledged by all his successors." Other alleged discoveries, such as the construction of See also:early Roman history out of still earlier See also:ballads, have not been equally fortunate; but if every See also:positive conclusion of Niebuhr's had been refuted, his claim to be considered the first who dealt with the ancient history of Rome in a scientific spirit would remain unimpaired, and the new principles introduced by him into See also:historical See also:research would lose nothing of their importance. He suggested, though he did not elaborate, the theory of the myth, so potent an See also:instrument for See also:good and ill in modern historical See also:criticism. He brought in inference to See also:supply the See also:place of discredited tradition, and showed the possibility of See also:writing history in the See also:absence of See also:original records. By his theory of the disputes between the patricians and plebeians arising from original See also:differences of See also:race he See also:drew attention to the immense importance of ethnological distinctions, and contributed to the revival of these divergences as factors in modern history. More than all, perhaps, since his conception of ancient Roman See also:story made See also:laws and See also:manners of more See also:account than shadowy lawgivers, he undesignedly influenced history by popularizing that conception of it which See also:lays stress on institutions, tendencies and social traits to the neglect of individuals. Niebuhr's See also:personal See also:character was in most respects exceedingly attractive. His See also:heart was See also:kind and his affections were strong; he was magnanimous and disinterested, See also:simple and honest. He had a kindling sympathy with everything lofty and generous, and framed his own conduct upon the highest principles. His chief defect was an over-sensitiveness, leading to peevish and unreasonable behaviour in his private and See also:official relations, to hasty and unbalanced judgments of persons and things that had given him annoyance, and to a despondency and discouragement which frustrated the great good he might have effected as a philosophic critic of public affairs. The See also:principal authority for Niebuhr's life is the Lebensnachrichten fiber B.

G. Niebuhr, aus Briefen desselben and aus Erinnerungen einiger seiner ndchsten Freunde, by Dorothea Hensler (3 vols., 1838-1839). In the See also:

English See also:translation by See also:Miss Winkworth (1852) a great See also:deal of the See also:correspondence is omitted, but the narrative is rendered more full, especially as concerns Niebuhr's participation in public affairs. It also contains interesting communications from Bunsen and Professor Loebell, and select See also:translations from the Kleine Schriften. See also J. Classen, Barthold Georg Niebuhr, eine Geddchtnisschrift (1876), and G. Eyssenhardt, B. G. Niebuhr (1886). The first edition of his Roman History was translated into English by F. A. See also:Walter (1827), but was immediately superseded by the translation of the second edition by See also:Julius See also:Hare and Connop Thirwall, completed by See also:William See also:Smith and Leonhard Schmitz (last edition, 1847-1851).

The History has been discussed and criticized in a great number of publications, the most important of which, perhaps, is See also:

Sir See also:George See also:Cornwall See also:Lewis's See also:Essay on the Credibility of the Early Roman History. See further J. E. See also:Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship (1908), iii., pp. 78-82.

End of Article: NIEBUHR, BARTHOLD GEORG (1776–1831)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
NIDIFICATION (from Lat. nidus) 		[next]
NIEBUHR, KARSTEN (1733-1815)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries