Johannes Renger

Johannes Martin Renger (born September 18, 1934 in Schönau , Chemnitz) is a German ancient orientalist .

After attending the humanistic grammar school in Chemnitz, Johannes Renger studied Protestant theology at the University of Leipzig from 1952 , where he passed the first theological exam in 1957. Renger then studied Ancient Near Eastern Studies , Semitic Studies , Egyptology and Roman Legal History at the University of Heidelberg , where he received his doctorate in 1965 under Adam Falkenstein with a dissertation on the subject of “ Investigations into the Priesthood in the Old Babylonian Period ”. In 1966 Renger went on a research stay at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago . There he worked on the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary . In 1968 he became assistant professor there, and in 1974 associate professor. From 1976 until his retirement in 2002, Johannes Renger was Einar von Schuler's successor professor for ancient oriental studies at the Free University of Berlin .

Renger was from 1976 to 1980 and from 1994 to 2000 2nd chairman of the German Orient Society , from 1988 to 1994 its 1st chairman. He heads the project, carried out in cooperation with the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin , for the scientific processing and publication of the excavations of the German Orient Society in Assur from 1903 to 1914. His work focuses on the economic and social history of ancient Mesopotamia and premodern societies. Renger has been married since 1962 and has three children.

Publications (selection)

• The history of ancient oriental studies and the Near Eastern archeology in Berlin from 1875 to 1945. In: Willmuth Arenhövel, Christa Schreiber (ed.): Berlin and the ancient world. Architecture, applied arts, painting, sculpture, theater and science from the 16th century to the present day. Wasmuth, Berlin 1979, pp. 151-192.
• Editor with Horst Klengel : Agriculture in the Ancient Orient. Selected lectures by the XLI. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Berlin, 4. – 8. July 1994 (= Berlin contributions to the Middle East. Vol. 18). Reimer, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-496-02652-9 .
• Editor: Babylon. Focus on Mesopotamian history, the cradle of early learning, myth in the modern age. 2nd International Colloquium of the German Orient Society 24. – 26. March 1998 in Berlin (= Colloquia of the German Orient Society. Vol. 2). SDV, Saarbrücken 1999, ISBN 3-930843-54-4 .
• Editor with Walter Eder : Chronologies of rulers of the ancient world. Names, dates, dynasties (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Vol. 1). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01912-8 .

In addition, Renger was editor and co-editor among others of the New Pauly and the magazine Klio .

literature

• Barbara Böck, Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum , Thomas Richter (Eds.): Munuscula Mesopotamica. Festschrift for Johannes Renger (= Old Orient and Old Testament. Vol. 267). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 1999, ISBN 3-927120-81-2 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Renger in the catalog of the German National Library
• CV (PDF; 14 kB)
• Short biography with picture