Academic curriculum vitae

Since March 2021

Office manager and post-doc research associate at the DFG-funded project Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Ägyptologisches Seminar, Freie Universität Berlin.

November 2018–February 2021

Post-doc research associate at the DFG-funded project Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Ägyptologisches Seminar, Freie Universität Berlin.

November 2015–October 2018

Doctoral research associate at the DFG-funded project Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Ägyptologisches Seminar, Freie Universität Berlin.

January 2013–October 2015

Doctoral research associate at the DFG-funded project Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Institut für Ägyptologie „Georg Steindorff“, Universität Leipzig.

September 2011–December 2012

Research assistant at the Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

December 2010–August 2011

Student assistant at the Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

October 2009–August 2010

Student assistant at the Seminar für klassische Philologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

November 2007–September 2009

Student assistant at the Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Education

29. 06. 2018

Defense with distinction of the dissertation in Ancient Studies (Egyptology)

Dissertation: „Andreas von Hermonthis und das Kloster des Apa Hesekiel. Mikrohistorische Untersuchungen zu Kirchengeschichte und Klosterwesen im Gebiet von Armant (Oberägypten) in byzantinischer Zeit anhand der koptischen Ostraka der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, mit einem Appendix von Texten des Hauptdossiers in anderen Sammlungen (O.Lips.Copt. II)“

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Tonio Sebastian Richter

04. 08. 2011

Magister with distinction in Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

2008–2011

Student of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

2008

Student of Egyptology, Coptic Studies, and Pre- and Protohistory at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

2005–2008

Student of Egyptology and Pre- and Protohistory at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

(Co-)Organization of Conferences and Exhibitions

• Secretary of the international conference The 8th Century. Patterns of Transition in Economy and Trade throughout the Late Antique, Early Medieval and Islamicate Mediterranean at Free University of Berlin, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Bode-Museum, October 4–7, 2017.

• Co-organizer and presenter (with Dr. Nadine Quenouille) of a special exhibition of Coptic literary manuscripts from the Leipzig University Library: Aus ägyptischen Klöstern, Koptische Manuskripte aus den Sondersammlungen der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, June 10–15, 2013.

Digital Humanities

• Digital lexicography, working on database of Greek loanwords in Coptic

• Participant in the summer school The Coptic Bible and Coptic Literature in the Digital Age hosted by the Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and the Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari, Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies, Hamburg, July 20 – August 1, 2015. Experience using the Virtual Manuscript Room of the project Digital Edition and Translation of the Coptic-Sahidic Old Testament.

• Attendant at a workshop explaining the use of the Coptic Scriptorium database using ANNIS as well as related annotation and tagging tools offered by Caroline Schroeder and Amir Zeldes, Georgetown University, March 13, 2015

• Experience working with the language markup format XML when employed as a graduate assistant at the Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (application phase of the project Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament)

• Experience doing digital cataloguing of various institutes’ libraries for the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, using the PICA software WinIBW when employed as student assistant at the Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies and the Seminar of Classical Philology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Archaeological Work; Epigraphy; Papyrology; Material Culture

• Participant and recipient of a stipend at the Summer Institute in Papyrology, organized by the American Society of Papyrologists, hosted by Washington University St. Louis, July 9–August 10, 2018.
• Field campaign (pilot phase) of the project “Sakraltopographie einer Klosterlandschaft und ihre Entwicklung auf dem Hügel von Dra‘ Abu el-Naga / Oberägypten: Deir el-Bachît und das thebanische Pauloskloster”(led by Dr. Thomas Beckh and Dr. Ina Eichner, LMU Munich) at the late antique/early Islamic Coptic monastery Deir el-Bachit, Dra’ Abu el-Naga, Western Thebes. Documentation of finds as well as translations of Coptic ostraca and other texts, February 2–March 31, 2014.
• Participant in the Fourth International Summer School in Coptic Papyrology, Heidelberg, organized by the Institutes for Egyptology and Papyrology, August 26–September 9, 2012.
• Two field campaigns of the project “Zwischen Christentum and Islam” (led by Dr. Thomas Beckh, LMU Munich) during two field campaigns in 2010 and 2012 at the late antique/early Islamic Coptic monastery Deir el-Bachit, Dra’ Abu el-Naga, Western Thebes. Documentation of finds as well as translations of 175 ostraca (2010) and epigraphical survey of a large number of graffiti (2012).

Freie Universität Berlin:

• Graduate seminar: Theorie und Interpretation in der ägyptischen Archäologie (archaeology of late antique Egypt), summer semester 2020.

• Undergraduate seminar: Integratives Themenmodul II (the family in Ancient Egypt), summer semester 2018 (with PD Dr. Jan Moje).

