GRAETZ

graetz, heinrich (1817-1891), the foremost jewish historian of modern times, was born in posen in 1817 and died at munich in 1891. he received a desultory education, and was largely self-taught. an important stage in his development was the period of three years that he spent at oldenburg as assistant and pupil of s. r. hirsch, whose enlightened orthodoxy was for a time very attractive to graetz. later on graetz proceeded to breslau, where he matriculated in 1842. breslau was then becoming the headquarters of abraham geiger, the leader of jewish reform. graetz was repelled by geiger's attitude, and though he subsequently took radical views of the bible and tradition (which made him an opponent of hirsch), graetz remained a life-long foe to reform. he contended for freedom of thought; he had no desire to fight for freedom of ritual practice. he momentarily thought of entering the rabbinate, but he was unsuited to that career. for some years he supported himself as a tutor. he had previously won repute by his published essays, but in 1853 the publication of the fourth volume of his history of the jews made him famous. this fourth volume (the first to be published) dealt with the talmud. it was a brilliant resuscitation of the past. graetz's skill in piecing together detached fragments of information, his vast learning and extraordinary critical acumen, were equalled by his vivid power of presenting personalities. no jewish book of the 19th century produced such a sensation as this, and graetz won at a bound the position he still occupies as recognized master of jewish history. his _geschichte der juden_, begun in 1853, was completed in 1875; new editions of the several volumes were frequent. the work has been translated into many languages; it appeared in english in five volumes in 1891-1895. the _history_ is defective in its lack of objectivity; graetz's judgments are sometimes biassed, and in particular he lacks sympathy with mysticism. but the history is a work of genius. simultaneously with the publication of vol. iv. graetz was appointed on the staff of the new breslau seminary, of which the first director was z. frankel. graetz passed the remainder of his life in this office; in 1869 he was created professor by the government, and also lectured at the breslau university. graetz attained considerable repute as a biblical critic. he was the author of many bold conjectures as to the date of ruth, ecclesiastes, esther and other biblical books. his critical edition of the psalms (1882-1883) was his chief contribution to biblical exegesis, but after his death professor bacher edited graetz's _emendationes_ to many parts of the hebrew scriptures. a full bibliography of graetz's works is given in the _jewish quarterly review_, iv. 194; a memoir of graetz is also to be found there. another full memoir was prefixed to the "index" volume of the _history_ in the american re-issue of the english translation in six volumes (philadelphia, 1898). (i. a.) graevius (properly grave or greffe), johann georg (1632-1703). german classical scholar and critic, was born at naumburg, saxony, on the 29th of january 1632. he was originally intended for the law, but having made the acquaintance of j. f. gronovius during a casual visit to deventer, under his influence he abandoned jurisprudence for philology. he completed his studies under d. heinsius at leiden, and under the protestant theologians a. morus and d. blondel at amsterdam. during his residence in amsterdam, under blondel's influence he abandoned lutheranism and joined the reformed church; and in 1656 he was called by the elector of brandenburg to the chair of rhetoric in the university of duisburg. two years afterwards, on the recommendation of gronovius, he was chosen to succeed that scholar at deventer; in 1662 he was translated to the university of utrecht, where he occupied first the chair of rhetoric, and from 1667 until his death (january 11th, 1703) that of history and politics. graevius enjoyed a very high reputation as a teacher, and his lecture-room was crowded by pupils, many of them of distinguished rank, from all parts of the civilized world. he was honoured with special recognition by louis xiv., and was a particular favourite of william iii. of england, who made him historiographer royal. his two most important works are the _thesaurus antiquitatum romanarum_ (1694-1699, in 12 volumes), and the _thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum italiae_ published after his death, and continued by the elder burmann (1704-1725). his editions of the classics, although they marked a distinct advance in scholarship, arc now for the most part superseded. they include hesiod (1667), lucian, _pseudosophista_ (1668), justin, _historiae philippicae_ (1669), suetonius (1672), catullus, tibullus et propertius (1680), and several of the works of cicero (his best production). he also edited many of the writings of contemporary scholars. the _oratio funebris_ by p. burmann (1703) contains an exhaustive list of the works of this scholar; see also p. h. kulb in ersch and gruber's _allgemeine encyklopadie_, and j. e. sandys, _history of classical scholarship_, ii. (1908).