Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch (June 17, 1784 - February 25, 1860), German classical scholar and educationist, was born at Kirchscheidungen near Freiburg on the Unstrut.
In 1809 he became professor at the gymnasium at Munich, and in 1826 professor of ancient literature in the university of Landshut, transferred in that year to Munich where he remained till his death. Thiersch, the "tutor of Bavaria" (praeceptor Bavariae), found an extremely unsatisfactory system of education in existence. There was a violent feud between the Protestant "north" and the Catholic "south" Germans; Thiersch's colleagues, chiefly old monks, offered violent opposition to his reforms, and an attempt was made upon his life. His schemes, however, were carried out, and have remained the governing principle of the educational institutions of Bavaria.
Thiersch was an ardent supporter of Greek independence. In 1832 he visited Greece, and it is said that his influence had much to do with securing the throne of the newly created kingdom for Otto of Bavaria. He wrote a Greek grammar, a metrical translation of Pindar, and an account of Greece (L'état actuel de la Grece in 1833).
Biography by his son, HWJ Thiersch (1866); see also GM Thomas, Gedachtnissrede auf Friedrich van Thiersch (1860), articles by A Baumeister in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie and O Zockler in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie, xix.; J.E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, iii. (1908).
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
