Thukydides, erklärt von J. Classen

Johann Classen (1805-1891), classical philologist and secondary school teacher. Classen studied at the Johanneum in Hamburg and later at the universities of Leipzig (under Gottfried Hermann) and Bonn, where he worked closely with Barthold Georg Niebuhr. He qualified as a lecturer in Bonn (1829) and Kiel (1831), later teaching in Berlin and becoming a professor at the Katharineum in Lübeck (1833). There, he developed close ties with scholars such as Jacob, Wattenbach, Ernst and Georg Curtius, and the poet Geibel, and began his studies in Greek linguistics. In 1853, he became director of the Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main, which he reformed in opposition to rigid examination systems. From 1864 to 1874, he led the Johanneum in Hamburg. After retiring, he dedicated himself to his most significant work: a commentary on Thucydides. DB