Georg Luck

Georg Hans Bhawani Luck (February 17, 1926 – February 17, 2013) was a Swiss classicist known for his studies of magical beliefs and practices in the Classical world. For over twenty years he was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Education and academic career Luck was born in Bern, Switzerland, and attended the Kirchenfeld Gymnasium (high school) in Bern. During and after World War II, he served in the Swiss Army, eventually being promoted to lieutenant. After this, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Bern, also with studies at the University of Paris. He came to the U.S. for graduate studies, at Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree in classics in 1951. Returning to the University of Bern, he earned a doctorate in 1953. He was awarded a Guggenheim in 1958. The Latin love elegy (Methuen, 1959). A discussion and translation of the elegies of the Latin poets Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. A fifth poet of this style, Cornelius Gallus, is comparatively neglected, little of his poetry having survived. Arcana mundi : magic and the occult in the Greek and Roman worlds : a collection of ancient texts (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985). Albi Tibulli Aliorumque Carmina (Teubner, 1988). Die Weisheit der Hunde. Texte der antiken Kyniker in deutscher Übersetzung mit Erläuterungen (Alfred Kröner, 1997). Ancient pathways and hidden pursuits : religion, morals, and magic in the ancient world (University of Michigan Press, 1999). A collection of 22 of Luck's essays, on diverse topics, written over a 50-year time span.