that he had ascertained the characters in the column, now known to be Persian, to be alphabetic. At this point Grotefend took the matter up. His first discovery was communicated to the Royal Society of Göttingen in 1800, and reviewed by Tychsen two years afterwards. In 1815 he gave an account of it in Heeren’s great work on ancient history, and in 1837 published his Neue Beiträge zur Erläuterung der persepolitanischen Keilschrift. Three years later appeared his Neue Beiträge zur Erläuterung der babylonischen Keilschrift. His discovery may be summed up as follows: (1) that the Persian inscriptions contain three different forms of cuneiform writing, so that the decipherment of the one would give the key to the decipherment of the others; (2) that the characters of the Persian column are alphabetic and not syllabic; (3) that they must be read from left to right; (4) that the alphabet consists of forty letters, including signs for long and short vowels; and (5) that the Persepolitan inscriptions are written in Zend (which, however, is not the case), and must be ascribed to the age of the Achaemenian princes. The process whereby Grotefend arrived at these conclusions is a prominent illustration of persevering genius (see Cuneiform). A solid basis had thus been laid for the interpretation of the Persian inscriptions, and all that remained was to work out the results of Grotefend’s brilliant discovery, a task ably performed by Burnouf, Lassen and Rawlinson. Grotefend died on the 15th of December 1853.
GROTESQUE, strictly a form of decorative art, in painting
or sculpture, consisting of fantastic shapes of human beings,
animals and the like, joined together by wreaths of flowers,
garlands or arabesques. The word is also applied to any whimsical
design or decorative style, if characterized by unnatural
distortion, and, generally, to anything ludicrous or extravagantly
fanciful. “Grotesque” comes through the French from the
Ital. grottesco, an adjective formed from grotta, which has been
corrupted in English to “grotto.” The commonly accepted
explanation of the special use of the term “grotesque” is that
this particular form of decorative art was most frequently found
in the excavated ancient Roman and Greek dwellings found in
Italy, to which was applied the name grotte. The derivation of
grotta is through popular Lat. crupta or grupta (cf. “crypt”),
from Gr. κρύπτη, a vault, κρύπτειν, to hide. Such a term would
be applicable both to the buried dwellings of ancient Italy, and
to a cavern, artificial or natural, the ordinary sense of the word.
An interesting parallel with this origin of the word is found in
that of “antic,” now meaning a freak, a jest, absurd fancy, &c.
This word is the same as “antique,” and was, like “grotesque,”
first applied to the fanciful decorations of ancient art.
GROTH, KLAUS (1819–1899), Low German poet, was born
at Heide in Schleswig-Holstein, on the 24th of April 1819. After
studying at the seminary in Tondern (1838–1841), he became a
teacher at the girls’ school in his native village, but in 1847 went
to Kiel to qualify for a higher educational post. Ill-health
interrupted his studies and it was not until 1853 that he was able
to resume them at Kiel. In 1856 he took the degree of doctor
of philosophy at Bonn, and in 1858 settled as privatdocent in
German literature and languages at Kiel, where, in 1866, he was
made professor, and where he lived until his death on the 1st
of June 1899. In his Low German (Plattdeutsch) lyric and epic
poems, which reflect the influence of Johann Peter Hebel (q.v.),
Groth gives poetic expression to the country life of his northern
home; and though his descriptions may not always reflect the
peculiar characteristics of the peasantry of Holstein as faithfully
as those of F. Reuter (q.v.), yet Groth is a lyric poet of genuine
inspiration. His chief works are Quickborn, Volksleben in
plattdeutschen Gedichten Ditmarscher Mundart (1852; 25th ed.
1900; and in High German translations, notably by M. J.
Berchem, Krefeld, 1896); and two volumes of stories, Vertelln
(1855–1859, 3rd ed. 1881); also Voer de Goern (1858) and Ut
min Jungsparadies (1875).
