KIRCHHOFF

kirchhoff, johann wilhelm adolf (1826-1908), german classical scholar and epigraphist, was born in berlin on the 6th of january 1826. in 1865 he was appointed professor of classical philology in the university of his native city. he died on the 26th of february 1908. he is the author of _die homerische odyssee_ (1859), putting forward an entirely new theory as to the composition of the _odyssey_; editions of plotinus (1856), euripides (1855 and 1877-1878). aeschylus (1880), hesiod (_works and days_, 1889), xenophon, _on the athenian constitution_ (3rd ed., 1889); _uber die entstehungszeit des herodotischen geschichtswerkes_ (2nd ed., 1878); _thukydides und sein urkundenmaterial_ (1895). the following works are the result of his epigraphical and palaeographical studies: _die umbrischen sprachdenkmaler_ (1851); _das stadlrecht von bantia_ (1853), on the tablet discovered in 1790 at oppido near banzi, containing a plebiscite relating to the municipal affairs of the ancient bantia; _das gotische runenalphabet_ (1852); _die frankischen runen_ (1855); _studien zur geschichte des griechischen alphabets_ (4th ed., 1887). the second part of vol. iv. of the _corpus inscriptionum graecarum_ (1859, containing the christian inscriptions) and vol. i. of the _c. i. atticarum_ (1873, containing the inscriptions before 403) with supplements thereto (vol. iv. pts. 1-3, 1877-1891) are edited by him.