GERVINUS

gervinus, georg gottfried (1805-1871), german literary and political historian, was born on the 20th of may 1805 at darmstadt. he was educated at the gymnasium of the town, and intended for a commercial career, but in 1825 he became a student of the university of giessen. in 1826 he went to heidelberg, where he attended the lectures of the historian schlosser, who became henceforth his guide and his model. in 1828 he was appointed teacher in a private school at frankfort-on-main, and in 1830 _privatdozent_ at heidelberg. a volume of his collected _historische schriften_ procured him the appointment of professor extraordinarius; while the first volume of his _geschichte der poetischen nationallitteratur der deutschen_ (1835-1842, 5 vols., subsequently entitled _geschichte der deutschen dichtung_; 5th edition, by k. bartsch, 1871-1874) brought him the appointment to a regular professorship of history and literature at gottingen. this work is the first comprehensive history of german literature written both with scholarly erudition and literary skill. in the following year he wrote his _grundzuge der historik_, which is perhaps the most thoughtful of his philosophico-historical productions. the same year brought his expulsion from gottingen in consequence of his manly protest, in conjunction with six of his colleagues, against the unscrupulous violation of the constitution by ernest augustus, king of hanover and duke of cumberland. after several years in heidelberg, darmstadt and rome, he settled permanently in heidelberg, where, in 1844, he was appointed honorary professor. he zealously took up in the following year the cause of the german catholics, hoping it would lead to a union of all the christian confessions, and to the establishment of a national church. he also came forward in 1846 as a patriotic champion of the schleswig-holsteiners, and when, in 1847, king frederick william iv. promulgated the royal decree for summoning the so-called "united diet" (vereinigter landtag), gervinus hoped that this event would form the basis of the constitutional development of the largest german state. he founded, together with some other patriotic scholars, the _deutsche zeitung_, which certainly was one of the best-written political journals ever published in germany. his appearance in the political arena secured his election as deputy for the prussian province of saxony to the national assembly sitting in 1848 at frankfort. disgusted with the failure of that body, he retired from all active political life. gervinus now devoted himself to literary and historical studies, and between 1849 and 1852 published his work on _shakespeare_ (4 vols., 4th ed. 2 vols., 1872; eng. trans. by f. e. bunnett, 1863, new ed. 1877). he also revised his _history of german literature_, for a fourth edition (1853), and began at the same time to plan his _geschichte des neunzehnten jahrhunderts_ (8 vols., 1854-1860), which was preceded by an _einleitung in die geschichte des neunzehnten jahrhunderts_ (1853). the latter caused some stir in the literary and political world, owing to the circumstance that the government of baden imprudently instituted a prosecution against the author for high treason. in 1868 appeared _handel und shakespeare, zur asthetik der tonkunst_, in which he drew an ingenious parallel between his favourite poet and his favourite composer, showing that their intellectual affinity was based on the teutonic origin common to both, on their analogous intellectual development and character. the ill-success of this publication, and the indifference with which the latter volumes of his _history of the 19th century_ were received by his countrymen, together with the feeling of disappointment that the unity of germany had been brought about in another fashion and by other means than he wished to see employed, embittered his later years. he died at heidelberg on the 18th of march 1871. gervinus's autobiography (_g. g. gervinus' leben, von ihm selbst_) was published by his widow in 1893. it does not, however, go beyond the year 1836. see e. lehmann, _gervinus, versuch einer charakteristik_ (1871); r. gosche, _gervinus_ (1871); j. dorfel, _gervinus als historischer denker_ (1904). geryon (geryones, geryoneus), in greek mythology, the son of chrysaor and callirrhoe, daughter of oceanus, and king of the island of erytheia. he is represented as a monster with three heads or three bodies (_triformis_, _trigeminus_), sometimes with wings, and as the owner of herds of red cattle, which were tended by the giant shepherd eurytion and the two-headed dog orthrus. to carry off these cattle to greece was one of the twelve "labours" imposed by eurystheus upon heracles. in order to get possession of them, heracles travelled through europe and libya, set up the two pillars in the straits of gibraltar to show the extent of his journey, and reached the great river oceanus. having crossed oceanus and landed on the island, heracles slew orthrus together with eurytion, who in vain strove to defend him, and drove off the cattle. geryon started in pursuit, but fell a victim to the arrows of heracles, who, after various adventures, succeeded in getting the cattle safe to greece, where they were offered in sacrifice to hera by eurystheus. the geographical position of erytheia is unknown, but all ancient authorities agree that it was in the far west. the name itself (= red) and the colour of the cattle suggest the fiery aspect of the disk of the setting sun; further, heracles crosses oceanus in the golden cup or boat of the sun-god helios. geryon (from [greek: geryo], the howler or roarer) is supposed to personify the storm, his father chrysaor the lightning, his mother callirrhoe the rain. the cattle are the rain-clouds, and the slaying of their keepers typifies the victory of the sun over the clouds, or of spring over winter. the euhemeristic explanation of the struggle with the triple monster was that heracles fought three brothers in succession. see apollodorus ii. 5. 10; hesiod, _theogony_, 287; diod. sic. iv. 17; herodotus iv. 8; f. wieseler in ersch and gruber, _allgemeine encyclopadie_; f. a. voigt in roscher's _lexikon der mythologie_; l. preller, _griechische mythologie_; article "hercules" in daremberg and saglio, _dictionnaire des antiquites_.