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen:

• Beginner’s class of Sahidic Coptic at the summer school The Coptic Bible and Coptic Literature in the Digital Age hosted by the Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and the Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari, Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies, Hamburg, July 20 – August 1, 2015.

• Coptic tutorials “Einführung in die koptische Schrift und Sprache I/II: Sahidisch I/II,” summer semester 2011–summer semester 2012.

Research interests:

Social, economic, religious, and everyday history of late antique/early Islamic Egypt (specifically: of monasticism) based on papyrological sources in Coptic and Greek; Coptic literature; the cult of saints; Coptic (loanword) lexicography; mnemohistorical studies of the occidental reception of Egypt with focus on contemporary popular culture.

Main project since 2013: The dissertation project (defended on June 29, 2018), consisting in the edition and evaluation of ca. 600 Coptic ostraca at the papyrus and ostraca collection at the Leipzig University Library resulted in the establishing of the first substantial dossier of Coptic documentary texts from the region of Armant (Hermonthis). Die detailed documentation of an important, yet hitherto almost unknown monastery called “Topos of Apa Ezekiel” based on this large dossier (soon to be expanded by further texts identified at the Berlin papyrus collection) illuminates numerous incompletely or not at all known aspects of the social, economic, religious, and everyday history of late antique Egyptian monasticism in a timeframe that has thusfar barely been covered by Coptic documentary texts of the late antique/early Islamic period (the 6^th century) and in an area that remains archaeologically unexplored to this day (the most ancient desert monasteries in the Theban region which are found on the gebel near the nome capital Hermonthis). Appeared 2020 in the Beihefte series of Archiv für Papyrusforschung. The project of reconstructing and editing this dossier continues as more texts appear in various collections.

Monographs

• Andreas von Hermonthis und das Kloster des Apa Hesekiel. Mikrohistorische Untersuchungen zu Kirchengeschichte und Klosterwesen im Gebiet von Armant (Oberägypten) in byzantinischer Zeit anhand der koptischen Ostraka der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (O.Lips.Copt. II), 2 vols. (Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete – Beiheft 43), Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2020.

• Pyramiden und Sternentore. Gedächtnisgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Ägyptenrezeption in Stargate und der zeitgenössischen Populärkultur (Göttinger Orientforschungen, Reihe IV: Ägypten, Bd. 57). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2014.

Articles

• “The Monastery of Apa Posidonios at Hermonthis and an Alleged Local Cult of “Poseidon” (with Notes on “Kothos” and the Supposed Fish-Cult at Latopolis),” in: Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete (forthcoming).

• “Revisiting the First Monastery of Apa Phoibammon. A Prosopography and Relative Chronology of Its Connections to the Monastery of Apa Ezekiel within the Monastic Network of Hermonthis during the 6^th Century,” in: Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete 66.1 (2020), 150–91.

• “A Letter by Bishop Abraham of Hermonthis to the Priest John, Abbot of the Monastery of Apa Ezekiel, in the Papyrus Collection of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin (P 12497),” in: Journal of Coptic Studies 22 (2020), 143–50.

• “Two Coptic Homographs and the Missing Link in the Etymology of et-Tôd. ⲧⲟⲩⲱⲧ I and ⲧⲟⲩⲱⲧ II Preserving twt(w) “Image” and t(w)t(we) “Chapel,” in: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 146.2 (2019), 161–63.

• “The Papyrological Rediscovery of the Monastery of Apa Ezekiel and Bishop Andrew of Hermonthis (6^th Century). Preliminary Report on the Edition of the Coptic Ostraca at the Leipzig University Library,” in: Journal of Coptic Studies 21 (2019), 73–114.

• “Pharaoh’s Sorcerers Revisited. A Sahidic Exodus Apocryphon (P.Lips. Inv. 2299) and the Legend of Jannes and Jambres the Magicians between Judaism, Christianity, and Native Egyptian Tradition,” in: Archiv für Papyrusforschung 64.1 (2018), 148–98.

• “The Stargate Simulacrum. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Aliens, and Postmodern Dynamics of Occulture,” in: Aegyptiaca. Journal for the History of Reception of Egypt (1 2017), 47–74. 

• “Neues von Pharaos Zauberern. Äthiopische und koptische Textzeugen zum apokryphen Text ‚Jannes und Jambres‘” (with Ted Erho und Matthias Hoffmann), in: Welt und Umwelt der Bibel (2.2016), 70–72.

• “Die arabischen Lehnwörter im spätbohairischen Martyrium des Johannes von Phanidjōit,” in: Göttinger Miszellen 246 (2015), S. 49–55.

