Henrik Gabriel Porthan
Humanist of the day

Henrik Gabriel Porthan

In the annals of Finnish scholarship, Henrik Gabriel Porthan is arguably the forebear of many of the country’s historians. In his own day he was quite the renaissance man. As well as being the Royal Academy of Turku’s most influential scholar, he was instrumental in the publication of Finland’s first newspaper. Porthan’s accounts of Finnish history helped generate a sense of Finnish national identity.

Henrik Gabriel Porthan

Born 8 November, 1739, Viitasaari. Died 16 March, 1804, Turku.

Master of Philosophy 1760, Royal Academy of Turku

Docent of Rhetoric (Latin), 1762
Library Amanuensis,1764
Librarian,1772–77
Acting Professor, 1776, and full Professor of Rhetoric and Verse (Roman Verse), 1777–1804
Rector, 1786–87 and 1798–99, Royal Academy of Turku

Honours
Knight of the Nordstjärneorden (Swedish Order of the Polar Star), 1799
Kanslianeuvos (honorary title given to senior civil servants), 1802

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Written by Lauri Lönnström
Translated by John Calton

Philosopher and teacher

Henrik Gabriel Porthan enrolled in the Royal Academy of Turku in 1754. He graduated in 1760 with a dissertation on natural theology. Natural theology and enlightenment atheism was a topic of enduring interest to him and he ruminated on the possibility that the Bible might be considered to be a historical source.

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A librarian par excellence

Henrik Gabriel Porthan worked as the Library Amanuensis for the Royal Academy of Turku in 1764 and as its librarian from 1772­ to 1777. Pedantic, meticulous and inquisitive, Porthan was well suited for work in a library. He introduced a new catalogue system to the library and significantly increased its…

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