Robert Hanhart

Biography[edit]

Robert Hanhart was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland on July 6, 1925. He studied classical philology and classical history at the University of Basel. He earned his doctorate in 1954. He first worked for a year at Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, a project to create a medieval Latin dictionary. He then moved to the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Germany, where he worked as a research assistant at the Göttinger Septuaginta-Unternehmen. The first book released under his editorship was a 1959 critical edition of the book 2 Maccabees in its Greek Septuagint form which he had taken over from the work of Werner Kappler. In 1961, he was appointed head of the department. In 1962 he received a doctorate in theology from the Faculty of Theology, University of Göttingen. He completed a habilitation in 1965 with his thesis being his edition of the Book of Esther; this allowed him to be appointed an adjunct professor of the Old Testament at Göttingen in 1967. In 1977, he became a full professor. He took emeritus status and retired from his professorship in 1990, and retired as director of the Septuagint Company in 1993. However, he continued to work in the field, writing the book Studien zur Septuaginta und zum hellenistischen Judentum in 1999 and providing forwards, commentary, and editorship for other projects.^[1][2]


Hanhart has received honorary degrees from both the University of Helsinki's theology department as well as the University of Bologna in recognition of his work on the Septuagint.^[3][2]