Groth’s Gesammelte Werke appeared in 4 vols. (1893). His Lebenserinnerungen were edited by E. Wolff in 1891; see also K. Eggers, K. Groth und die plattdeutsche Dichtung (1885); and biographies by A. Bartels (1899) and H. Siercks (1899.)
GROTH, PAUL HEINRICH VON (1843– ), German
mineralogist, was born at Magdeburg on the 23rd of June 1843.
He was educated at Freiberg, Dresden and Berlin, and took
the degree of Ph.D. in 1868. After holding from 1872 the chair
of mineralogy at Strasburg, he was in 1883 appointed professor
of mineralogy and curator of minerals in the state museum
at Munich. He carried on extensive researches on crystals and
minerals, and also on rocks; and published Tabellarische
Übersicht der einfachen Mineralien (1874–1898), and Physikalische
Krystallographie (1876–1895, ed. 4, 1905). He edited for
some years the Zeitschrift für Krystallographie und Mineralogie.
GROTIUS, HUGO (1583–1645), in his native country Huig van
Groot, but known to the rest of Europe by the latinized form
of the name, Dutch publicist and statesman, was born at Delft
on Easter day, the 10th of April 1583. The Groots were a branch
of a family of distinction, which had been noble in France, but
had removed to the Low Countries more than a century before.
Their French name was de Cornets, and this cadet branch had
taken the name of Groot on the marriage of Hugo’s great-grandfather
with a Dutch heiress. The father of Hugo was a lawyer
in considerable practice, who had four times served the office
of burgomaster of Leiden, and was one of the three curators
of the university of that place.
In the annals of precocious genius there is no greater prodigy on record than Hugo Grotius, who was able to make good Latin verses at nine, was ripe for the university at twelve, and at fifteen edited the encyclopaedic work of Martianus Capella. At Leiden he was much noticed by J. J. Scaliger, whose habit it was to engage his young friends in the editing of some classical text. At fifteen Grotius accompanied Count Justin of Nassau, and the grand pensionary J. van Olden Barneveldt on their special embassy to the court of France. After a year spent in acquiring the language and making acquaintance with the leading men of France, Grotius returned home. He took the degree of doctor of law at Leiden, and entered on practice as an advocate.
Notwithstanding his successes in his profession, his inclination was to literature. In 1600 he edited the remains of Aratus, with the versions of Cicero, Germanicus and Avienus. Of the Germanicus Scaliger says—“A better text than that which Grotius has given, it is impossible to give”; but it is probable that Scaliger had himself been the reviser. Grotius vied with the Latinists of his day in the composition of Latin verses. Some lines on the siege of Ostend spread his fame beyond the circle of the learned. He wrote three dramas in Latin:—Christus patiens; Sophomphaneas, on the story of Joseph and his brethren; and Adamus exul, a production still remembered as having given hints to Milton. The Sophomphaneas was translated into Dutch by Vondel, and into English by Francis Goldsmith (1652); the Christus patiens into English by George Sandys (1640).
In 1603 the United Provinces, desiring to transmit to posterity some account of their struggle with Spain, determined to appoint a historiographer. The choice of the states fell upon Grotius, though he was but twenty years of age, and had not offered himself for the post. There was some talk at this time in Paris of calling Grotius to be librarian of the royal library. But it was a ruse of the Jesuit party, who wished to persuade the public that the opposition to the appointment of Isaac Casaubon did not proceed from theological motives, since they were ready to appoint a Protestant in the person of Grotius.
His next preferment was that of advocate-general of the fisc for the provinces of Holland and Zeeland. This was followed by his marriage, in 1608, to Marie Reigersberg, a lady of family in Zeeland, a woman of great capacity and noble disposition.
Grotius had already passed from occupation with the classics to studies more immediately connected with his profession. In the winter of 1604 he composed (but did not publish) a treatise entitled De jure praedae. The MS. remained unknown till 1868, when it was brought to light, and printed at the Hague under the auspices of Professor Fruin. It shows that the principles and the plan of the celebrated De jure belli, which was not composed
