The New International Encyclopædia/Köchly, Hermann

KÖCHLY, kẽK'lḗ, Hermann (1815-76). A German philologist and educational reformer. He was born in Leipzig, was educated there, and in 1837 became teacher at Saalfeld, and three years afterwards at Dresden. He early published Ueber das Princip des Gymnasialunterrichts der Gegenwart (1845), and Zur Gymnasialreform (1846). The scheme set forth in these pamphlets stressed the natural sciences, and, in Latin and Greek, urged emphasis on content rather than on grammar and style, and the gradual abolishment of speaking and writing those languages. The plan was adopted in Saxony almost immediately. In February, 1849, Köchly was elected to the Lower House of the Kingdom, but after taking part in the revolutionary struggle in May was forced to flee. He went to Brussels; in 1850 became professor at Zurich, and in 1864 at Heidelberg. He was a member of the German Reichstag from 1871 to 1873. His contributions to classical philology were mainly on Greek poetry and military authors: Quintus Smyrnæus (1853); Hesiodus (1870); Aratus, Mancthonis, Maximi et Aliorum Astrologica (1851); Nonni Dionysiaca (1858); De Iliadis Carminibus (1850-59); Iliadis Carmina XVI. (1861); De Diversis Hesiodeæ Theogoniæ Partibus (1860); De Odysseæ Carminibus (1862-63); Geschichte des griechischen Kriegswesens (1852); Griechische Kriegsschriftsteller (1853-55); Einleitung zu Cäsars Kommentarien über den Gallischen Krieg (1857); and Onosandri de Imperatoris Officio Liber (1869). Consult Hug, Hermann Köchly (Basel, 1878).