Christian Gottlob Heyne
| Christian Gottlob Heyne | |
|---|---|
|
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| Born |
25 September 1729 Chemnitz, Saxony |
| Died |
14 July 1812 (aged 82) Göttingen, Westphalia |
| Alma mater | Leipzig University |
| Occupation | German classical scholar, archaeologist, director of the Göttingen State and University Library |
Christian Gottlob Heyne (German: [ˈhaɪnə]; 25 September 1729 – 14 July 1812) was a German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library. He was a member of the Göttingen School of History.
Heyne was born in Chemnitz, Saxony. His father was a poor weaver who had left Silesia and moved to Saxony to maintain his Protestant faith; Christian's education was paid for by his godfather. In 1748 he entered the University of Leipzig, where he was often short of the necessaries of life. He was helped by the classicist Johann Friedrich Christ, who encouraged him and loaned him Greek and Latin texts. He obtained a position as tutor in the family of a French merchant in Leipzig, which enabled him to continue his studies. In 1752 law professor Johann August Bach awarded Heyne a master's degree, but he was for many years in very straitened circumstances.
An elegy written by Heyne in Latin on the death of a friend attracted the attention of Count von Brühl, the prime minister, who expressed a desire to see the author. Accordingly, in April 1752, Heyne journeyed to Dresden, believing that his fortune was made. He was well received; promised a secretaryship and a good salary, but nothing came of it. Another period of poverty followed, and only by persistent solicitation was Heyne able to obtain the post of under-clerk in the count's library, with a salary of less than twenty pounds sterling.
Heyne increased this pittance by translation; in addition to some French novels, he rendered into German The Loves of Chaereas and Callirrhoe of Chariton, the Greek romance writer. He published his first edition of Tibullus in 1755, and in 1756 his Epictetus. In the latter year the Seven Years' War broke out and the library was destroyed, and Heyne was once more in a state of destitution. In 1757 he was offered a tutorship in the household of Frau von Schönberg, where he met his future wife.
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