Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Karl Otfried Müller

MÜLLER, (1797–1840), an eminent writer on ancient Greece, was born at Brieg in Silesia on 28th

August 1797. His father was a chaplain in the Prussian army. Müller was educated partly in Breslau, partly in Berlin, where his enthusiasm in the study of Greek literature, art, and history was fostered by the influence of Boeckh. In 1817, after the publication of his first work, Ægineticorum Liber, he received an appointment at the Magdaleneum in Breslau; and in 1819 he was made a professor of the university of Göttingen, his subject being the archæology of art. His aim was to form a vivid conception of Greek life as a whole; and for this object he carried on a series of profound researches, setting forth the results in his lectures, which produced a great impression on his students, and in numerous works, which marked an epoch in the development of Hellenic studies. Müller's position at Göttingen being rendered unpleasant by the political troubles which followed the accession of Ernest Augustus to the throne of Hanover in 1837, he applied for permission to travel; and in 1839 he left Germany. In April of the following year he reached Greece, having spent the winter in Italy. He carefully investigated the remains of ancient Athens, visited many places of interest in the Peloponnesus, and finally went to Delphi, where he began with his usual zeal to conduct excavations. While engaged in this work he was attacked by intermittent fever, of which he died at Athens on 1st August 1840.