Ernst Curtius

Ernst Curtius (; 2 September 181411 July 1896) was a German archaeologist, historian and museum director.

Biography

He was born in Lübeck. On completing his university studies he was chosen by C. A. Brandis to accompany him on a journey to Greece for the prosecution of archaeological researches. Curtius then became Karl Otfried Müller's companion in his exploration of the Peloponnese, and on Müller's death in 1840 he returned to Germany. In 1844, he became an extraordinary professor at the University of Berlin, and in the same year he was appointed tutor to Prince Frederick William (afterwards the Emperor Frederick III), a post which he held until 1850.

After holding a professorship at Göttingen and undertaking a further journey to Greece in 1862, Curtius was appointed (in 1863) ordinary professor at Berlin. In 1874, he was sent to Athens by the German government and there concluded an agreement by which the excavations at Olympia were entrusted exclusively to Germany. Curtius was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1876. In 1891 Curtius was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Curtius died in Berlin on 11 July 1896.

Excavation in Olympia On 10 June 1852 Ernst Curtius delivered his famous oration on Olympia at the Singakademie in Berlin in the presence of royal family, which marked the first step towards excavations of Olympia, and gave great impetus for the historical archaeological works in Greece. A special museum was built on the site for this purpose.

In 1875 Curtius led large-scale expeditions of archeologists to systematically unearth Olympia. The first excavation was begun at Olympic in Elis, the original Olympic site, where for a thousand years, the Olympic Games had been held.