by Leonie Zinth
Günther Roeder was a German museologist and archaeologist who made important contributions to the documentation and exploration of Hermopolis Magna and other ancient sites.
His academic career began in 1899 with studies in Jena and Berlin. He focussed on the Arabic, Hebrew and Egyptian languages as well as general linguistics. He also studied ancient history. He was finally awarded his doctorate in the summer of 1903 with a thesis on the preposition r in the development of the Egyptian language.
Just a few years later, he travelled to Egypt for the first time, which was to become his second home: From 1907-1911, he was entrusted with the documentation of Nubian temples and worked for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. After his return to Germany, he habilitated and worked for some time as a private lecturer in Egyptology. In 1915, he became director of the Pelizaeus Museum – a position he held for 30 years. During this time, he played a key role in shaping the collection and the museum’s reputation. From 1929 to 1939, he led several excavations in Hermopolis Magna, during which large parts of the Thoth temple were uncovered.
The quantity of finds and Roeder’s documentation were so extensive that some of the associated publications were only published after his death. His diaries and photographs provide direct insights into everyday life during the excavations and remain important sources for research into Hermopolis Magna to this day. In 1940, he was appointed director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, but lost the post after the end of the war due to his membership of the Nazi Party. However, Roeder was finally denazified and exonerated in 1948.
Roeder also achieved international recognition through his numerous different activities and lecture tours. His numerous, insightful publications also contributed significantly to his legacy. He remained active and enterprising into old age. He worked on manuscripts for further works until shortly before his death. Roeder died in Cairo in 1966 on his last trip to Egypt.
Bibliography:
- M. L. Bierbrier, Who was Who in Egyptology (London 2019) 397–398
- P. Brose, Vorgeschichte und Ablauf der Grabungen der Deutschen Hermopolis-Expedition in Hermopolis Magna, in: M. Flossmann-Schütze – A. Free – F. Hoffmann (Hrsg.), Weltentstehung und Theologie von Hermopolis Magna II. Die Deutsche Hermopolis-Expedition im Licht aktueller Forschung, Tuna el-Gebel 11 (Vaterstetten 2022) 285–392
- P. Brose – F. Hoffmann, Die Tagebücher der Deutschen Hermopolis-Expedition, in: M. Flossmann-Schütze – A. Free – F. Hoffmann (Hrsg.), Weltentstehung und Theologie von Hermopolis Magna II. Die Deutsche Hermopolis-Expedition im Licht aktueller Forschung, Tuna el-Gebel 11 (Vaterstetten 2022) 127–283
- M. Flossmann-Schütze – L. Medini, The Émile Baraize archive and the reconstruction of the „Agora“ in Hermopolis Magna, in: M. Flossmann-Schütze – A. Free – F. Hoffmann (Hrsg.), Weltentstehung und Theologie von Hermopolis Magna II. Die Deutsche Hermopolis-Expedition im Licht aktueller Forschung, Tuna el-Gebel 11 (Vaterstetten 2022) 421–478
- H. Reyer, Der Ägyptologe Günther Roeder 1881–1966. Biographische Skizze eines Hildesheimer Museumsdirektors mit einem Verzeichnis seiner Schriften, in: „Zur Zierde gereicht…“. Festschrift Bettina Schmitz zum 60.Geburtstag am 24. Juli 2008, Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge 50, (Hildesheim 2008) 187–216