Walter Jens, born in 1923 in Hamburg, studied classical philology and German studies in Hamburg and Freiburg im Breisgau. He earned his doctorate in 1944 with a dissertation on Sophoclean tragedy and habilitated in 1949. From 1962 to 1989, he held a chair in classical philology and general rhetoric in Tübingen. From 1989 to 1997, he served as president of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and is now its honorary president. He authored numerous works of fiction, scholarly texts, and essays, as well as radio and television plays, under the pseudonym Momos. Additionally, he translated the Gospels and the Epistle to the Romans. Inge and Walter Jens have been married since 1951. In 1988, Walter and Inge Jens were awarded the Theodor Heuss Prize. Walter Jens passed away in 2013 at the age of 90 in his hometown of Tübingen.