The History of Classical Archaeology at JLU

Classical Archaeology has a long tradition in Giessen. In 1809, Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker was appointed to a chair in “Greek Literature and Archaeology” — the first time the term archaeology was used in Germany to designate an academic chair. Initially, however, the discipline retained a strong philological orientation, and in 1812 an independent philological seminar was established at Welcker’s initiative. Welcker later moved to Göttingen in 1816 and to Bonn in 1819.

The cast collection he founded in Giessen led to the establishment of an “Academic Art Museum” in 1826, which was renamed the “Cabinet of Art, Coins, and Antiquities” in 1835. Owing to the destruction of all archival records during the Second World War, little is known today about the holdings of this cabinet. In addition to the coin collection, whose origins date back to the eighteenth century, the museum also housed Lippert’s Daktyliothek, which survives to this day, as well as a number of casts of ancient sculptures. Although the collection was actively used for drawing instruction, there was little continuity in archaeological teaching until the late nineteenth century.

In 1887, Ferdinand Dümmler came to Giessen after spending several years in Greece and Italy. He completed his habilitation there, but his work focused primarily on lectures and seminars in Classical Philology rather than on archaeological research. Dümmler was appointed associate professor in 1889, but accepted a chair at the University of Basel the following year.

The formal establishment of Classical Archaeology as an independent discipline in Giessen took place in 1892 with the habilitation of Bruno Sauer. As a Privatdozent, Sauer oversaw the Collection of Classical Antiquities, which was renamed the “Archaeological Institute” in 1898. In the same year, he was appointed full professor with responsibility for both Classical Archaeology and Art History. Only after his departure for Kiel in 1909 were the two subjects divided into separate chairs.

Sauer made major contributions to the Collection of Classical Antiquities, with much of the present collection acquired through purchases and donations during his tenure. He also systematically expanded the cast collection, although this part of the holdings was almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War.

Following Sauer’s appointment to the University of Kiel in 1909, Carl Watzinger succeeded him and remained in Giessen until 1916. Under Watzinger’s direction, the still-young institute continued to develop: he further expanded the Collection of Classical Antiquities and restored and reorganised the cast collection.

Watzinger was succeeded by Gerhart Rodenwaldt, who had previously served as assistant to Georg Loeschcke in Berlin. During Rodenwaldt’s military service in the First World War, Margarete Bieber temporarily assumed responsibility for teaching. Both Rodenwaldt and Bieber had held the German Archaeological Institute’s travel scholarship in 1909/10. When Rodenwaldt received an appointment to Giessen in 1916, he actively supported Bieber, who in 1919 became the first woman to complete a habilitation at the University of Giessen.

In 1922, Rodenwaldt was appointed General Secretary (later President) of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. He was succeeded in Giessen by Richard Delbrueck, who had directed the German Archaeological Institute in Rome until 1915. During Delbrueck’s tenure, Bieber was appointed associate professor. However, after Delbrueck accepted a chair in Bonn in 1928, the chair of Classical Archaeology in Giessen was abolished for financial reasons, and Bieber was appointed as his replacement.

Bieber was ultimately unable to assume the professorship that had been promised to her in autumn 1933, as she had already been dismissed earlier that year because of her Jewish ancestry. She emigrated via England to the United States and, in 1957, was named an honorary senator of the University of Giessen in belated recognition of the injustice she had suffered.

Following Bieber’s dismissal in 1933, Classical Archaeology was initially represented for one semester by Hans Möbius. In 1934, Walter-Herwig Schuchhardt, who had habilitated in Frankfurt and had previously deputised for Hans Schrader there, came to Giessen with a teaching appointment. Schuchhardt, however, accepted a chair at the University of Freiburg as early as 1936.

His successor in 1937 was Willy Zschietzschmann, who had completed his habilitation under Rodenwaldt in Berlin in 1932. He initially taught as a lecturer before later being appointed associate professor. In 1939, Zschietzschmann significantly expanded the Collection of Classical Antiquities through a series of acquisitions. Owing to his foresight, the original collection survived the Second World War almost entirely intact and subsequently remained in the university’s possession.

After the war, Zschietzschmann was entrusted with the provisional administration of the institute and continued teaching until 1969. The institute, now designated the “Professorship for Classical Archaeology,” was not permanently staffed again until 1964. In only a few years, Walter Hatto Gross laid the foundations for a sustainable institute, assisted by Siemer Oppermann, who remained in Giessen until 1999 and ultimately served as Academic Director. Gross himself accepted a chair at the University of Hamburg in 1968.

Hans-Günter Buchholz succeeded Gross in 1969 and remained in Giessen until 1985. Together with his assistant Wilhelm Hornbostel, Buchholz reunited the dispersed Collection of Classical Antiquities. His research focused primarily on the Aegean Bronze Age, and through his long-term excavations at Tamassos he continued the German Cypriot research tradition established by Ohnefalsch-Richter.

Wolfram Martini held the chair in Giessen from 1985 to 2006. His work was particularly shaped by research on Greek sculpture and Attic vase painting, as well as excavations on the Acropolis of Perge in Turkey. Martini also made part of the Collection of Classical Antiquities accessible to the public in 1987 and significantly expanded the collection, primarily through private donations.

Anja Klöckner held the chair in Giessen from 2007 to 2016. Since April 2018, Katharina Lorenz has held the professorship in Classical Archaeology at Giessen.