Karl Zell

Adam Karl Philipp Zell (8 April 1793 – 21 January 1873) was a German classical philologist, professor of archaeology in Heidelberg and Baden politician.

Biography

Karl Zell was born in Mannheim, the son of the town court clerk Joseph Zell (1756–1798) and Antoinette Sartorius (1757–1847). He attended the Lyceum in Mannheim, whose headmaster was Friedrich August Nüßlin, a student of Friedrich August Wolf. Nüßlin advised his pupil to study classical philology at Heidelberg University. After beginning his studies in the winter semester of 1810/1811, Zell became a student of August Böckh and Friedrich Creuzer, who influenced him; Zell spent further semesters at the universities of Breslau and Göttingen. From 1814 he worked as a teacher at the Lyceum in Rastatt. After his doctorate, Zell published Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in two volumes (1821).

Also in 1821, on May 17, he was appointed to the professorship of philology at the University of Freiburg, which had been vacant since the death of Johann Georg Jacobi seven years earlier. In Freiburg, Zell reorganized philological studies. In 1830, following the example of various other universities, he founded the Philological Seminar, the main purpose of which was to train teachers. In 1836, Zell pushed through the introduction of a second chair for classical philology for Anton Baumstark, who was hired as a member of the seminar in 1830. In addition to heading the seminar, Zell held various offices at the university: he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, member of the economic deputation, vice-rector, and from 1829 chief librarian.

From 1831 to 1835, Zell was the university's representative in the Baden First Chamber, where he campaigned from the outset for the restructuring of Baden's higher education system. He was successful: in 1836, a new curriculum was adopted for the higher schools and a higher authority (senior teacher) was set up "for the supervision and promotion of academic teaching". Zell joined this senior teacher as a ministerial councilor, while he left the university and gave up his chair. It was only after ten years that Zell returned to university teaching, when he was appointed professor of archaeology in Heidelberg for the summer semester of 1847, succeeding Friedrich Creuzer. In 1849 he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy there, and in 1851 vice-rector. He managed to organize space for the archaeology department in the then university library; however, it was only his successor, Karl Bernhard Stark, who was able to establish an independent archaeological institute in 1866.

In 1855 Zell retired from the service of the state, and in 1857 settled at Freiburg. In the ecclesiastico-political battles in which Archbishop Hermann von Vicari became involved with the Government of Baden for its active adherence to the Kulturkampf policy, Zell was the archbishop's constant adviser and active assistant. As a speaker at assemblies, in pamphlets and articles for periodicals and newspapers, like the Freiburger Kirchenblatt and the Historisch-Politische Blatter, he constantly defended the rights of the Church, Christian schools, religious orders, and argued against criticisms of the Church. A permanent memorial of his labours for the head of the Church is the St. Michael's Association for the Archdiocese of Freiburg, which he founded, in order to organize the gifts of the faithful for the Pope (Peter's pence); the society still flourishes in the archdiocese.

In 1836 he was appointed Ministerial Councillor and in 1846 Privy Councillor; in 1838 he received the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Heidelberg.

Writings

As an author he wrote on a great variety of subjects, devoting himself especially to Aristotle, Calderón, Shakespeare, and the history of Baden. Works still valuable are: