Christian Friedrich von Matthaei (1744-1811), scholar
Christian Friedrich von Matthaei (1744-1811) was a German scholar, who was also active in Russia.
Biography
Born in Gröst [Germany], Christian Friedrich Matthaei studied Classical Philology at the University of Leipzig.
Between 1772 and 1784 he taught in Moskow [Russia]. After returning in 1785 for some years in Germany, as professor at Meissen and Wittenberg, in 1803 he moved again to Moskow where he remained until his death in 1811.
The appointment in Russia gave Matthaei the possibility of directly accessing the numerous manuscripts of classics from the archives of Russian churches and monasteries. His greatest achievement in the field of Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins was his annotated edition of the Greek and Latin text of the New Testament (1782-1788).