Max Pohlenz

Max Pohlenz (Hänchen, July 30 1872 - Göttingen, January 5 1962 ) was a German Hellenist who has in particular dealt with the ancient Greek intellectual life [1] .

Live [ edit ]
Max Pohlenz in 1892 to study classical philology, first in Erlangen and Berlin, then to Göttingen to Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf . From 1898 to 1906 he was a teacher at the Hohenzollern Schule in Berlin. On April 1, 1906 he was appointed extraordinary professor at Göttingen. In 1916 he became professor, succeeding Paul Wendland . In 1937 he retired, though he wanted to continue to give lectures. A conflict with the university leadership and the ministry was in this way. After the war he joined again as a teacher, despite his retirement, and this persisted until 1952. He has supervised 45 doctoral theses.

Work [ edit ]
In particular, the philosophy of the Stoics had Pohlenz 'lifelong attention. This began with his thesis on Posidonius in 1898 [2], and further found his herd in text editions of Cicero and Plutarch (major sources for our knowledge of the Stoa), in articles on linguistics Stoics, on Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus about Seneca 's dialogues, besides countless reviews of works published on this subject [3] . This lifelong interest culminated in what would become his most famous work: Die Stoa. Geschichte einer Bewegung Geistigen, in which he outlined this philosophy as a spiritual movement of unparalleled breadth. Starting with a detailed description of the doctrine of the ancient Stoics, he then discusses the middle Stoa and its significance in the spiritual life in Rome, to go over to Philo, the Gnosis and the Church Fathers. A detailed substantive discussion he always combines with sketches of individual philosophers.

Fewer still known is his work on Greek tragedy (which griechische Tragedy), the Hellenistic poetry [4], on the Greek historiography (Herodot Der erste Geschichtsschreiber des Abendlandes and Thukydidesstudien.)and Greek medicine [5] : epilepsy, the traditional and "sacred disease" considered disorder in the Hippocratic writings "On air, water and places" no longer as a God given cause, but as a normal disease with natural causes.

His book Gestalten aus Hellas he calls a completion of his earlier work Der Mensch hell ic. The latter work deals with the Greek people in general, in the former portrays his famous Greeks as Solon , Pindar ,Demosthenes , Epicurus , Clement of Alexandria, etc.

Griechische Freiheit finally, the only work of Pohlenz that has been translated into English, deals with the concept of 'freedom'. From the emergence of the concept of 'freedom' to its implementation in politics, as well as the personal interpretation (the "inner freedom"), throughout Greek history and the entire Greek intellectual life around.

[Biography edit ]

 * The Posidonii libris Peri Pathon 1898 Dissertation.
 * Edition of Cicero's Tusculanae Disputationes, Book I and II. Leipzig, 1912.
 * Aus Platos Werdezeit . Philological Investigations. 1913.
 * Staatsgedanke Staatslehre und der Griechen. Leipzig 1923.
 * Edition of Plutarch's Moralia. Leipizg 1925
 * Which griechische Tragödie. Leipzig and Berlin, 1930. Italian translation: La tragedia greca.
 * Antikes Führertum. Cicero the Officiis und Das Leben des Ideal Panaitios. Leipzig 1934. Italian translation: L'ideal di vita attiva nel secondo Panezio The officiis di Cicerone. This work contains an analysis of the first two books of Cicero's De Officiis. A sequel to this book is the Pohlenz' article Cicero officiis III, also in 1934 (found in Part I of the Small Scriptures, p. 253-291).
 * Herodot. Der erste Geschichtsschreiber des Abendlandes. Leipzig and Berlin, 1937
 * Hippocrates who Begründung und der Medizin wissenschaftlichen. Berlin, 1938.
 * Grundfragen stoischen der Philosophie. Göttingen, 1940.
 * Der Mensch hell ic. Gottingen, 1946. Italian translation: L'uomo greco. Storia di un movimento spirituale.
 * Which Stoa. Geschichte einer Bewegung Geistigen. Band I. Leizpig, 1948. Band II Erläuterungen, 1949. Italian translation: La Stoa. Storia di un movimento spirituale. Translation of Ottone De Gregorio. Florence, 1967.
 * Statures aus Hellas. Munich, 1950.
 * Griechische Freiheit. Heidelberg, 1955. Italian translation: La libertà greca. French translation: La liberté grecque. Nature et évolution d'un idéal de vie. Translation J. Goffinet. 1956. English translation: Freedom in Greek Life and Thought: The History of an Ideal.
 * Small scriptures. Herausgegeben von Heinrich Dorrie. 2 Share, Hildesheim 1965.