author
Erwin Rohde
1845–1898
A major 19th-century classical scholar, he is still remembered for bringing Greek ideas about the soul, religion, and the afterlife into sharp focus. He is also often noted for his close friendship and correspondence with Friedrich Nietzsche.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Hamburg in 1845, Erwin Rohde became one of Germany’s leading classical philologists. He studied at Bonn and Leipzig, where he formed a lasting friendship with Friedrich Nietzsche, and he went on to teach at several universities, including Kiel, Jena, Tübingen, and Heidelberg.
Rohde is best known for Psyche, his influential study of ancient Greek beliefs about the soul and the afterlife. The work helped shape later scholarship on Greek religion and remains the book most closely associated with his name.
He died in Heidelberg in 1898. Even outside specialist circles, Rohde continues to be remembered as both an important interpreter of the ancient world and a key figure in the intellectual world that surrounded Nietzsche.