Althistoriker Eduard Meyer (1855-1930): Signature On Lat. Certificate Berlin

You are bidding on one Latin certificate of matriculation the Friedrich WilhelmUniversity of Berlin.

Dated Berlin, the 6th May 1920.

Issued to the law student Georg Heinrichs from the Rhineland.

Signed by rector of the University of Berlin, the important ancient historians, Egyptologists and ancient orientalists Edward Meyer (1855-1930).

Handwritten form (24.1 x 36.2 cm).

About the student: William Louis george Heinrichs, b. on 12. October 1901 in Cologne-Sülz as the son of the merchant Georg Heinrichs, married on 19. December 1933 in Berlin-Neukölln the nurse Emma Huttmann, b. Dietl (* 15. December 1894 in Müllersgrün, district of Tepl, Bohemia).

He studied jura at the University of Berlin, then lived in Berlin-Neukölln (1933 and 1937 verifiable as a court assessor); In 1943 he is documented as a district court judge in Berlin. His parents later lived in Barsinghausen.

Condition: Document folded and punched on the side. Paper browned and slightly creased, with small creases and tears at the fold. Please also note the pictures!

Internal comment: DokinZeitungen Georg Heinrichs Finanzelles

About Eduard Meyer (source: wikipedia):

Edward Meyer (* 25. January 1855 in Hamburg; † 31 August 1930 in Berlin) was an important German ancient historian, Egyptologist and ancient orientalist. He was one of the last historians to write a comprehensive scientific account of antiquity (and not just Graeco-Roman antiquity). His brother was the celtologist Kuno Meyer (1858-1919).

Meyer's main work is the history of antiquity (5 volumes, 1884-1902). By describing the historical development in the Near East, Egypt and Greece up to around 355 BC. Chr. in a comprehensive political, economic and cultural-historical framework, he liberated Greek history from the hitherto customary isolated view. The work is considered a first-rate contribution to archeology.

life

School days in Hamburg: Eduard Meyer grew up in his native city of Hamburg. His parents were Henriette and Eduard Meyer. His father was a liberal Hanseate and studied classics. He was interested in history and published several books on the history of Hamburg and antiquity. He introduced his sons Eduard and Kuno (who later made a name for himself as a Celtologist) to the ancient languages, which he taught himself at the Johanneum. His sons also attended this school.

The Johanneum was the most traditional grammar school in the city. During Meyer's school days, it was directed by the classical philologist Johannes Classen, who is regarded as Meyer's mentor and supporter. Studying Latin and ancient Greek was obligatory and even reached an academic level in high school. Here Meyer was taught by teachers such as the Greek scholar and Thucydides specialist Franz Wolfgang Ullrich (1795–1880) and the Latin scholar and Horace specialist Adolph Kießling. With Kiessling, for example, it was customary to discuss Horace in Latin. Even as a schoolboy, Meyer dealt with the history of ancient Asia Minor. His later habilitation was based on the preparatory work from high school. He also began to learn Hebrew and Arabic while still at school. In the spring of 1872 he passed the Abitur examination. Because of his excellent work, he was awarded a scholarship.

Study time: Meyer's study goal was initially to learn as many languages ​​of the ancient Orient as possible in order to be able to use them for historical studies. First, Meyer went to the University of Bonn. However, the high demands of the student were not met here. Above all, the ancient historian Arnold Schaefer disappointed him. After just one semester, he therefore switched to the University of Leipzig for the winter semester of 1872/73.

At that time, Leipzig was a center of oriental studies. There, Meyer's studies were extraordinarily fruitful. He learned Sanskrit, Persian and Turkish from the Indo-Germanist Adalbert Kuhn, Arabic from Otto Loth, Syriac from Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer and Egyptian from Georg Ebers. He also studied history, philosophy and ethnology. In addition to Indo-European and Semitic linguistics, Meyer also turned to ancient religious history. In 1875 he received his doctorate in philosophy with a religious-historical study on the ancient Egyptian deity Set-Typhon, written by the Egyptologist Georg Ebers.

Between studies and professorship: By chance, after completing his doctorate, Meyer got a job with the English Consul General in Constantinople, Sir Philip Francis. He was employed there as a tutor for the children. This was ideal for Meyer, since it gave him the opportunity to visit some sites of ancient oriental and ancient culture. However, Francis died a year later and Meyer's employment ended a few months later. He accompanied the family back to England. There he was able to visit the British Museum.

After his return to Germany, Meyer initially did his military service in Hamburg. In 1878 he went back to Leipzig, where he habilitated in the spring of 1879 in ancient history. His habilitation thesis dealt with the history of the Kingdom of Pontus. Several years as a private lecturer in Leipzig followed. It was a time that Meyer later fondly recalled, as he enjoyed the contact and exchange of views with colleagues of the same age. He also liked being forced by the teaching assignment to cover the full Spektrum of ancient history. He saw it as a salutary compulsion that ultimately led him to deal with ancient history in its entirety and within other ancient cultures. The plan for a comprehensive history of antiquity was created. The first volume appeared in 1884 and established the author's outstanding reputation in professional circles.

Due to his language skills, Meyer was able to carry out well-founded research in the field of ancient oriental history. However, his work in this regard, which was detached from the often one-sided idealization of Greco-Roman antiquity, only goes back to the 4th century. century B.C. BC; Even later, no comparable publication by a single author appeared.

In 1884 Eduard Meyer married Rosine Freymond.

Professorships: After obtaining a professorship in Leipzig, he was appointed professor to the ancient history department in Breslau in 1885. There he continued his history of antiquity and also published other works. In 1889 he accepted an appointment as the first professor of ancient history at the University of Halle. In 1900 he turned down an offer from the University of Munich; In 1902, however, he accepted a call to the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Berlin. On Winckelmannstag 1899 he was appointed a full member of the German Archaeological Institute. From 1904 Meyer stayed several times to attend congresses and guest professorships in the USA. In the academic year 1919/20 he was rector of the Berlin University.

In 1930 he died in Berlin. The burial place is in the park cemetery of Lichterfelde in department 15-Ugt.-218.

Political Position: During World War I, Meyer advocated far-reaching territorial annexations. In 1915 he was in favor of not only annexing "large areas in the east", but also permanently demoting Belgium to a "vassal state" and revising the Franco-German border "ruthlessly according to our needs". In August 1917 he was one of the founders of the German Fatherland Party (DVLP). After the end of the war, Meyer joined the German National People's Party (DNVP). In protest against the policies of the victorious powers towards Germany, Meyer returned the honorary doctorates that had been bestowed on him by English and American universities, including Oxford and Harvard.

writings

history of antiquity. 5 volumes, 1884–1902; numerous reprints.

The economic development of antiquity. A presentation. 1895.

Egyptian chronology. 1904.

The Israelites and their neighboring tribes. Hall 1906.

The Elephantine papyrus find. Documents of a Jewish community from the Persian period and the oldest surviving book of wisdom literature. Leipzig 1912.

Origin and History of the Mormons. With digressions on the beginnings of Islam and Christianity. Hall 1912.

Caesar's Monarchy and the Principate of Pompey. Stuttgart 1918.

Origin and Beginnings of Christianity. 3 volumes, 1921-1923.

Spengler's downfall of the West. Berlin 1925.