The Classical Museum

This short-lived journal (1844–50), edited by Leonhard Schmitz (1807–90), illuminates the development of Classics as a specialist discipline.

The classical scholar Leonhard Schmitz (1807–90) studied at Bonn before becoming a naturalised British citizen and rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh. This short-lived journal (1844–50), which he edited, illuminates the development of Classics as a specialist discipline as well as contemporary intellectual links between Britain and Germany.Born near Aachen, Leonhard Schmitz (1807–90) studied at the University of Bonn, from which he received his PhD, before marrying an Englishwoman and becoming a naturalised British citizen. Made famous by the 1844 publication of his translation of Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome, he became rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh, where he taught Alexander Graham Bell. He also briefly tutored the future Edward VII (and he had previously taught Prince Albert in Bonn). This short-lived quarterly journal, which Schmitz founded and edited between 1844 and 1850, focused exclusively on aspects of classical antiquity – in contrast to the more general literary reviews that were common in the period. It illuminates the development of Classics as a specialist discipline as well as contemporary intellectual links between Britain and Germany. This first volume was published in 1844.