BOECKH, bek, August, German classical scholar: b. Karlsruhe, 24 Nov. 1785• d. Berlin, 3 Aug. 1867. In 1803 he entered the Univer sity of. Halle, where he was induced by the influence of Wolf to devote himself to the study of philology. After spending three years here and more than a year in Berlin, he re turned in 1807 to his native state and in. the same year became extraordinary and, two years later, ordinary professor in the University of Heidelberg. He had already acquired such re nown as a scholar that in 1810 he was offered the chair of rhetoric and ancient literature in the newly-founded University of Berlin, and here he remained, enjoying this and other im portant offices and dignities, for the rest of his life. The works of Boeckh have made an epoch in the history of philology and archmol ogy. In his studies of classical antiquities he set forth the principle that philology ought to be an historical method intended to reproduce the whole social and political life of any given people during a given period; and in accord ance with this he divided the science into two parts: (1) Hermeneutics and Criticism; (2) the Practical and Theoretical Life of the An cients. His views were vigorously attacked in various quarters, but the majority of Ger man scholars gathered around him and he him self carried his views into effect in a number of important works. The most remarkable of
these are the following: An edition of Pindar (4 vols., 1811-22) • 'The Public Economy of the Athenians' (2 vols., 1817; 3d ed. by Frankel, 1886), which has been translated into English; 'Metrological Investigations of the Weights, Coins and Measures of Antiquity,' and 'Docu ments Concerning the Maritime Affairs of At tica.) Besides these he was uninterruptedly engaged from 1815 to the end of his life in making a collection of Greek inscriptions, which he published with the title