Georg Möller (Egyptologist)

Georg Möller (born November 5, 1876 in Caracas , † October 2, 1921 in Uppsala ) was a German Egyptologist .

life and work

Möller was born in Venezuela as the son of a German businessman . When he was five years old, his parents moved to Hamburg , where he grew up. After graduating from the Johanneum , he studied Egyptology from 1896 at the Berlin University under Adolf Erman, as well as Semitic and classical philology . From his first semester he worked as a laborer in the Berlin Egyptian Museum . In 1900 he received his doctorate. In the winter of 1902/03 he took part in Ludwig Borchardt's excavations at the pyramid temple of Niuserre in Abusir . From September 1904 to 1907 he worked as an assistant to the Egyptological expert at the German Consulate General in Cairo Ludwig Borchardt. In August 1907 he resigned due to insufficient pay and went back to Berlin, where he became assistant director at the Egyptian Museum. He completed his habilitation in 1912 at the University of Berlin, where he then taught as a private lecturer. In 1916 he was awarded the title of professor. He died of an attack of malaria that he contracted as a German soldier in Asia Minor during World War I.

Möller was a versatile scholar who worked in all areas of Egyptology. In Egypt he carried out excavations in the prehistoric burial ground of Abu Sir al Malaq on behalf of the German Oriental Society from 1905 to 1906 . In 1907/08 he worked in the valley temple of the Sahure in Abusir and in 1911 and 1913 led excavations in Deir el-Medina ( West Thebes ) on behalf of the Berlin Museum . However, his most important research was in the field of hieratic writing and paleography . For the Egyptian Museum in Berlin he edited the mummy labels and the metal objects.

Publications (selection)

• About the pyramid texts preserved in a late hieratic papyrus in the Berlin Museum . Paul, Berlin 1900 (= dissertation).
• Hieratic paleography. The Egyptian book script in its development from the fifth dynasty to the Roman Empire . 3 volumes. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1909. 2nd edition Hinrichs, Leipzig 1936, Vol. 4 supplementary book Hinrichs, Leipzig 1936 ( digitized version ).
• Hieratic readings for academic use . 3 volumes. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1910–1927.
• The two Rhind funerary papyrus in the Edinburgh Museum . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1913 ( digitized ).
• Demotic texts from the Royal Museums in Berlin . Vol. 1: Mummy signs . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1913.
• Egyptian mummy portraits (= Wasmuth's Kunsthefte 1). Wasmuth, Berlin 1919.
• The metal art of the ancient Egyptians . Wasmuth, Berlin 1924.
• The archaeological results of the prehistoric burial ground of Abusir el-Meleq according to the records of Georg Möller . Edited by Alexander Scharff . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1926.

literature

• Georg Steindorff : Georg Möller . In: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 57, 1922, pp. 142–144 ( excerpt with picture ).
• Morris L. Bierbrier: Who was who in Egyptology . 4th revised edition. Egypt Exploration Society, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-85698-207-1 , pp. 378-379.
• Susanne Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI in the field of tension between German political interests, Vol. 1: 1881–1929 (= People - Cultures - Traditions. Vol. 8, 1). Leidorf, Rahden Westf. 2013, ISBN 978-3-86757-388-7 , pp. 68-70. 75, 79, 80, 86, 88, 89, 93, 106, 107, 121, 122, 134, 144, 158, 194, 208.