Herbert Hunger

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Herbert Hunger (9 December 1914 – 9 July 2000) was an Austrian Byzantinist, palaeographer and university professor. He was an influential specialist in Byzantine literature, particularly of the secular vein.

Hunger was born and died in Vienna. He studied classical philology and German studies at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1936 with a dissertation on Euripides, supervised by Johannes Mewaldt. After graduating, he embarked in a career in the Austrian army. He was taken into the German army after the Anschluss and fought in the WWII. He was prisoner of war of the Soviets from 1945 to 1947, when he returned to Vienna.

He entered in the Austrian National Library, in the manuscripts department, and was made head of the papyrus collection in 1956. Thanks to a solid and numerically consistent series of publications, in 1954 he was habilitated in Byzantine Studies and began teaching at the University of Vienna as a private lecturer. In 1962 he was made Professor and director of the Institute for Byzantine Studies, which he directed until his retirement in 1985.

He joined the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1959 as a correspondent, becoming full member in 1962. From 1973 to 1982 he served two consecutive terms as president of the Academy; previously, he had served as secretary of the philosophical-historical class from 1963, as secretary general from 1964, and as vice president from 1970. In 1971 he became chairman of the Kommission für Byzantinistik founded by the Academy in 1948, and served until 1995. In 1966 he founded the Kommission für die Tabula Imperii Byzantini, serving as its chairman until 1995 as well.

In 1970/1971 he was Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Vienna. From 1959 to 1996 he served as president of the Austrian Byzantine Society and from 1976 to 1986 as president of the Association Internationale d'Études Byzantins (AIEB). From 1966 until his death he also was the chairman of the commission for the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. As incumbent president of the AIEB, he organized the XVI International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Vienna, which was attended by more than 1,100 scholars.^[2]

From 1954 to his death he directed the Jahrbuch der österreichische Byzantinische Gesellschaft, which in 1961 was renamed Jahrbuch der österreichische Byzantinistik. He also joined the Byzantinische Zeitschrift as co-editor from 1964 to 1984 and founded and directed several new series of Byzantine studies monographs: Wiener Byzantinistiche Studien (1964), Byzantina Vindobonensia (1965), Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für die Tabula Imperii Byzantini (1973), Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik (1976).

He married Ruth Friedrich in 1941 and together they had three children.

Hunger was honored with three Festschriften by his friends and colleagues:

• Koder, Johannes, ed. (1964). Akrothinia sodalium Seminarii Byzantini Vindobonensis Herberto Hunger oblata. Vienna: Universität Wien, Institut für Byzantinistik.
• Hörandner, Wolfram; Koder, Johannes; Kresten, Otto; Trapp, Erich, eds. (1984). Byzantios. Festschrift für Herbert Hunger zum 70. Geburtstag. Vienna: Ernst Becvar.
• Hörandner, Wolfram; Koder, Johannes; Kresten, Otto, eds. (1994). ΑΝΔΡΙΑΣ. Festschrift für Herbert Hunger zum 80. Geburtstag. Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik, 44. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Hunger focused on Byzantine studies and is considered the founder of the "Wiener Schule" of Byzantine studies. His vast bibliography covers almost every aspect of Byzantine studies, but his main concerns were Byzantine society and literature, book culture in Byzantium and Greek handwriting. He became interested in Greek palaeography during his years at the Austrian National Library, while studying the Greek papyri held by the institution and working on the catalogue of the Greek manuscripts of the library. His interest in Greek handwriting led him to elaborate and publish capital contributions on the subject, being his communication to the Paris colloquium of 1974^[3] and, later, the organization and the launch of the Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800.—1600., being the catalogue of all known Greek medieval scribes.^[4] Hunger is also responsible for having coined terms such as "Perlschrift" ("pearl script"), "Fettaugenmode" (literally "resembling fatty globules") and "Auszeichnungsschriften" ("distinctive script") to describe particular styles of medieval Greek handwriting.^[5]

