Institut für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS CAROLINAE PAG. 69-85 PHILOLOGICA 2 / GRAECOLATINA PRAGENSIA ‚HYMNISCHES' IN DEN LAUDES DEI DES DRACONTIUS Bemerkungen zu einem Lichthymnus (laud. dei 1, 118-137) und einem Gotteshymnus (laud. dei 2, 15-31) BENJAMIN HÜBBE ABSTRACT 'Hymnic elements' in the Laudes Dei of Dracontius Notes on a lux-hymn (laud. dei 1, 118-137) and on a praise of God (laud. dei 2, 15-31) In his paper the author tries to shed light on two hymnic and/or pane-gyrical passages of book 1 and 2 of the Laudes Dei, written by the North African poet Dracontius by the end of the 5th century A. D.: the so called hymn on lux (Drac. laud. dei 1, 118-137) and a hymn on God (Drac. laud. dei 2, 15-31). Under the term of 'hymnic elements' (Hymnisches), to be understood as a collective for hymnic and panegyrical forms as well as their 'pagan' and 'christian' motifs and themes in the Late Antiquity, the author tries to detect specific performative modes of Dracontius' poetical practices in the Laudes Dei. He argues, in order to value the Laudes Dei as a christian work of poetry, that it seems not so much of interest for the poet Dracon-tius to provide a strict exegetical or dogmatic programme via his poetry, but rather to perform the praise of God via a setting of various poetical elements, namely hymnic and panegyrical ones. As the author ' s analysis of the two hymns tries to show, the poets approach to the Bible and the deeds of God as a christian layman is a literary one. In order to praise the christian God, Dracontius uses several hymnic and panegyrical elements and transforms them so that categorizations and dichotomizations like 'pagan' and 'christian' become suspect for the description of his poetry.

This paper analyses the teaching of physics and the development of the physics chair at the university of Helmstedt inbetween the years 1663-1683 by focusing on two professors: Heinrich Rixner and Justus Cellarius. As I argue, in the turn from one professor to the other in 1673 also the teaching of physics in Helmstedt started to undergo several transformations, i.e. the incorporation of new currents of early modern natural philosophy, such as Gassendi, Descartes, or Boyle.
But, as I try to show, this did not cause a complete abolisment of the traditional Aristotelian and Peripatetic "Schulphilosophie". What took place in Helmstedt was a compromise between "philosophia vetus" and "philosophia nova". In case of physics it meant a gradual shift towards physico-theology.
The study heavily draws on archive material transmitted for the university history of Helmstedt and preserved at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel and the Niedersächisches Landesarchiv Wolfenbüttel.

This paper is a case study on the teaching of ethics at the university of Helmstedt in the second half of the seventeenth century. The argument is centered around Johann Barthold Niemeier, professor for metaphysics, logics, and theology, who over a period of more than thirty years straight thaught ethics in his private lectures. The argument of the paper draws heavily on archive material from the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel and the Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv Wolfenbüttel. Especially the numerous thorough and systematic reports ("Rechenschaftsberichte") of Niemeier's lectures shed light on the history of teaching ethics at Helmstedt and on how important in particular Aristotelian moral philosophy, in fact, still was by the end of the seventeenth century.

The miscellany is available online under:
https://ramusvirens.home.blog/2020/08/17/how-to-guard-and-take-care-of-a-library-at-the-turn-of-the-eighteenth-century-the-bibliotheca-rudolphea-within-helmstedt-university-library/

This short article explores the library practices at the university library of Helmstedt, the Bibliotheca Julia, around 1700. Since Hermann von der Hardt, professor for oriental languages, was appointed librarian of the Helmstedt university library in 1688 and permanent head librarian in 1700 he held a frequent correspondence with his duke, Rudolph August of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Shortly before his death in 1704, the duke donated his personal library, the Bibliotheca Rudolphea, to the Helmstedt university library in 1702. Von der Hardt was entrusted with its care. In a so far undescribed document of ten pages entitled „Leges Bibliothecae Rudolpheae instruendae et conservandae“, to be found among their correspondence and written in von der Hardt‘s hand, he suggests 12 rules of how to take care of the Bibliotheca Rudolphea within the Helmstedt university library. These rules, as could be imagined, were relatively restrictive and give us valuable insights into library practices at Helmstedt.

https://www.hab.de/ansteckung-erklaerungsansaetze-fruehneuzeitlicher-gelehrten-der-universitaet-helmstedt/

From 1680 to 1684 the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg had to face the imminent threat of the plague. By the time it reached Wolfenbüttel in 1681 scholars at the Academia Julia in Helmstedt felt the need to give answers for a subtle natural phenomenon: the spread of highly contagious diseases and the process of contagion.
As the short article shows, Helmstedt scholars drew on established theories of „miasmas“ („noxious particles“), but also on newer corpuscular theories, such as theories of „effluvia“ („outpourings“, „respirations“) as they most prominently were promoted by natural philosophers such as Robert Boyle and several others.

https://www.hab.de/das-curriculum-an-einer-fruehneuzeitlichen-universitaet/

The miscellany deals with late seventeenth-century lecture reports ('Monatszettel', 'Rechenschaftsberichte') from the University of Helmstedt. Their analysis provides insights into early modern teaching agendas and curricula.

