Bound volume of lecture notes in the hand of Gottfried Wilhelm Gossrau (W. Gossrau; f. 1r) taken at the university at Halle (Universität Halle-Wittenberg). The greater portion of the volume pertains to the lectures of Moritz Hermann Eduard Meier on Greek public antiquities (Oeffentliche Alterthümer der Griechen), with contemporary pagination, 1-[282]; a notation on the title page seems to date the notes to 1831 to 1832 (Mith. [Mithörer?] 1831-Mith. 32). The latest date found cited in the text is 1830 (p. 6). At the back of the volume is a separate set of lecture notes taken by Gossrau at lectures on the geography of Greece (Geographie von Griechenland), given by Karl Christian Reisig. The latter notes are separately paginated, 1-[72], and have no date on the title page; the latest date found cited in the text is 1827 (p. 5). Given Reisig's biography (he departed for a trip to Italy in November 1828, and died there in January of the following year), the notes would have to date from no later than 1828, when Gossrau would have been at the beginning of his university studies. The manuscript is written in a neat hand, with some use of abbreviations. The pages have wide outer margins that are occasionally used for notes, especially bibliographical references. The lectures from Meier are meticulously organized into parts, sections, subsections; headwords at the tops of most pages provide a running track of topics. Some headings in the first general portion pertain to time/calendar (p. 10), characterization of the Hellenic people (p. 44); hegemonies (p. 62); oracles, games, festivals (p. 79); colonial system (p. 81). The beginning of the special portion on public antiquities (p. 86) contains headings on the heroic age (p. 90), the constitution of Athens (p. 95), distribution of government powers (p. 109), with mentions of public gatherings, warfare, finance, judiciary system. Subsequent major section headings refer to the Dorians (p. 171), the Ionians (p. 219), and the Aeolians (p. 252). Reisig's lectures on geography begin with a general section on Greek antiquities, followed by a survey of geography, with headings, mostly geographic names, punctuating the text. Two leaves that are laid in contain an index pertaining solely to Reisig's lectures, with most or all of the entries comprising place names. The notetaker, G.W. Gossrau, was born in Naumburg an der Saale and educated at the Pforta school (Schulpforta) near there, before going to study in Halle, where he at first considered studying theology but then turned to philology and history. He subsequently had a distinguished career as a teacher at the gymnasium in Quedlinburg.