Hunger was also a respected textual critic. In 1959 he published the second edition of the first volume, second issue, of the Corpus fabularum Aesopicarum, originally edited by August Hausrath for the Bibliotheca Teubneriana; the first issue, also in second edition, appeared in 1970.^[6] In 1964 he published the first volume of the Wiener byzantinistische Studien [WBS], a monograph on the proems of Byzantine documents as literary and political products of their time, which also included the critical edition of an anthology of proems he found in Vienna manuscripts.^[7] Five years later, he also published in the WBS a monograph on John Chortasmenos, with critical edition of his works,^[8] and in 1981 he edited a metaphrase in vulgar Greek of books XI to XIII of Anne Komnene's "Alexias".^[9] In 1990, he published a critical edition of Prochoros Kydones' Greek translation of the first book of St. Augustine's treatise "On Free Will" and ps.-Augustine's "On the Ten Plagues of Egypt".^[10]

In 1981, he started the project of the complete critical edition of the register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, directing the enterprise and signing the first two volumes as co-editor and contributing to the third, appeared in 2001,^[11] and editing two volumes of complementary studies.^[12]

His complete bibliography was published by his student Peter Soustal in 2001,^[13] and reprinted in 2019.^[14]

• Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Lexicon of Greek and Roman Mythology), 1953, (8th edition 1988)
• Hunger, Herbert (1954). Hunger, Herbert (ed.). Studien zur griechischen Paläographie. Biblos-Schriften, 5. Vienna: Hollinck.
• Hausrath, August; Hunger, Herbert, eds. (1959). Corpus fabularum Aesopicarum. Bibliotheca Teubneriana. Vol. I/2 (II ed.). Lipsiae: in aedibus B. G. Teubneri.
• Theodoros Prodromos (1963). Hunger, Herbert (ed.). Der byzantinische Katz—Mäuse—Krieg. Byzantina Vindobonensia, 3. Wien – Graz – Köln: im Kommission bei Hermann Böhlaus Nachf.
• Hunger, Herbert; Vogel, Kurt, eds. (1963). Ein byzantinisches Rechenbuch des 15. Jahrhunderts. 100 Aufgaben aus dem Codex Vindobonensis Phil. Gr. 65. Text, Übersetzung und Kommentar. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften—Denkschriften der philosophisch-historischen Klasse, 78/22. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert (1964). Prooimion: Elemente der byzantinischen Kaiseridee in den Arengen der Urkunden. Wiener byzantinistiche Studien, 1. Wien – Graz – Köln: im Kommission bei Hermann Böhlaus Nachf. ISBN 978-3-7001-1265-5.
• Hunger, Herbert (1965). Reich der neuen Mitte: Der christliche Geist der byzantinischen Kultur. Graz: Verlag Styria.
• Hunger, Herbert (1969). Johannes Chortasmenos (ca. 1340 — ca. 1436/37): Briefe, Gedichte und kleine Schriften. Wiener byzantinistiche Studien, 7. Wien – Graz – Köln: im Kommission bei Hermann Böhlaus Nachf. ISBN 978-3-7001-0887-0.
• Hausrath, August; Hunger, Herbert, eds. (1970). Corpus fabularum Aesopicarum. Bibliotheca Teubneriana. Vol. I/1 (II ed.). Lipsiae: in aedibus B. G. Teubneri.
• Hunger, Herbert (1972). Aspekte der griechischen Rhetorik von Gorgias bis zum Untergang von Byzanz. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften—Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Klasse, 277/3. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-0883-2.
• Hunger, Herbert (1973). Byzantinische Grundlagenforschung. Gesammelte Aufsätze. Collected Studies, 21. London: Variorum Reprints.
• Hunger, Herbert (1978). Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, 12.5.1-2. München: C. H. Beck.
• Hunger, Herbert, ed. (1981). Akten der XVI. internationaler Byzantinistenkongress. Wien, 4.—9. Oktober 1981. Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik, 31.1-2. Vol. I. Hauptreferate. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert, ed. (1981). Akten der XVI. internationaler Byzantinistenkongress. Wien, 4.—9. Oktober 1981. Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik, 32.1-7. Vol. II. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert, ed. (1981). Anonyme Metaphrase zu Anna Komnene, Alexias XI—XIII. Ein Beitrag zur Erschließung der byzantinischen Umgangssprache. Wiener byzantinistiche Studien, 15. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-0376-9.
• Hunger, Herbert; Gamillscheg, Ernst; Harlfinger, Dieter, eds. (1981). Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800.—1600. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, III.1.A-C. Vol. I.A-C: Grossbritannien. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert, ed. (1981). Studien zum Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften—Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Klasse, 383. Vol. I. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert; Kresten, Otto, eds. (1981). Das Register der Patriarchats von Konstantinopel. Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, 19.1. Vol. 1: Edition und Ūbersetzung der Urkunden aus den Jahren 1315—1331. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Prochoros Kydones (1984). Hunger, Herbert (ed.). Übersetzung von acht Briefen des Hl. Augustinus. Wiener Studien — Beihefte, 9. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert; Ševčenko, Ihor (1986). Des Nikephoros Blemmydes Basilikos Andrias und dessen Metaphrase von Georgios Galesiotes und Georgios Oinaiotes: ein weiterer Beitrag zum Verständnis der byzantinischen Schrift-Koine. Wiener byzantinistiche Studien, 18. Wien – Graz – Köln: im Kommission bei Hermann Böhlaus Nachf.
• Hunger, Herbert (1989). Epidosis: Gesammelte Schriften zur byzantinischen geistes- und Kulturgeschichte. München: Editio Maris. ISBN 9783925801051.
• Hunger, Herbert (1989). Schreiben und Lesen in Byzanz: Die byzantinische Buchkultur. München: C. H. Beck.
• Hunger, Herbert; Gamillscheg, Ernst; Harlfinger, Dieter, eds. (1989). Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800.—1600. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, III.2.A-C. Vol. II.A-C: Frankreich. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Prochoros Kydones (1990). Hunger, Herbert (ed.). Übersetzungen von S. Augustinus, De libero arbitrio I 1-90 und Ps.-Augustinus, De decem plagis Aegyptiorum (lateinisch-griechisch). Wiener Studien — Beihefte, 14. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-1719-3.
• Hunger, Herbert; Kresten, Otto; Kislinger, Ewald; Cupane, Carolina, eds. (1995). Das Register der Patriarchats von Konstantinopel. Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, 19.2. Vol. 2: Edition und Ūbersetzung der Urkunden aus den Jahren 1337—1350. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert; Gamillscheg, Ernst; Harlfinger, Dieter; Eleuteri, Paolo, eds. (1997). Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800.—1600. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, III.3.A-C. Vol. III.A-C: Rom mit der Vatikan. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert; Kresten, Otto, eds. (1997). Studien zum Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften—Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Klasse, 647. Vol. II. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
• Hunger, Herbert (1999). Das Denken am Leitseil der Sprache. Johann Nestroys geniale wie auch banale Verfremdung der Sprache durch Neologismen. Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften—Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Klasse, 664. Wien: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

