Georg Wissowa

Who was Georg Wissowa?

Georg Otto August Wissowa was a German classical philologist born in Neudorf, near Breslau.

He studied classical philology under August Reifferscheid at the University of Breslau, then furthered his studies in Munich under Heinrich Brunn, a leading authority on Roman antiquities. In 1890 he became a full professor at the University of Marburg, relocating to Halle in 1896 as a successor to Heinrich Keil.

He is remembered today for re-edition of "Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft", an encyclopedia of classical studies initially started by August Friedrich Pauly in 1837. Around 1890, Wissowa began the new edition, an ambitious project that he anticipated would take ten years to finish. However, it wouldn't be until the 1970s that the last of its 83 volumes was published.

He was the author of a significant work on ancient Roman religion, titled "Religion und Kultus der Römer", a book in which he explored the development of Roman religion, and in the process, provided a comprehensive description of its deities and religious practices.