HARTMANN, ANTON THEODOR:
German author; born at Düsseldorf June 25, 1774; died at Rostock April 20, 1838. At Göttingen, Eichhorn led him to turn his attention to the study of the Old Testament and of Oriental languages. He taught for fifteen years, and was then called to Rostock (1811) as professor of Old Testament theology. His many works were for the most part of a belletristic character. The following two deserve special mention: "Die Hebräerin am Putztische und als Braut: Vorbereitet Durch eine Uebersicht der Wichtigsten Erfindungen in dem Reiche der Moden bei den Hebräerinnen von den Rohesten Anfängen bis zur Ueppigsten Pracht" (3 vols., Amsterdam, 1809-10), on which De Quincey wrote one of his essays; "Historisch-Kritische Forschungen über die Bildung, das Zeitalter und den Plan der Fünf Bücher Mose's, Nebst ciner Beurtheilenden Einleitung und ciner Genauen Charakteristik der Hebräischen Sagen und Mythen," his principal work (1831). The latter book presents the most consistent development of the so-called "fragment-theory." About 1835 he wrote several pamphlets against the emancipation of the Jews, to which Gotthold Salomon replied.
- Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, x. 680 et seq.
