Hermann Junker

Hermann Junker ( born November 29, 1877 in Bendorf / Rhein, † January 9, 1962 in Vienna ) was a German Egyptologist.

Life

Junker studied theology and Egyptology and this study was able to successfully complete a dissertation on the subject over the writing system in the Temple of Hathor in Dendera at the University of Berlin in 1903. In 1900 he was ordained a Catholic priest. He habilitated in 1907 in professional Egyptology at the University of Vienna.

Between 1909 and 1911 led Junker scientific excavations at el- Kubanieh ( Nubia ). The results of this work brought him in 1912 the appointment as professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna. In the same year Junker returned to Egypt to participate there for two years when working in and around the West Cemetery of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Under the auspices of the DAI to the Pyramids of Giza began to systematically explore these years.

Due to the political events of the First World War rested there nearly all excavations.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences appointed Junker 1919 to its member and two years later he became the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Vienna. As such Junker in 1923 was instrumental in the founding of the Institute of Egyptology and African Studies at the University of Vienna and was also elected to its first director. On July 27, 1922, the Prussian Academy of Sciences appointed him a corresponding member.

From 1925 to 1935 Junker again directed excavations at the western cemetery of the Pyramids of Giza and 1929 he took over for ten years, the management of the Cairo Department of the German Archaeological Institute; during these years he also had a teaching position as professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo. From 1931 up to the political events in March 1938 Junker taught as an honorary professor at the University of Vienna. Although ordained priest, he was an avowed supporter of the Nazi regime and joined the Nazi Party. When, after the Second World War, the teaching at the universities was resumed, was summoned Junker in 1948 as an honorary professor at the University of Vienna.

He held until 1953 this office. This year Junker resigned all his offices and retired into private life. At the age of 85 years Hermann Junker died on January 9, 1962 in Vienna.

To him also are commemorated in 1995 donated Hermann Junker Scholarship for PhD students of Egyptology at the University of Vienna.

Honors

• Honorary Doctorate of Theology ( Julius- Maximilians- University of Würzburg )

Works (selection)

• Report on the excavations of the Academy d Sciences in Vienna in the cemeteries of el- Kubanieh, winter of 1910 / 11th Vienna 1919.
• From the Egyptian architecture of the Old Kingdom. Vienna 1928.
• Studies in the West Cemetery in the Great Pyramid of Giza. (12 volumes), DAWW / DÖAW 69-75, 1929-1955
• The Egyptians. In: The peoples of the ancient Near East. Freiburg 1933.
• The Pyramid Age. The essence of the ancient Egyptian religion. Zurich in 1949.
• The social position of the Egyptian artists in the Old Kingdom. Vienna 1959.
• Life and work in self-representation ( Proceedings of the Philosophical- historical class; 242.5 ). Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1963. ( With a bibliography of his works p. 51-59 )