he was born at oppeln, silesia (now opole, poland), into a jewish merchant family, went to leipzig university and then in 1887 to berlin university, where he wrote his thesis "de gente valeria" under the supervision of otto hirschfeld. in 1893 he traveled to rome, where georg wissowa recruited him to write biographical articles for the "realencyclopädie der classischen altertumswissenschaft". from there he went to athens and participated in excavations on the acropolis. he also met clara engels there; they were married two years later, on 4 september 1897.