Some of the Helmstedt lecture reports are available online in transcribed form: http://uni-helmstedt.hab.de/index.php?cPage=4&sPage=rsb

This paper portraits the correspondence between Hiob Ludolf, the famous orientalist, and Melchior Leydecker, a Protestant minister in the Dutch East Indies, on the Hebrew term קלי („kali“) occuring in several passages of the Old Testament. While Ludolf argues that the term might reflect the well known drink of coffee, Leydecker seriously doubts the possibility that the plant and beverage was known already in ancient biblical times.
The paper presents this so far neglected correspondence and analyses the controversy between Ludolf and Leydecker on coffee as a biblical object.

Our project workshop from 21-22 Nov 2019 on "Aristotle and Natural Philosophy at Early Modern Central European Universities, 1600-1700", organised by Bernd Roling, Sinem Derya Kılıç, and Benjamin Wallura (né Hübbe).

Contributers:
Ueli Zahnd, Pietro Daniel Omodeo, Esteban Law, Bernd Roling, Sascha Salatowsky, Asaph Ben-Tov, Sinem Derya Kılıç, Zornitsa Radeva, Christoph Sander, Stefano Gulizia, Matthias Roick, Jonathan Regier, Jost Eickmeyer, Gabriel Müller, Lars Reuke, Benjamin Wallura (née Hübbe)

The workshop belonged to a DFG research project (2017-2020) based at Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel and Freie Universität Berlin:
https://www.hab.de/der-aristotelismus-in-helmstedt-die-karriere-eines-europaeischen-paradigmas/

The workshop proceedings will be published asap in the series of the 'Wolfenbütteler Forschungen'. The preliminary title: "Philosophia vetus et nova. Aristotelismus, neuere Philosophie und protestantische Gelehrsamkeit in Helmstedt und Mitteleuropa, 1600-1700" ("Philosophia vetus et nova. Aristotelianism, Early Modern Philosophy, and Protestant Scholarship in Helmstedt and Central Europe, 1600-1700").

My own contribution to this volume will appear under the title: "Oszillierende Schulphilosophie. Heinrich Rixner, Justus Cellarius und der Helmstedter Physikunterricht zwischen Aristoteles-Exegese und neuerer Philosophie, 1664-1683" (see more under "forthcoming").

A workshop at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, organised by Valentina Lepri, Danilo Facca, and Matthias Roick from 14-15 June 2018.

The proceedings of this workshop will appear in the "History of Universities" series asap. I contributed to the workshop and volume a paper on the Teaching of Ethics at the University of Helmstedt in Late Seventeenth Century (see more under "forthcoming")

Contributers and participants:
Outi Merisalo (Organiser), Iolanda Ventura, Marianne Pade, Susanna Niiranen, Bernd Roling, Benjamin Wallura, Peter Sjökvist, Jonas Nordin, Patrizia Camassi, and many more.

I contributed a talk on "Theory and Practice of Libraries in the Seventeenth Century. The Case of the Helmstedt Milieu and Beyond".

Contributers:
Outi Merisalo (Organiser), Iolanda Ventura, Patrizia Carmassi, Bernd Roling, Susanna Niiranen, Jakub Kujawiński, Fiammetta Sabba, Giovanna Murano, Marianne Pade, Stefania Fortuna, Lorenzo Amato, Benjamin Wallura

I contributed a talk on "Friedrich August Hackemann: A Helmstedt Medievalist".

Organisers: Alexander Košenina (University of Hanover), Sheila Dickson (University of Glasgow)

Contributers: Alexander Košenina, Sheila Dickson, Samuel Cohn, Birgit Nübel, Benjamin Wallura

I contributed a talk on "17th Century Explanations of the Epidemic: Effluvia, Miasmata, Fermenta"
I provided an open access ppt.-video of the talk as stream in a short and also slightly extended version under: https://box.fu-berlin.de/s/dXq3xrsKnozpAFd

Organization: Outi Merisalo and the LaMeMoLi project

Contributors:
Outi Merisalo, Iolanda Ventura, Fiametta Sabba, Patrizia Carmassi, Jakub Kujawiński, Bernd Roling, Taneli Puputti, Marianne Pade, Susanna Niiranen, Anders Kirk Borggaard, Stefania Fortuna, Benjamin Wallura