FRIEDRICH WILHELM

See also:

• FRIEDRICH WILHELM THIERSCH (1784-1860)

THIERSCH (1784-1860)  , German classical scholar and educationist, was born at Kirchscheidungen near Freiburg on the Unstrut, on the 17th of June 1784 . In 1809 he became professor at the gymnasium at Munich, and in 1826 professor of ancient literature in the university of Landshut, transferred in that year to Munich . He died at Munich on the 25th of February 186o . Thiersch, the " tutor of Bavaria " (praeceptor Bavariae), found an extremely unsat;sfactory system . of education in existence . There was a violent feud between the Protestant " north " and the Catholic " south " Germans; Thiersch's colleagues, chiefly old monks, offered violent opposition to his reforms, and an attempt was made upon his life . His schemes, how-ever, were carried out, and have remained the governing principle of the educational institutions of Bavaria . Thiersch was an ardent supporter of Greek independence . In 1832 he visited Greece, and it is said that his influence had much to do with securing the throne of the newly created kingdom for Otto of Bavaria . He wrote a Greek grammar, a metrical translation of Pindar, and an account of Greece (L'Etat actuel de la Grece (1833) . Biography by his son, H . W . J .

Thiersch (1866) ; see a'so G . M .

Thomas, Gedachtnissrede auf Friedrich von Thiersch (186o) , articles by A . Baumeister in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie and O . Zockler in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyclopadie fur protestantische Theologie, xix . ; J . E . Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, iii . (1908) .