• Hunger, Herbert (1954). "Die Perlschrift, eine Stilrichtung der griechischen Buchschrift des 11. Jahrhunderts". In Hunger, Herbert (ed.). Studien zur griechischen Paläographie. Biblos-Schriften, 5. Vienna: Hollinck. pp. 22–32.
• Hunger, Herbert (1961). "Antikes und mittelalterliches Buch- und Schriftwesen, 2. Schriftwesen, 1. Griechische Paläographie". In Hunger, Herbert; Stegmüller, Otto; Erbse, Harmut; Imhof, Max; Büchner, Karl; Beck, Hans-Georg; Rüdiger, Horst (eds.). Geschichte der Textüberlieferung der antiken und mittelalterlichen Literatur. Colloques internationaux de Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 559. Paris: Atlantis-Verlag. pp. 72–107.
• Hunger, Herbert (1977). "Minuskel und Auszeichnungsschriften im 10. — 12. Jahrhundert". In Glénisson, Jean; Bompaire, Jacques; Irigoin, Jean (eds.). La paléographie grecque et byzantine. Colloques internationaux de Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 559. Paris: Éditions du CNRS. pp. 201–220.

• Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
• Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1968: Wilhelm Hartel Prize
• 1979: City of Vienna Prize for Humanities
• 1980: elected to the American Philosophical Society^[15]
• 1981: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
• Grand Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
• Grand Gold Decoration for Services to the City of Vienna

• Obituary by Johannes Koder, his student and friend (in German)
• Short biography with picture
• Obituary at Byzantium (Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies) - please scroll down to 2001 obituaries
• Austrian Academy of Sciences
• Review of 'Festschrift' outlining the history of the Byzantine Institute of the University of Vienna, founded by Herbert Hunger

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