Grotto George

His grandfather was a native of Bremen , a German Protestant who moved to England in the mid-18th century and founded a banking house in London ^[5] .

From 10 to 16, George studied at the best London school, where he perfectly mastered ancient languages. Upon completion, he worked in the family banking office of the banking house Grotto, Prescott and Company. He devoted his free time to reading essays on philosophy, history, jurisprudence, and political economy.

He was greatly influenced by personal communication with economists and thinkers such as Ricardo , whom Grot had made acquaintance with in 1817, as well as James Mill , whom Grot met in Ricardo's house (possibly in 1819), and I. Bentham who was the leader of the utilitarians , which Grotto also joined. At a later time, his closest friends were J.K. Lewis, A. Ben , J. St. Mill .

In his political views, Grotto was a supporter of moderate Whig liberalism ^[6] , adjacent to their left wing. Radical democracy , which distinguishes all his political activities and runs through the “History of Greece” with a red thread, was already adopted by him from Mill and Bentham in his youth, along with the rejection of all oppression. Grotto's first printed essay, Essay on parliamentary reform (1821), was directed against class exclusivity in government; He devoted parliamentary reform to his pamphlet Essentials of parliamentary reform (1830). In 1830, having traveled abroad, he spent time with Parisian liberals, but was forced to leave France due to the death of his father.

George Grotto was a member of the House of Commons from 1832 to 1841 (from the City of London ), being one of the leaders of the Russian faction of radicals (subsequently merged with the Whigs and Pilites into the Liberal Party ). Engaged in active parliamentary activities. Several times he proposed a secret ballot upon election to parliament, but without success; only in 1872 this measure received the force of law. In the end, not hoping to implement his program of radical measures, he refused a seat in parliament.

A lively interest in modernity coexisted with the young Grotto with serious studies of ancient Greek history. According to V.P. Buzeskul , he knew very well the classics and the latest special scientific literature, especially German ^[5] . In 1841, he left parliament, and in 1843, banking, and concentrated on work on his work, which later became the main one.

Extensive material on Greek mythology, along with similar legends of other peoples, was collected by him in 1823, and already at the end of this year, the Grotto set about compiling The History of Greece. In 1826, in a critical article in the journal Westminster Review about the History of Greece by W. Mitford (in fact, he will become the successor to the authorship of a multivolume ancient Greek history ^{[note 1]} ) Grot expressed guiding views on the subject and tasks of the work conceived: In this article, Niebuhr guessed in the author the future famous historian. In 1843, in the same journal, an article by Grotto about the work of Niebuhr appeared: "Griechische Heroengeschichten", which constituted, as it were, a direct continuation of his early studies in mythology and, in general terms, gave the contents of Volume I of History. As V.I. Kuzishchin notes, his experience of banking and political activity “allowed Grot to better understand the springs of the historical development of ancient Greek policies”, and he “owed his interest to the prominent economists of England and their influence to the interest in the economic problems of ancient history” ^[6] .

George Grotto’s twelve volumes of History of Greece were published between 1845 and 1855. Her appearance was a whole event, attracted the attention of not only specialists, but of broad educated circles not only in England, but also in Europe and America ^[5] . It is dedicated to the history of Ancient Greece from ancient times to 301 BC. e. It is noted that he perfectly clarified the conditions that within the framework of small political communities gave rise to ancient education with its universal character and civilizing power. The presentation in his History is dominated by political history, with particular emphasis on the Athenian. He idealized Athenian democracy ^[7] . With regard to the early Greek tradition, he shows hypercriticism, the Hellenistic era seems to him empty ^[8] . His work was mainly a collective retelling of the legendary tradition, at the same time with a critical attitude to it ^[6] . According to Buzeskul, the work of the Grotto is also "distinguished by great realism and in this respect is the opposite of the previously prevailing somewhat romantic view of the Greeks" ^[5] . The undoubted literary merits of his work are also noted ^[5] .

His work, being in tune with the ongoing struggle for democratic transformations in England at that time, caused a wide public response ^[9] . Only in England his work was published five times, the last in 1888 ^[6] . As V.I. Kuzishchin notes, “The grotto sought to show that it was within the borders of democratic states that conditions were created for the formation of a high Greek culture with its universal values, which are also of great importance for European culture” ^[6] .

To a large extent, the history of Greece owes Grotus a prominent place in the circle of educational disciplines. ^{[ specify ]} .

Thanks to his work, he gained worldwide fame ^[5] . He was offered peerage, which he refused ^[5] .

The significance of Grotto's other major work, “Plato and the other companions of Socrates” (I — III, Lond. 1865; 2 ed., 1867), is not so great, although it was also received by criticism with great sympathy, especially J. St. Millem. An important advantage of this work is a clear, thorough analysis of individual dialogs, outlining the main provisions of the author. In many ways, Plato complements the History of Greece.

The last years of his life, Grotto with particular zeal continued Aristotle's long-begun studies, but managed to finish only a smaller part of his work on the logic of Aristotle. Several articles on philosophy were written by Grotto in the form of appendices to various works of Ben . In 1869, he, together with J. St. Millem produced the new edition of James Mill's Analysis of the phenomena of the human mind.

Towards the end of his life, he partially revised his socio-political views, so in 1867 he said: “I survived my faith in the power of the republic, as an obstacle against the low passions of the majority, and I admit the possibility that the supreme power, when it rests in the republican hands , can be used as destructively as a despot, like Napoleon I ” ^[5] .

Cabinet work alternated with intensive administrative activities at the University of London , of which he was vice chancellor from 1862 until the end of his life. The grotto is buried in Westminster Abbey ( Poets Corner ). Grotto considered the election of him as a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences to the place of Macaulay the highest evaluation of his scholarly activity. He was an honorary member of many academies, academic societies and universities, in particular Petersburg and Kharkov ^[5] .

On the death of Grotto, Ben and Robertson published his Aristotle (London, 1872), Fragments on ethical subjects (London, 1876), and a collection of small works.

His wife, who widowed wrote his biography, exhibited her participation in writing "History of Greece" much more than one might think ^[5] .

• Grotto, George // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Profile of George Grotto on the official website of the RAS
• Gushchin V. R. George the Grotto: on the way to “Greek history”
• V.P. Buzeskul . Introduction to Greek History

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