Torgny Säve-Söderbergh (born 29 June 1914 in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

; died 21 May 1998 in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

) was a Swedish writer, translator, and professor of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

from 1950 to 1980. He was the younger brother of paleontologist Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh.

Education and career

Torgny Säve-Söderbergh was born in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

on 29 June 1914 to Gotthard Söderbergh and Anna Säve. Säve-Söderbergh studied at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. He then attended the

for his doctoral studies and was awarded his doctorate at the age of 27 for his thesis ''Ägypten und Nubien'' (1941, written in German). After graduating, he performed archaeological and historical research. From 1935 to 1950, he participated in archaeological excavations in Greece and Turkey (1935, 1938–1939) and in Egypt (1937, 1950). From 1942 to 1980, he was a lecturer, then professor of Egyptology (1950) and dean (1960–1965) of the Faculty of Arts at

. He also served as Director of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in

from 1950 to 1980. From 1960 to 1964, he directed excavations during the Scandinavian expedition in Sudanese

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

. He was also the director of the

Nag Hammadi Nag Hammadi ( ; ) is a city and Markaz (administrative division), markaz in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. The city had a population of close to 61,737 . History ...

expedition from 1976 to 1977. In addition to his research, Säve-Söderbergh helped to popularise archaeological research, giving radio talks and writing popular books such as ''Egyptian Character'' (1945) and ''Pharaohs and Men'' (1958). When the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatuge D ...

was being built in the 1960s, Säve-Söderbergh became the project leader for a joint Scandinavian expedition (1960–1964) in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's campaign to save temples and historical monuments from flooding, titled the

International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the effort to relocate 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan, between 1960 and 1980. This was done in order to make way for the building of the Aswan Dam, a ...

. The entire area was archaeologically investigated, and a large number of temples was saved. The wealth of findings and data from the expedition was published in 14 volumes edited by Säve-Söderbergh. He published his story of the expedition in the popular book ''Mission in Nubia: How the World Saved a Country's Cultural Monuments'' (1996).

Books

Popular books in Swedish: *''Egyptisk egenart'' ("Egyptian Character") (1945) *''Faraoner och människor'' ("Pharaohs and Men") (1958) *''Uppdrag Nubien: hur varlden raddade ett lands kulturminnen'' ("Mission in Nubia: How the World Saved a Country's Cultural Monuments") (1996)

Affiliations

Säve-Söderbergh was a member of the following academies and organisations: *

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

(secretary, president) * Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities * Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala * Royal Society of the Humanities at Uppsala * Royal Society of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala * International Association of Egyptologists (president)Page ''Former Presidents and Secretaries General''
on the IAE website.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Save-Soderbergh, Torgny 1914 births 1998 deaths Swedish Egyptologists Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Uppsala University Swedish archaeologists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Scholars of Manichaeism