Reviews

• “Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom. The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt. An Archaeological Reconstruction, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2017, XXVII + 426pp., ISBN 978-1-107-16181-8, $ 135,-” in: Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 24.3 (2021), 646–51.

Lectures and conference papers

• “The Lost Monasteries of Armant: First Papyrological Steps towards Reconstructing the Obscure Monastic Landscape South of Thebes,” presented in the Yale Egyptology Lecture Series, December 9, 2020.

• “The Papyrological Rediscovery of the 6^th-Century Monastery of Apa Ezekiel and Bishop Andrew of Hermonthis,” presented in the series DDGLC Explorations in Coptology and Papyrologisches Kolloquium, Freie Universität Berlin, July 30, 2020.

• “‚Der Engel des Klosters soll dich segnen!‘ Die koptischen Ostraka der Universitätsbibliothek als neue Quellen zu Kirchengeschichte und Klosterverwaltung im byzantinischen Ägypten,” presented in the series Arbeit bezahlt. Sklavinnen frei! Gott verleugnet? at the Leipzig University Library, January 23, 2020.

• “The Lost Monasteries of Hermonthis: Rediscovered in Coptic Ostraca of the Byzantine Period,” presented at the research showcase Studying Graeco-Roman Egypt II, University of Basel, September 27, 2019.

• “Andrew of Hermonthis and the Monstery of Apa Ezekiel. Report on the Results of the Edition of the Coptic Ostraca at the Leipzig University Library (O.Lips.Copt. II),” presented at the seminar Theban Region – Monasticism and Clergy, University of Warsaw, September 19, 2019.

• “‘… then the Angel of the Topos Shall Bless You!’ Economic Evidence for the 6^th Century ‘Monasticization’ of the Cult of Saints in Coptic Ostraca from the Monastery of Apa Ezekiel at Hermonthis,” presented at the 29^th International Congress of Papyrology, Università del Salento, Lecce, August 1, 2019.

• “‘The Angel of the Topos Shall Bless You.’ How to Negotiate for Pious Donations to Monasteries in Coptic Letters from the Theban Region,” presented at the conference Text and Layout Structures of Arabic Documents (7^th–16^th Centuries), Escuela de Estudios Árabes (CSIC), Granada, July 5, 2019.

• “The Coptic Correspondence of Andrew of Hermonthis (6^th Century) from the Monastery of Apa Ezekiel,” presented at the conference Coptic Ostraca from the Theban Region, University of Leiden, May 17, 2019.

• “Neues von Pharaos Zauberern. Die Magier Jannes und Jambres im Leipziger Papyrus P.Lips.Inv. 2299,“ presented at the Leipzig University Library, January 24, 2019.

• “Ein bislang unerkanntes koptisches Wort für ‘Kapelle/Stationsheiligtum.’ Das ‘missing link’ in der Etymologie von et-Tôd im 4. oberägyptischen Gau,” presented at the 51st Neue Forschungen zur ägyptischen Kultur und Geschichte, Archäologisches Zentrum Berlin, November 6, 2018.

• “Die papyrologische Wiederentdeckung des Klosters des Apa Hesekiel und Prolegomena zum Potenzial der archäologischen Erschließung der spätantiken Klosteranlagen im Berg von Armant,” presented at the Projekte-Tage at the German Archaeological Institute Cairo, June 12, 2018.

• “‘… Then the Lord Shall Bless You!’ Monastic Strategies of Referring to God’s Blessings in Coptic Letters from the Theban Region in the Late Byzantine and Early Islamic Period,” presented at the workshop Communication and Control: Workshop on Letters,hosted by the project Embedding Conquest: Naturalising Muslim Rule in the Early Islamic Empire (600–1000), University of Leiden, April 13, 2018.

• “Living on a Prayer: Intercession of the Saints as a Marketable Commodity and Monastic Strategies of Negotiating for Pious Donations – New Evidence from the Region of Hermonthis, Upper Egypt, in the Late Byzantine Period,” presented at the Topoi workshop The Economy of the Roman Empire and Egypt: Models, Problems, and New Sources, Topoi Building Mitte, Berlin, February 23, 2018.

• “Coptic Lease Documents of the Byzantine and Early Islamic Periods,” presented at the workshop Documentary Typologies Part II: Visual Types of Arabic Documents, University of Zurich, January 25, 2018.

• “Das Sternentor-Simulakrum. Die Reise der ägyptischen Astronautengötter durch Esoterik, Präastronautik und Science Fiction,” presented at the Institute of Egyptology, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, October 26, 2017.

• “Scherben in der Universitätsbibliothek bringen Glück. Die Wiederentdeckung eines ägyptischen Klosters,” presented at the Leipzig University Library, May 18, 2017.

