Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, a German scholar, born at Doren-zimmern, in the principality of Hohenlohe-Oehringen. Oct. 16, 1752, died in Gottingen, June 25,1827. He studied theology at Gottingen, in 1775 was elected professor of oriental languages in the university of Jena, and in 1788 was called to the same office at Gottingen, where he taught till near his death. He first proved the extent of his learning by treatises on the commerce of the East Indies prior to the time of Mohammed, and on the ancient history of the Arabs. At Gottingen he devoted himself especially to Biblical criticism, and published Repertorium fur biblische und morgenlandische Literatur (18 vols., Leipsic, 1777-86), and the Allge-meine Biblioihek der biblischen Literatur (10 vols., 1787-1801), which he prepared in connection with other learned men. He was especially influential in founding the interpretation of the Scriptures on a knowledge of Biblical antiquity and oriental modes of thought by his introductions to the Old and New Testaments, and his works on the Hebrew prophets and on the Apocalypse, besides many valuable papers in periodical works.

Having conceived the plan of a full history of all branches of intellectual culture in Europe since the revival of letters, he associated himself with several scholars, and composed, as an introduction, the Geschichte der Literatur von ihrem Anfange bis auf die neuesten Zeiten (6 vols., Gottingen, 1805-'12). Among his other writings are Urgeschichte (edited by Gabler, 2 vols., 1790-'93), in which he examined the Mosaic records of the creation and fall; and works on the French revolution (1797), on ancient history (2 vols., 1811-13), and on the history of the last three centuries (6 vols., 3d ed., 1817 - '18). - His son Karl Friedrich, born Nov. 20, 1781, professor of law at Berlin and elsewhere, Prussian state councillor, etc, was the author of works on German law and history, and edited with Savigny and others from 1815 to 1838 the Zeitschrift fur geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft. He died July 4, 1854.