Egyptologist Jan Assmann is dead

A spokeswoman for Heidelberg University confirmed a report from “Südkurier” on Tuesday. The university is in contact with the family and has received the message from Assmann’s family, said the spokeswoman. Assmann was one of the best-known German humanities scholars internationally.

From 1976 to 2003, when he retired, he taught as a professor of Egyptology in Heidelberg. Assmann was primarily concerned with religious history and ideas of death in Ancient Egypt, but also with basic questions of mentality and cultural history. He has repeatedly caused a sensation with his religious studies works and books and his theses on monotheism. He sees its beginnings in the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt under Moses. This brought the distinction between “true” and “false” into the world in religion – with fatal consequences, especially later in Christianity and Islam.

Numerous honors and countless books

Assmann, who has published countless books and received numerous honors, was later an honorary professor at the University of Konstanz, where his wife Aleida Assmann was professor of English literature and general literature. The couple was awarded the German Book Trade Peace Prize in 2018. Jan Assmann was the father of five adult children. Together with his wife he developed the concept of cultural memory. The question is which factors contribute to the formation of identity and consciousness in human cultures and societies.

In 2022, the Austrian Research Foundation (ÖFG) awarded its science prize to Assmann. Heinrich Schmidinger, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ÖFG, praised his “interdisciplinary thinking in the field of humanities and cultural studies, which deserves the name in every respect” and his “cultural and social commitment, which arises from the spirit of the highest scientific excellence.”