Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776–1831) was a Danish-German statesman, banker, and historian. He was Germany’s foremost historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. All succeeding historians are in some sense beholden to him.
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Niebuhr was the only son of the Danish explorer Carsten Niebuhr. After matriculation at the University of Kiel, he spent over a year in England and Scotland. He then embarked on a career in state service, becoming private secretary to Count Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann, the Danish minister of finance, and, in 1804, became director of the national bank.
In 1808, Niebuhr became state historiographer and member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1810, he began the series of lectures on Roman history at the newly founded University of Berlin—these became the basis of his great book. In 1816, he went as Prussian emissary to the Vatican, retiring to Bonn in 1823.
Niebuhr’s Römische Geschichte (3 vol., 1811–32; History of Rome) marked an era in the study of its special subject and had a substantial influence on the general comprehension of history. His enduring contribution to scholarship was his methodology to historiography—the “constructive skepticism” he developed is the essence of a scientific method of criticism. He laid the foundation for the great period of German historical scholarship.
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The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.
—Barthold G. Niebuhr
Topics: Style
It is better to create than to be learned; creating is the true essence of life.
—Barthold G. Niebuhr
Topics: Art, Originality
While I am ready to adopt any well-grounded opinion, my inmost heart revolts against receiving the judgments of others respecting persons, and whenever I have done so, I have bitterly repented of it.
—Barthold G. Niebuhr
Topics: Judgment