Ahrens, Franz Heinrich Ludolf
AHRENS, FRANZ HEINRICH LUDOLF (1809-1881), German philologist, was born at Helmstedt on the 6th of June 1809. After studying at Gottingen (1826-1829) under K. O. Muller and Ludolf Dissen, and holding several educational appointments, in 1849 he succeeded G. F. Grotefend as director of the Lyceum at Hanover, a post which he filled with great success for thirty years. He died on the 25th of September 1881. His most important work is De Graecae Linguae Dialectis (1839-1843, new ed. by Meister, 1882-1889), which, although unfortunately incomplete, dealing only with Aeolic and Doric, and in some respects superseded by modern research, will always remain a standard treatise on the subject. He also published Bucolicorum Graecorum Reliquiae (1855-1859); studies on the dialects of Homer and the Greek lyrists; on Aeschylus; and some excellent school-books. A volume of his minor works (ed. Haberlin) was published in 1891, which also contains a complete list of his writings.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
