Adler was born in Brandenburg, and studied theology at the University of Halle.
He was interested in Roman antiquities, and published a book on the subject by Maternus de Cilano in 1775, in addition to writing several of his own.
His major works are Ausführliche Beschreibung der Stadt Rom (1781–82, 4 vols.
), on the city of Rome; Nachricht von den pontinischen Sümpfen (1784), on the Pontine Marshes; and an edition of the writings of Sextus Julius Frontinus (1792).
His son, Jacob Georg Christian Adler, was also a noted scholar.