The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Beck, Christian Daniel

BECK, Christian Daniel, German scholar and writer: b. Leipzig, 22 Jan. 1757; d. 13 Dec. 1832. Graduating from the University of Leipzig, he was later appointed professor of the Greek and Latin classics at the same establishment, assuming also the chair of history in 1819. In that year he also became editor of the Allgemeines Reportorium der neuesten in- und ausländischen Litteratur, a position he maintained until his death. He was also the founder of the Philological Society, which in 1809 became the Philological Seminary. Among his works are ‘Anleitung zur Kenntnis der allgemeinen Welt- und Völkergeschichte’ (4 vols., 1787-1807); ‘Commentarii Historici Decretorum Religionis Christianæ et Formulæ Lutheranæ’ (1801); ‘Commentarii Societatis Philologicæ Lipsiensis’ (1801-04); editions of Euripides, Pedo, Plato, Cicero, etc.