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 stu ...

, 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 t ...

, the broader

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

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 are ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

, 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 ...

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. Si ...

(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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

(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 , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

(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 immigrant ...

Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (e ...

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, ...

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 hist ...

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 and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') i ...

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 cont ...

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 p ...

, Mongolian studies, 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 the e ...

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 Japan ...

, Southeast Asian studies, 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 (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 p ...

Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (21 February 1801 – 10 February 1888) was a German Orientalist. Biography He was born at Schandau, Saxony. From 1819 to 1824, he studied theology and Oriental languages at Leipzig, subsequently continuing his stud ...

and August Friedrich Pott. The frontside shows an image in neo-classical style designed by Theodor Grosse. 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 German state of Saxony-An ...

. 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 Johannes Benzing (born in Schwenningen on 13 January 1913; died 16 March 2001) was a German Turkic specialist and diplomat in the era of National Socialism and in the Federal Republic of Germany. Benzing worked as a Linguist in Pers Z S, the ...

(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-volum ...

(1886–1956) *

(1806–1877) *

Gustav Droysen Johann Gustav Bernhard Droysen (; ; 6 July 180819 June 1884) was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called "great" men. ...

(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 (1894–1974) *

Hans Conon von der Gabelentz Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (13 October 1807 – 3 September 1874) was a German politician who served as prime minister of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg from 1848 to 1849. He was also a gifted linguist and an authority on the Manchu language. He ...

(1807–1874) * Herrmann Jungraithmayr (* 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 phi ...

(* 1943) *

Justus Olshausen Justus Olshausen (9 May 1800, Hohenfelde – 28 December 1882) was a German orientalist who made contributions to Semitic and Iranian philology. Biography Olshausen was born in Hohenfelde, and studied at Kiel, Berlin and Paris, where he was ...

(1800–1882) * Richard Pischel (1849–1908) * August Friedrich Pott (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 f ...

(1865–1922) * Hans Stumme (1864–1936)

References

* Holger Preissler:
Die Anfänge der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
'. In: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 145/2, Hubert, Göttingen 1995.

External links

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