by Ursula Kampmann
translated by Sylvia Karges
August 25, 2016 – There are university professors who write large and important bodies of work. And then there are university professors who teach their students science in a way, for which they get loved and admired for. Only a few university professors can do both and Dieter Salzmann, who celebrated his 65th birthday on April 6, 2015, surely belongs to the latter.
“Man kann es sich nicht prächtig genug vorstellen!” Festschrift for Dieter Salzmann to his 65th birthday. Scriptorium. Marsberg, 2016. 2 volumes, XXVIII pages, 936 pages and 113 plates. 21 x 27 cm. Paperback. Thread stitching. ISBN: 978-3-932610-57-8. 130 euros.
A Festschrift should have been his birthday present, but since there were so many academics who wanted to contribute, the edition committee capitulated and published the Festschrift about a year later. This incredible echo is no surprise. Over the years many of Dieter Salzmann’s colleagues have become his friends. Additionally, he taught a swarm of students to become successful scholars: Under his aegis 1 Habilitation thesis was written, 11 Dissertations, 4 Magister Artium theses, 5 Master’s theses, and 16 Bachelor theses.
Dieter Salzmann is famous for his vivid language. “Don’t believe in anything written down!” is probably his most loved and repeated sentence. And also “It could not be imagined in a more magnificent way!” belongs to the sentences through which, again and again, he was inspiring his students to activate their imagination. For that his students thank him by presenting to him this Festschrift, comprised of mixed bag, or, as it is put in German, a mixed flower bouquet, of themes. Topics like “Der Archäologe in der modernen Karikatur” (translates as “The archaeologist in modern caricature”), or “Vom Heiligen Berg Argaios zur Zwergenmütze” (translates as “From the holy Mount Argaeus to the gnome hat”), certainly show, that humor was not ignored and it speaks for the recipient, who takes special pleasure in lateral thinking.
For those, who write catalogs, the article by Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert should be of specific interest: He catalogs and studies two emissions of drachms, carrying the inscription Koson, which are not to be found in the classic catalogs. Covered are drachms depicting the Macedonian shield based on the strikings of the divided Macedonia after the Roman conquest, as well as the drachms designed after Q. Pomponius Rufus’ emission of drachms. Otherwise, numismatically, mainly questions of iconography are asked; of course entirely in the field of antiquity, whereby the focus lies on Asia Minor and Roman strikings.
Aside from the numismatic contributions in the beginning of the Festschrift, there are of course many other interesting articles. All together there are 84. They are organized – without numismatics – in 10 departments: sculpture, glyptics, toreutics, pottery, mosaics and wall painting, city topography and architecture, ancient history, sources and epigraphy, reception of the ancient world and history of science, ethnography and ethnology, as well as antiquity at the Archaeological Museum of the Westphalian University of Muenster.
Both volumes of the Festschrift consist of 936 pages and 113 plates, packed with current research. We can only follow and also congratulate – not to the 65th birthday, but to the many friends and students Dieter Salzmann has gained in his time as university professor.
You can order this impressive Festschrift at the Scriptorium publishing house.