Wilhelm Spiegelberg (25 June 1870,

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

– 23 December 1930,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

) was a German

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...

. He specialized in analyses of

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

and

hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

text. Spiegelberg grew up as the second oldest of four brothers in a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

family. He studied Egyptology and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

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 constitu ...

, obtaining his doctorate from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

in 1891. As a student his influences included

Johannes Dümichen Johannes Dümichen (15 October 1833, Weißholz bei Großglogau7 February 1894, Strasbourg) was a German Egyptologist. Biography Dümichen was born near Glogau. He studied philology and theology in Berlin and Breslau. Subsequently he became a ...

, Adolf Michaelis and

Adolf Erman Johann Peter Adolf Erman (; 31 October 185426 June 1937) was a renowned German Egyptologist and lexicographer. Life Born in Berlin, he was the son of Georg Adolf Erman and grandson of Paul Erman and Friedrich Bessel. Educated at Leipzig and ...

. After graduation, he continued his education 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. Si ...

as a student of

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia ...

. In 1899 he became an associate professor at Strasbourg, where in 1907 he obtained a full professorship. In 1919 he relocated to the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, and four years later succeeded

Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing (22 April 1873, Potsdam – 12 January 1956, Oberaudorf am Inn) was a German Egyptologist. He was the son of Prussian general Moritz Ferdinand von Bissing (1844–1917). He studied classical philology, archaeology, ...

as chair of Egyptology at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

.Wilhelm Spiegelberg
@ NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie Starting in 1894, he took part in excavatory work in Egypt, most notably at the Necropolis of Thebes. Around 1900 he began work at the Egyptian Museum in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, serving as a cataloger and editor of

material.Statement based on translated text of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedi ...

. Spiegelberg made important contributions towards the deciphering of Demotic script and in the field of Demotic

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

. During his tenure at Munich, he accompanied novelist

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

to Egypt, where he provided assistance towards the drafting of Mann's "

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

" tetralogy. In 1919 he became a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (a non-resident member since 1923), and from 1924, was a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.Institut d'Egyptologie de Strasbourg
Wilhelm Spiegelberg. A memoir by his son, Herbert Spiegelberg.

Selected works

* ''Studien und Materialien zum Rechtswesen des Pharaonenreiches der Dynastien XVIII–XXI'', Hannover 1892 (dissertation) – Studies on the law of the Pharaohs of the dynasties XVIII–XXI. * ''Geschichte der ägyptische Kunst bis zum Hellenismus'', 1903 – History of

Egyptian art Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculpture ...

up until the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

. * ''Der Aufenthalt Israels in Aegypten im Lichte der aegyptischen Monumente'', 1904. * ''Elephantine-Papyri'', 1907 (with Otto Rubensohn; Wilhelm Schubart) –

Elephantine papyri The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan, which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian, Aramaic, Koine Greek, Latin and Co ...

. * ''Die Schrift und Sprache der alten Ägypter'', 1907 – The script and language of the ancient Egyptians. * ''Koptisches Handwörterbuch'', 1921 – Coptic pocket dictionary. * ''Demotische Papyri'', Heidelberg 1923 – Demotic papyri. * ''Demotische grammatik'', 1925 – Demotic grammatics.de. Wikisource
extensive bibliography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiegelberg, Wilhelm 1870 births 1930 deaths Writers from Hanover University of Strasbourg faculty Heidelberg University faculty Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty Archaeologists from Lower Saxony German Egyptologists German male non-fiction writers