Education

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

2011

M.A. (Magister Artium) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany)

Egyptology and Coptic Studies (with distinction).

Thesis: “Pyramiden und Sternentore: Ägyptenrezeption in Stargate und weitere gedächtnisgeschichtliche Fallstudien zur Konstruktion Altägyptens in der zeitgenössischen Populärkultur”.

Advisors: Prof. Dr. Gerald Moers and Dr. Janne Arp.

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.

Employment

Freie Universität Berlin

Research Assistant (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), DDGLC (Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic) Project, Ägyptologisches Seminar, November 2015–October 2018.

Universität Leipzig

Research Assistant (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), DDGLC (Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic) Project, Ägyptologisches Institut „Georg Steindorff“, January 2013–October 2015.

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Graduate assistant, Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies, September 2011 – December 2012.

Student assistant, Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies, December 2010 – August 2011.

Student assistant, Seminar of Classical Philology, October 2009 – August 2010.

Student assistant, Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies, November 2007– September 2009.

Organization of Exhibitions

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

(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.

Invited Lectures

“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 25th 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.

“‘We Are They Whom the Gods Detest.’: Ägyptenrezeption im Heavy Metal” (combined with “Ägypten im Jazz,” by Prof. Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert), 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.

“Pyramiden und Sternentore: Konstrukte Altägyptens in der zeitgenössischen Science Fiction,” presented in the series Hannoversche Altertumswissenschaftliche Vorträge, Museum August Kestner, Leipzig, April 25, 2012, and in the series Altägypten zwischen Völkerschlacht und Science (Fiction), Universität Leipzig, Institut für Ägyptologie “Georg Steindorff,” December 12, 2013.

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 6th 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.

Research Languages

German (native); English (fluent); French, Latin, Old/Middle/Late Egyptian, Coptic, (fluent reader); Greek (beginner)

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

Teaching Experience

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.

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).

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 6th 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 (6th 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.