PONTOPPIDAN, ERIK (1698-1764), a learned Da.nish author, was born at Aarhuus on August 24, 1698, and studied divinity at the university of Copenhagen. On finishing his education he was appointed travelling tutor to several young noblemen in succession, and in 1735 he became one of the chaplains of the king. In 1738 he was made professor extraordinarius of theology at Copenhagen, and in 1747 bishop of Bergen, Norway, where he died on December 20, 1764.

His principal works are - Theatrunt Danix reteris et modernw (4to, 1730), a description of the geography, natural history, antiquities, &c., of Deninark ; Gesta et Vestigia Danorum extra Daniam (2 vols. 8vo, 1740), of which laborions work it is enmigh to remark that it was written before the rise of the modern historical school ; ,4nnales Eeelesta; Daniere (4 vols. 4to) ; Marmora Daniea Srleetiora (2 vols. fol., 1739-41); Glossarium Norregieum (1749); Det fink Forsog paa Xorges naturlige Historic (4to, 1752-54; Eng. trans., Xatural History of Norway, 1755), contain-ing curious accounts, often referred to, of the Kraaken, sea-serpent, and the like ; ()Humes Hafnicnses (1760). Ilis Danske Atlas (7 vols. 4to) was mostly postlimnous.