The Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (, ''German Oriental Society''), abbreviated DMG, is a scholarly organization dedicated to

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...

, that is, to the study of the languages and cultures of the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

, the broader Orient,

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The DMG was established on 2 October 1845 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

by leading Oriental scholars from Germany, as well as members of other Orientalist societies such as the Asiatic Societies in

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 ...

(the

Société Asiatique The Société Asiatique (Asiatic Society) is a French learned society dedicated to the study of Asia. It was founded in 1822 with the mission of developing and diffusing knowledge of Asia. Its boundaries of geographic interest are broad, ranging ...

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 ...

(the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

), and

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

). It was founded "to promote all aspects of the knowledge of Asia and of the countries closely related to it in every aspect, and to propagate participation of this in wider circles. Hence the Society will deal not only with oriental literature (''morgenländische Literatur'') but also with the history of these countries and the research of their situation both earlier and more recent times." The DMG has traditionally concentrated on the "knowledge of languages, literatures, history, religions and philosophies, forms of law and society, archaeology, and the art and material culture of the people living in these areas". In recent years, its scope has expanded to include sociology and political science as well. The academic disciplines represented in the DMG include the following: Ancient Near Eastern studies,

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

, Jewish studies,

Arabic studies Arab studies or Arabic studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Arabs and Arab World. It consists of several disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, historiography, archaeology, cultural studies, economics, geo ...

Islamic studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...

, the study of

Oriental Christianity The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...

Persian studies Persian studies (Persian: مطالعات فارسی) is the study of the Persian language and its literature specifically. It is differentiated from Iranian studies which is a broader, more interdisciplinary subject that focuses more on the histo ...

and

Iranian studies Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

Indology Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the History of India, history and Culture of India, cultures, Languages of South Asia, languages, and Indian literature, literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a ...

Turkish studies Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative conte ...

Central Asian studies Central Asian studies is the discipline of studying the culture, history, and languages of Central Asia. The roots of Central Asian studies as a social science discipline goes to 19th century Anglo-Russian Great Game. During the 19th century, C ...

Indo-European studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...

Mongolian studies Mongolian studies is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarly inquiry concerning Mongolian language, Mongolian history, and Mongolian culture. Scholars who work in the field of Mongolian studies are often referred to as Mongolist ...

, Tibetan studies,

Sinology Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to th ...

Japanese studies Japanese studies (Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese ...

Southeast Asian studies Southeast Asian studies (SEAS) refers to research and education on the language, culture, and history of the different states and ethnic groups of Southeast Asia. Some institutions refer to this discipline as ASEAN Studies since most of the countr ...

, and

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...

. The publishing program of the DMG consists of its internationally renowned journal, the

Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft The ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft'' (English: "Journal of the German Oriental Society") is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering Oriental studies, published by Harrassowitz Verlag on behalf of the Deutsche Morgen ...

(ZDMG), published since 1847, and its monograph series, ''Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes'' (AKM), published since 1857, as well as the ''Beiruter Texte und Studien'' (BTS), which have been published since 1964. Medaille Brockhaus, Fleischer, Pott, Roediger 1870

Medaille Brockhaus, Fleischer, Pott, Roediger 1870

In 1870 in occasion of their 25th anniversary they commissioned a medal to honour their first secretarys of the DMG

Hermann Brockhaus Hermann Brockhaus (January 28, 1806 – January 5, 1877) was a German Orientalist born in Amsterdam. He was a leading authority on Sanskrit and Persian languages. He was the son of publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus and brother-in-law to ...

Emil Rödiger Emil Rödiger (13 October 1801, in Sangerhausen – 15 June 1874) was a German orientalist. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Halle, where in 1830, he became an associate professor of Oriental languages, followed by a full ...

Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (21 February 1801 – 10 February 1888) was a German oriental studies, Orientalist. Biography He was born at Schandau, Kingdom of Saxony, Saxony. From 1819 to 1824, he studied theology and Oriental languages at Univer ...

and

August Friedrich Pott August Friedrich Pott (14 November 1802 in Nettelrede, Hanover5 July 1887 in Halle) was a German pioneer in linguistics. Pott was a theology student at the University of Göttingen, where he became interested in philology. He became a schoolma ...

. The frontside shows an image in neo-classical style designed by

Theodor Grosse Theodor Grosse (1829–91) was a German historical painter. He was born at Dresden and studied at the Dresden Academy under Bendemann. For his encaustic decorations in the castle of Count Solms Wildenfels on the Mulde, he was awarded the trav ...

. Beginning in 1921, every 3 to 5 years the DMG has organized the "Deutschen Orientalistentag" (DOT), a congress of

open to all German and foreign specialists in the field. The DMG has been based since 2006 in

Halle (Saale) Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the Germany, German States of ...

. It maintains a research library there with more than 66,000 titles and a photographic collection. The Lidzbarski Gold Medal for Semitic Philology is awarded annually by the German Oriental Society for work in Semitic studies and named after

Mark Lidzbarski Mark Lidzbarski (born Abraham Mordechai Lidzbarski, Płock, Russian Empire, 7 January 1868 – Göttingen, 13 November 1928) was a Polish philologist, Semitist and translator of Mandaean texts. Early life and education Lidzbarski was born in Rus ...

Some members

* Johannes Benzing (1913–2001) *

Carl Brockelmann Carl Brockelmann (17 September 1868 – 6 May 1956) German Semiticist, was the foremost orientalist of his generation. He was a professor at the universities in Breslau, Berlin and, from 1903, Königsberg. He is best known for his multi-volume ...

(1886–1956) *

(1806–1877) * Gustav Droysen (1838–1908) *

Heinrich Ewald Georg Heinrich August Ewald (16 November 18034 May 1875) was a German orientalist, Protestant theologian, and Biblical exegete. He studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1827 he became extraordinary professor there, in 1831 ordinary profess ...

(1803–1875) *

(1801–1888) *

Johann Fück Johann Wilhelm Fück (born in Frankfurt; died in Halle) was a German Orientalist. Starting in 1913, Fück studied classical and Semitic philology at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and Goethe University Frankfurt. From 1919 to 19 ...

(1894–1974) * Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (1807–1874) *

Herrmann Jungraithmayr Herrmann Rudolf Jungraithmayr (born 7 May 1931 in Eferding, Upper Austria) is an Austrian Africanist and retired university professor. Until 1996, he was the chair of African linguistics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am M ...

(* 1931) *

Angelika Neuwirth Angelika Neuwirth (born 1943) is a German Islamic studies scholar and professor of Quranic studies at Freie University in Berlin. Quranic education Born in Nienburg, Lower Saxony, she studied Islamic studies, semitic studies and classical phil ...

(* 1943) * Justus Olshausen (1800–1882) *

Richard Pischel Richard Pischel (18 January 1849 – 26 December 1908) was a German Indologist born in Breslau. In 1870 he received his doctorate from the University of Breslau under the guidance of Adolf Friedrich Stenzler (1807-1887). His graduate thesis was ...

(1849–1908) *

(1802–1887) *

(1801–1874) *

Friedrich Schrader Friedrich Schrader (19 November 1865 – 28 August 1922) was a German philologist of oriental languages, orientalist, art historian, writer, social democrat, translator and journalist. He also used the pseudonym Ischtiraki (Arabic/ Ottoman fo ...

(1865–1922) * Hans Stumme (1864–1936)

References

* Holger Preissler:
Die Anfänge der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
'. In:

145/2, Hubert, Göttingen 1995.

External links

Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsche Morgenlandische Gesellschaft Learned societies of Germany Oriental studies Ancient Near East organizations