• “Coptic Papyri Illuminating the Economy of 8th Century Egypt,” presented at the international conference The 8^th Century. Patterns of Transition in Economy and Trade throughout the Late Antique, Early Medieval and Islamicate Mediterranean, Free University of Berlin, October 7, 2017.

• “Neues von Pharaos Zauberern. Das sahidische Exodus-Apokryphon von P.Lips.Inv. 2299 und die Legende von Jannes und Jambres den Magiern zwischen Judentum, Christentum und altägyptischer Tradition,“ presented at the 49. Ständige Ägyptologenkonferenz, hosted by the Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, July 14, 2017.

• “Ein neuer Ort auf der papyrologischen Landkarte Oberägyptens. Das Ezekiel-Kloster bei Hermonthis,” presented at the Papyrologisches Kolloquium, Freie Universität Berlin, June 29, 2017.

• “The Monastery of Ezekiel at Hermonthis as an Agent in Regional Economy,” presented at the Topoi workshop (Mortuary) Temple – Monastery – Mortmain Property (waqf). The Economic Organisation of Religious Institutions in Egypt, Freie Universität Berlin, May 13, 2017.

• “»I Wonder about You!«. Encoding Emotions of Anger and Disappointment in Monastic Letters from the Theban Area,” presented at the workshop New Perspectives on Religion, Education, and Culture at Christian Western Thebes (VI-VIII), University of Oslo, January 13, 2017.

• “Introducing the Monastery of Apa Ezekiel in the Mountain of Armant. Report on the Edition of the Coptic Ostraca at the Papyrus Collection of the Leipzig University Library,” presented at the workshop New Perspectives on Religion, Education, and Culture at Christian Western Thebes (VI-VIII), University of Oslo, January 12, 2017.

• “Lexicography at the Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC) – 2015–2016. A Progress Report,” presented at the 11^th International Congress of Coptic Studies, hosted by Claremont Graduate University and St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Society, Claremont, CA, July 29, 2016.

• “Koptische Lehnwortlexikographie 60 Jahre nach Alexander Böhlig. Mit einer Präsentation des digitalen Zettelarchivs unflektierter griechischer Wörter im Koptischen ‘Gertrud Bauer Zettelkasten Online’,” (with Katrin John and Tonio Sebastian Richter), presented as the 25^th survey in the series DDGLC Explorations in Coptology at the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES), Universität Tübingen, July 15, 2016.

• “Theben: Von hundert Toren zu hundert Klöstern” (with Billy Böhm and Josephine Hensel), presented in the series Aegyptiaca 2015: Stadt, Land, Fluss: Topographie des Alten Ägypten, Universität Leipzig, Institut für Ägyptologie “Georg Steindorff,” October 1, 2015.
• “Report on the Edition of the Coptic Ostraca at the Papyrus and Ostraca Collection of the Leipzig University Library,” presented at the workshop Moines et laïcs dans la région thébaine (VIIe –VIIIe siècle), Collège de France, Paris, June 26, 2015.
• “The Monastery of Paul (Deir el-Bachît) in Western Thebes/Upper Egypt: The Development of a Late Antique Monastic Community through the Ages” (presenting for Thomas Beckh and Ina Eichner), presented at the Topoi workshop Christian Archaeology in Egypt: Recent Achievements, New Strands, German Archaeological Institute Cairo, March 31–April 1, 2015.
• “Digitizing Language Contact: Lexicography and Technological Perspectives at the Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC)”(with Katrin John), presented to the Digital Coptic 2 Symposium in Digital Humanities and Coptic Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2015.
• “‘We Are They Whom the Gods Detest.‘: Ägyptenrezeption im Heavy Metal,” presented in the series Aegyptiaca 2014: Begegnungen mit dem Alten Ägypten – 2000 Jahre Ägypten-Rezeption, Universität Leipzig, Institut für Ägyptologie „Georg Steindorff“, October 2, 2014.
• “Neues aus dem Pauloskloster: Bericht von den Grabungen der LMU München in der spätantik-frühislamischen Klosteranlage Deir el-Bachît in Dra‘ Abu el-Naga, Theben-West (Frühjahrskampagne 2014),” presented at the 43. Neue Forschungen zur ägyptischen Kultur und Geschichte, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, May 22, 2014.
• “Pyramiden und Sternentore: Konstrukte Altägyptens in der zeitgenössischen Science Fiction,” presented in the series Hannoversche Altertumswissenschaftliche Vorträge, Museum August Kestner, Leipzig, 25. April 2012 sowie in der Vortragsreihe Altägypten zwischen Völkerschlacht und Science (Fiction), Universität Leipzig, Institut für Ägyptologie “Georg Steindorff,” December 12, 2013.