Origins & Early Life

Walter Burkert (German: [ˈbʊɐ̯kɐt]; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult. A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has influenced generations of students of religion since the 1960s, combining in the modern way the findings of archaeology and epigraphy with the work of poets, historians, and philosophers. He was a member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He published books on the balance between lore and science among the followers of Pythagoras, and more extensively on ritual and archaic cult survival, on the ritual killing at the heart of religion, on mystery religions, and on the reception in the Hellenic world of Near Eastern and Persian culture, which sets Greek religion in its wider Aegean and Near Eastern context. Burkert was born in Neuendettelsau. He married Maria Bosch in 1957, and they had three children, Reinhard, Andrea and Cornelius. He studied classical philology, history, and philosophy at the University of Erlangen and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (1950–1954)...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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