[Hum_Calendar_Events] Christopher Krebs: Lecture Thursday

[CDH Service Desk]

The UCLA Department of Germanic Languages
presents a lecture by
CHRISTOPHER KREBS

"A PECULIAR, UNADULTERATED PEOPLE THAT RESEMBLES
NO ONE BUT ITSELF"
TACITUS' GERMANIA AND RACIAL DOCTRINES


Within the history of the reception of Germania, the turn of the 19th century marks
a watershed,  as it was during those years that Tacitus was called upon by those
 contributing to an emerging racial discourse. In time this led to a racial reading of
the Roman historian's description of the Germanic people, as presented in chapter
four of his Germania. This new reading can be found in Friedrich Kohlrausch's popular
history textbook, A History of Germany: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time,
which makes made ample use of Tacitus's text--thus introducing this "temple of
honor to the German nation" to scores of new readers. A century later, chapter four
of the  Germania provoked the enthusiasm of Hans F. K. Günther, the race "expert"
 among National Socialists.  The talk will look at the history of this influential
chapter, with special attention to developments in the 19th century.

Thursday, November 10, 2011
4:00 pm
306 Royce Hall
Christopher Krebs is Associate Professor of Classics at Harvard University.  He studied
classics  and philosophy in Berlin, Kiel, and Oxford before joining the Department of
the Classics at Harvard in 2004. His publications include Negotiatio Germaniae: Tacitus'
Germania und Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Giannantonio Campano, Conrad Celtis und Heinrich
Bebel (2005) and A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus' Germania from the Roman Empire
to the Third Reich (2011).
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