# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/gotthold-ephraim-lessing
# Generated: 2026-08-31T13:48:41.737Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/gotthold-ephraim-lessing"
name: "Gotthold Ephraim Lessing"
slug: "gotthold-ephraim-lessing"
description: "The German Enlightenment writer who gave theatre the word \"dramaturgy\" and the job to match — hired as the first dramaturg at Hamburg's National Theatre, he turned criticism into a craft that reshaped how plays were made and thought about across Europe."
tagline: "German writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic (1729-1781)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Gotthold_Ephraim_Lessing_Kunstsammlung_Uni_Leipzig.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
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  isoCode: "DE"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1729-01-22"
deathDate: "1781-02-15"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
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  momentum:             15
  historical:           24.667476
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  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
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  country:  193
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# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born 22 January 1729, Lessing moved through philosophy, drama, and criticism as the Enlightenment's sharp edge cut into German letters. He took a post at Abel Seyler's Hamburg National Theatre, inventing the dramaturg's role — not just watching plays but dismantling and rebuilding the logic of how they worked. His own plays and theoretical writings, including Hamburg Dramaturgy, bent the trajectory of German literature toward reason and form. He died 15 February 1781, leaving theatre a new vocabulary and a new way to see itself.