HISTORIAN

Johann Jakob Bachofen

1815 - 1887

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Johann Jakob Bachofen (22 December 1815 – 25 November 1887) was a Swiss antiquarian, jurist, philologist, anthropologist, and professor of Roman law at the University of Basel from 1841 to 1844. Bachofen is most often connected with his theories surrounding prehistoric matriarchy, or Das Mutterrecht, the title of his seminal 1861 book Mother Right: an investigation of the religious and juridical character of matriarchy in the Ancient World. Bachofen assembled documentation demonstrating that motherhood is the source of human society, religion, morality, and decorum. He postulated an archaic "mother-right" within the context of a primeval Matriarchal religion or Urreligion. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Johann Jakob Bachofen is the 74th most popular historian (down from 69th in 2019), the 90th most popular biography from Switzerland (down from 87th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Swiss Historian.

Johann Jakob Bachofen is most famous for his book "Das Mutterrecht" which was published in 1861. He argued that archaic societies were matriarchal and that the shift to patriarchy was a result of the introduction of agriculture.

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Among HISTORIANS

Among historians, Johann Jakob Bachofen ranks 74 out of 561. Before him are Benzion Netanyahu, Theopompus, Bernard Lewis, Theophylact Simocatta, Geoffrey of Villehardouin, and Ephorus. After him are Henri Pirenne, Al-Dhahabi, Eutropius, Gaston Maspero, Kenneth Clark, and Nicolaus of Damascus.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1815, Johann Jakob Bachofen ranks 9. Before him are John Bosco, Otto of Greece, John A. Macdonald, George Boole, Karl Weierstrass, and Adolph Menzel. After him are Thomas Couture, Louis-Jules Trochu, Ildefons Cerdà, Ľudovít Štúr, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Josip Juraj Strossmayer. Among people deceased in 1887, Johann Jakob Bachofen ranks 9. Before him are Gustav Fechner, Eugène Edine Pottier, Aleksandr Ulyanov, Ivan Kramskoi, Multatuli, and Jenny Lind. After him are Juan, Count of Montizón, Alfred Krupp, Jules Laforgue, Friedrich von Amerling, Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, and Doc Holliday.

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In Switzerland

Among people born in Switzerland, Johann Jakob Bachofen ranks 90 out of 1,015. Before him are Carl Nägeli (1817), Margareta of Romania (1949), Rolf M. Zinkernagel (1944), Gaspard Bauhin (1560), Ernest Bloch (1880), and Alfred Cortot (1877). After him are Nicholas of Flüe (1417), Albrecht von Haller (1708), Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784), Jean Tinguely (1925), Jost Bürgi (1552), and Charles Gleyre (1806).

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Among HISTORIANS In Switzerland

Among historians born in Switzerland, Johann Jakob Bachofen ranks 3. Before him are Jacob Burckhardt (1818), and Heinrich Wölfflin (1864). After him are Florian Cajori (1859).

Swiss born Historians

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