Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer

Who was Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer?

Peter Wilhelm Forchhammer, was a German classical archaeologist born at Husum in Schleswig.

He was educated at the Lübeck gymnasium and the university of Kiel, with which he was connected for nearly 65 years. In 1830-1834 and 1838-1840 he travelled in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt. In 1843 he was appointed professor of philology at Kiel and director of the archaeological museum founded by himself in co-operation with Otto Jahn.

Forchhammer was a democrat in the best sense of the word, and from 1871 to 1873 represented the progressive party of Schleswig-Holstein in the German Reichstag. His published works deal chiefly with topography and ancient mythology. His travels had convinced him that a full and comprehensive knowledge of classical antiquity could only be acquired by a thorough acquaintance with Greek and Roman monuments and works of art, and a detailed etamination of the topographical and climatic conditions of the chief localities of the ancient world. These principles are illustrated in his Hellenika Griechenland Im Neuen das Alte, which contains his theory of the origin and explanation of the Greek myths, which he never abandoned, in spite of the attacks to which it was subjected. According to him, the myths arose from definite local phenomena, and represented the annually recurring processes of nature as the acts of gods and heroes; thus, in Achill, the Trojan War is the winter conflict of the elements in that district.