Christian Friedrich August Dillmann (25 April 18237 July 1894) was a German orientalist and biblical scholar.

Life

The son of a

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

schoolmaster, he was born at Illingen. He was educated at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, where he became a pupil and friend of

Heinrich Ewald Georg Heinrich August Ewald (16 November 18034 May 1875) was a German oriental studies, orientalist, Protestant theology, theologian, and Biblical exegete. He studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1827 he became extraordinary professor there ...

, and studied under

Ferdinand Christian Baur Ferdinand Christian Baur (21 June 1792 – 2 December 1860) was a German Protestant theologian and founder and leader of the (new) Tübingen School of theology (named for the University of Tübingen where Baur studied and taught). Following Hegel ...

, though he did not join the new Tübingen school. For a short time he worked as pastor at

Sersheim Sersheim is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after ...

, near his native place, but he soon came to feel that his studies demanded his whole time.ADB:Dillmann, August
In:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

(ADB). Band 47, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1903, S. 699–702. He devoted himself to the study of Ethiopic manuscripts in the libraries of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and this work caused a revival of Ethiopic study in the 19th century. In 1847 and 1848 he prepared catalogues of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(now the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

) and the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

at Oxford. He then set to work upon an edition of the Ethiopic Bible. Returning to Tübingen in 1848, in 1853 he was appointed professor extraordinarius. Subsequently, he became professor of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

(1854), and of theology in

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

(1864) and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(1869), where he succeeded

Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg Ernst Wilhelm Theodor Herrmann Hengstenberg (20 October 1802, in Fröndenberg28 May 1869, in Berlin), was a German Lutheran churchman and neo-Lutheran theology, theologian from an old and important Dortmund family. He was born at Fröndenberg, ...

Works

In 1851 he had published the " Book of Enoch" in Ethiopian (German, 1853; English
1893
, and at Kiel he completed the first part of the Ethiopic bible, ''Octateuchus Aethiopicus'' (1853–55). In 1857 appeared his ''Grammatik der äthiopischen Sprache'' (2nd edition by

Carl Bezold Carl Bezold (18 May 1859 in Donauwörth – 21 November 1922 in Heidelberg) was a German orientalist. Known primarily for his research in Akkadian (Babylonian-Assyrian), he also researched other Semitic languages: Syriac, Ge'ez (Ethiopic) and Ar ...

, 1899); in 1859 the "

Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...

"; in 1861 and 1871 another part of the Ethiopic bible, ''Libri Regum''; in 1865 his great ''Lexicon linguæ aethiopicæ''; in 1866 his ''Chrestomathia aethiopica''. Always a theologian at heart, he returned to theology in 1864. His Giessen lectures were published under the titles, ''Ursprung der alttestamentlichen Religion'' (1865) and ''Die Propheten des alten Bundes nach ihrer politischen Wirksamkeit'' (1868). In 1869 appeared his commentary on ''Hiob'',
4th edition 1891
which stamped him as one of the foremost

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

exegetes. His renown as a theologian was mainly founded on the series of commentaries, based on those of

August Wilhelm Knobel August Wilhelm Karl Knobel (7 February 1807 – 25 May 1863) was a German Protestant theologian born in Tzschecheln near Sorau, Niederlausitz. From 1826 he studied philosophy, philology and theology at the University of Breslau, earning his ...

'
''Die Genesis''
(Leipzig, 1875); ''Die Bücher Exodus und Leviticus'', 1880; ''Die Bücher Numeri, Deuteronomium und Josua'', with a dissertation on the origin of the

Hexateuch The Hexateuch ("six scrolls") is the first six books of the Hebrew Bible: the Torah (''Pentateuch'') and the book of Joshua. Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. Overview The term ''Hexateuch'' came into scholar ...

, 1886
''Der Prophet Jesaja''
1890. In 1877 he published the "

Ascension of Isaiah The ''Ascension of Isaiah'' is a pseudepigraphical Judeo-Christian text. Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. Scholarly estimates regarding the date of the Ascension of Isaiah range from 70 AD to 175 AD.Hurtad ...

" in Ethiopian and Latin. He was also a contributor to

Daniel Schenkel Daniel Schenkel (also known as: Georg Daniel Schenkel and Georg Daniel Schenkel von Waldkirch) (21 December 181318 May 1885) was a Swiss Protestant theologian. Biography Schenkel was born at Dägerlen in the canton of Zürich. After studying at B ...

's ''Bibellexikon'', Brockhaus's '' Conversationslexikon'', and

Johann Jakob Herzog Johann Jakob Herzog (12 September 1805, Basel – 30 September 1882, Erlangen), was a Swiss-German Protestant theologian. Herzog studied theology at the University of Basel and Berlin, earning his doctorate at the University of Basel in 1830. In 18 ...

's '' Realencyklopädie''. His book on Old Testament theology, ''Handbuch der alttestamentlichen Theologie'', was published by

Rudolf Kittel Rudolf Kittel (28 March 1853, in Eningen, Württemberg – 20 October 1929, in Leipzig) was a German Old Testament scholar. Kittel studied at University of Tübingen (1871–76). He was a professor of Old Testament studies at the universities of ...

in 1895.Handbuch der alttestamentlichen Theologie
OCLC WorldCat.

References

* * * George L. Robinson
"August Dillmann (Obituary)"
in: ''The Biblical World'' 4/4 (1894), pp. 244–258.

External links

* ttps://archive.org/details/chrestomathiaaet00dilluoft Online version of the Chrestomathia Aethiopica (1886)at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillmann, August 1823 births 1894 deaths German orientalists German biblical scholars Old Testament scholars University of Tübingen alumni German male non-fiction writers People from Enzkreis University of Giessen faculty University of Tübingen faculty Humboldt University of Berlin faculty University of Kiel faculty Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities