Ancient oriental institute

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The Ancient Near Eastern Institute of the University of Leipzig is the oldest German research institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies . It began in 1874 with Friedrich Delitzsch and has been in existence since it was re-established in 1993 by Claus Wilcke . It currently employs Professors Michael P. Streck , Suzanne Herbordt and Claus Wilcke (retired).

history

Ancient Near Eastern Studies established itself as a science in the 19th century after the cuneiform script was deciphered in the middle of the century . While the universities in Paris and Oxford set up their own subject for this, the ancient Near Eastern languages ​​were only taught in Germany by Eberhard Schrader at the University of Jena as part of the Old Testament theology.

Foundation phase

Friedrich Delitzsch , a student of Schrader, submitted his habilitation thesis on Assyrian syllabars in Leipzig in 1874 and suggested that a corresponding subject be set up. On August 5th of the same year he gave a trial lecture on Assyrian literature and received the venia legendi for Assyriology the following day . In 1877 the Leipzig University appointed him associate professor when he gave his inaugural lecture on "Cuneiform script research and the Bible" on February 23, 1878. Although Delitzsch was appointed full honorary professor for Assyriology and Semitic studies on May 29, 1885 , the university refused to establish a full professorship. Therefore Delitzsch moved to the University of Breslau in 1893 and finally to Berlin in 1899.

Delitzsch's successor in Leipzig was his student Heinrich Zimmer in 1893 , who also became an associate professor as planned. He had previously studied Old Testament theology with Delitzsch's father, Franz Delitzsch , but received his doctorate from Friedrich Delitzsch in 1885. After a habilitation at the University of Königsberg and as a private lecturer at the University of Halle , he began teaching in Jena in 1894. In 1899 he took over the professorship in Breslau from Delitzsch, but returned to Leipzig on October 1, 1900. There he was appointed to a newly created chair for Assyriology , which he held until his retirement in 1929. This was located at an institute for Semitic studies founded that year , which also consisted of a chair for Arabic studies occupied by August Fischer . Together they founded the series “ Leipzig Semistic Studies ”.

In 1905 Franz Heinrich Weißbach joined Zimmer's side as an extraordinary associate professor. He had been working at the University Library in Leipzig since 1888 and had completed his habilitation in 1898 with a thesis on Sumerian . In 1930 he was appointed full honorary professor. His activity ended in 1935 when he was expelled by the National Socialists . Zimmer was further strengthened by the legal historian Paul Koschaker , who held the chair for Roman and German civil law from 1915 . In 1926 he succeeded in establishing a seminar for oriental legal history , which was affiliated with the Semitic Institute. After Weissbach's departure, Koschaker also left Leipzig and took up a chair in Berlin on April 1, 1936.

Benno Landsberger , who had studied in Leipzig from 1908 and received his doctorate in 1915 with a thesis on the cultic calendar of the Babylonians and Assyrians, was particularly influential in German ancient oriental studies . After an interruption in his work due to the First World War , he completed his habilitation in 1920 with another thesis on calendars. In 1925 he received an extraordinary professorship in Leipzig. His inaugural lecture “The Self-Concept of the Babylonian World” is one of the most cited contributions in ancient Near Eastern studies in the 20th century. After a year in Marburg , he succeeded Heinrich Zimmer in 1929. During his tenure, the Semitic Institute was renamed the Oriental Institute in 1934. As a Jew , Landsberger, like Weißbach, was released on April 1, 1935 and forced to emigrate . From then on, he contributed to the development of the university in Ankara .

Time of National Socialism and GDR

With the departure of Landsberger, Weißbach and Koschaker, a turning point took place in the history of the Ancient Near Eastern Institute. It still persisted. On April 30, 1936, Landsberger's position was filled with the studied Indo-European , classical philologist , Semitist and former teacher Johannes Friedrich . In 1924 he had completed his habilitation at Zimmer in the then young sub-discipline of Hittiteology , and from 1929 on he held an extraordinary professorship in Leipzig. He was able to continue teaching in Leipzig during the entire Nazi period and occupation, with a brief interruption in 1944/45 due to his conscription into the Wehrmacht . His work in Leipzig only ended in 1950 when he was recalled to the Free University of Berlin . In the reconstruction of the institute's library in particular, Friedrich was supported by Hans-Siegfried Schuster , who on December 4, 1943 rescued part of the institute's clay tablet collection from a hail of bombs. He was able to draw on the estate of Weißbach, who died on February 20, 1944 near Markkleeberg . Schuster became a lecturer in 1960, but was outside the GDR when the Wall was built on August 13, 1961 and therefore never returned, but from then on worked at the University of Cologne .

From 1954 the Department for Oriental Legal History at the Oriental Institute was brought back to life with Herbert Petschow and merged with the Department for Assyriology to form the Department for Languages, Archeology and Legal History of the Ancient Near East . In 1956, Petschow was also appointed to the chair for ancient legal history at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . From then on he worked twice a year for 6 weeks as a guest lecturer in Leipzig. His assistant chair was taken over by Joachim Oelsner , who stayed at the institute until 1966 and then took over the supervision of the Hilprecht collection of Near Eastern antiquities at the University of Jena. From 1960 onwards, Manfred Müller , who received his doctorate from Petschow in 1968, also worked in Leipzig . Under the SED regime, the institute was exposed to considerable reprisals and ultimately only served to expand the range of courses in ancient history .

FRG

After the fall of the Berlin Wall , due to Pechov's death, the subject was initially not rebuilt. However, the University of Leipzig announced a professorship in 1992, to which Claus Wilcke was appointed in 1993 . He had received his doctorate in Heidelberg with Adam Falkenstein , a pupil of Landsberger's, and from then on worked in Munich. With him, the Ancient Near Eastern Institute was re-established on October 1, 1993. Manfred Müller received an unscheduled professorship from 1994, which he held until his death in 2000. In 2006 Suzanne Herbordt was appointed to an extraordinary professorship for Near Eastern Archeology in Leipzig. She had previously offered courses on a regular basis.

On August 1, 2003, Michael P. Streck succeeded Wilcke, which he still holds today.

Well-known employees and graduates

In addition to the professors mentioned, also worked at the ancient oriental seminar

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