Georg Barthold Niebuhr
Copenhagen 1776 - Bonn 1831
German historian and statesman, son of Krasten Niebuhr, cartographer and traveler. In 1796 he gave up the studies he had started in Kiev to perform the duties of private secretary of Count Schimmelmann, Danish Minister of Finance. After spending a year in the United Kingdom, in 1804 he became manager of the National Bank of Denmark and in 1806 he served in the Prussian civil service. From 1810 he was professor at the University of Berlin and from 1826 to 1823 he was Prussian ambassador to the Papal States. From 1823 to his death he taught at the University of Bonn, working on his major work: History of Rome.
Main works: Römische Geschichte (Berlin 1811-1832); Kleine historische und philologische Schriften (Bonn 1828, Erste Sammlung, e 1843, Zweite Sammlung).
Bibliography: W. Gerrit, Niebuhrs Forschung, Steiner, Stuttgart 1993; B.K. Witte, Der preußische Tacitus. Aufstieg, Ruhm und Ende des Historikers Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776 - 1831), Düsseldorf 1979.