Prof. Dr. em. Jochen Martin (†)

Obituary for Prof. Dr Jochen Martin (26.12.1936 – 3.5.2025)
Jochen Martin passed away in Freiburg on 3 May 2025 at the age of 88. He held the Chair of Ancient History and Historical Anthropology at our university from 1980 to 2002.

Born in Peiskretscham in Upper Silesia in 1936, Jochen Martin studied History and Latin at the Universities of Kiel, Tübingen and Freiburg i.Br. During his doctorate, he worked from 1962 to 1964 as an editor of the ‘Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche’ published by Herder Verlag in Freiburg. He was later responsible for new editions of the ‘Atlas zur Kirchengeschichte’ at the same publishing house. After completing his doctorate in 1965, he went to the newly founded University of Constance a year later, where he qualified as a professor in 1972. He then taught as a university lecturer at the University of Freiburg until he received a call to Bielefeld in 1976. In 1980, he accepted the call to Freiburg, where he taught Ancient History and Historical Anthropology until his retirement in the winter semester of 2001/02.

Martin was particularly interested in Late Antiquity and Early Christianity. His last monograph, published in 2010, is dedicated to the early history of the papacy and the depiction of the New Testament history of salvation in the triumphal arch mosaic of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Martin was not only a committed and inspiring teacher, but also a successful communicator of antiquity beyond the boundaries of the subject. Generations of students and guest lecturers appreciated his lectures. In the 29th new edition of the ‘Großer Ploetz’ (1981), almost half of the Ancient History section was written by him, and his tables and charts were proven aids for state examination candidates. The volume he edited, ‘Das Alte Rom’ (1994), was aimed at both experts and interested laymen.

For many decades, from 1972 as co-editor and from 1979 to 2007 as editor-in-chief, Martin was a member of the management of Saeculum, Jahrbuch für Universalgeschichte, which he played a key role in shaping. The Institute for Historical Anthropology in Freiburg, which Martin headed for many years, was also founded in this context. The aim of the institute was to investigate the constantly changing human nature as a total phenomenon in transcultural contexts. This includes Martin’s research on the Roman family, which attracted particular attention within the field. At Martin’s instigation, the interdisciplinary Master’s degree programme in Historical Anthropology was established at the University of Freiburg in the winter semester of 1994/95, which is still very successful today as the Master’s degree programme in Interdisciplinary Anthropology. A year earlier, the denomination of his chair was changed to ‘Ancient History and Historical Anthropology’.

In Jochen Martin, we have lost an important researcher and academic teacher who made a significant contribution to the development of the subject of Ancient History. The Department, the Faculty of Humanities, the Senate and the University will honour his memory.