Friedrich Matz

Friedrich Matz (13 October 1843 in Lübeck – 30 December 1874 in Berlin) was a German archaeologist. His nephew, also named Friedrich Matz (1890–1974), was as well a noted archaeologist.

From 1863 he studied philology and archaeology at the University of Bonn as a favored student of Otto Jahn. In 1867 he received his doctorate with a dissertation thesis on Philostratus, titled De Philostratorum in describendis imaginibus fide specimen prius. Afterwards, he took a study trip to Greece and Italy, during which time, he conducted extensive studies of ancient sarcophagi. In 1870 he was tasked by the Central Directorate of the German Archaeological Institute to create a register of ancient sarcophagi. During the same year, he obtained his habilitation at the University of Göttingen.

In other research, he investigated ancient statues in England and France, and examined a collection of long-forgotten manuscripts of antiquity belonging to the Duke of Coburg-Gotha. In 1873 he became an associate professor at the University of Halle, and during the following year, relocated to the University of Berlin. He died in Berlin on 30 December 1874, aged 31.