Classical Studies Home                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Last updated: 9/26/02			Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), philosopher Nietzsche studied Greek and Latin at a famous college prep-school, Landesschule Pforta, in his native Saxony (Germany). From 1864-1869, he studied Classics in Bonn and Leipzig. In February 1869, before he had even finished his Ph.D., he was appointed Professor of Classics at the University of Basel in Switzerland. His first book, "Birth of Tragedy" (1872), influenced by the philosophy of Schopenhauer, speculates about the origins and the nature of ancient Greek tragedy as a combination of the "Dionysian" and "Apollonian" in the Greek soul. This book, famously ridiculed in a review by his highschool classmate Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, later one of the greatest classicists of all time, destroyed Nietzsche's career as a classicist. It started him, however, as an original philosopher whose ideas inspired artists and writers like Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Musil, Gottfried Benn, Thomas Mann, and Ernst Jünger. In addition, his philosophical ideas have had an impact on disciplines like psychology and anthropology. Back to Classics VIPs   For corrections or additions, please contact oknorrATwillamette.edu.

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