Johann Christoph "Jan" Assmann (7 July 1938 – 19 February 2024) was a German Egyptologist, cultural historian, and religion scholar.

Life and works

Assmann studied Egyptology and classical archaeology in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. In 1966–67, he was a fellow of the German Archaeological Institute in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, where he continued as an independent scholar from 1967 to 1971. After completing his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1971, he was named a professor of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

in 1976, where he taught until his retirement in 2003. He was then named an ''Honorary Professor of Cultural Studies'' at the University of Constance. In the 1990s, Assmann and his wife

Aleida Assmann Aleida Assmann (born Aleida Bornkamm, 22 March 1947) is a German professor of English and literary studies, who studied Egyptology and whose work has focused on cultural anthropology and Cultural memory, cultural and communicative memory. Life ...

developed a theory of cultural and communicative memory that has received much international attention. He is also known beyond Egyptology circles for his interpretation of the origins of

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

, which he considers as a break from earlier cosmotheism, first with

Atenism Atenism, also known as the Aten religion, the Amarna religion, and the Amarna heresy, was a religion in ancient Egypt. It was founded by Akhenaten, a pharaoh who ruled the New Kingdom under the Eighteenth Dynasty. The religion is described as ...

and later with the

Exodus from Egypt The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Pentateuch (specifically, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuterono ...

of the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

. Assmann died on 19 February 2024, at the age of 85.

Writings on Egyptian and other religions

Assmann suggested that the

ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of Polytheism, polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with Ancient Egyptian deities, many deities belie ...

had a more significant influence on Judaism than is generally acknowledged. He used the term "normative inversion" to suggest that some aspects of Judaism were formulated in direct reaction to Egyptian practices and theology. He ascribed the principle of normative inversion to a principle established by

Manetho Manetho (; ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος, ''fl''. 290–260 BCE) was an Egyptian priest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who lived in the early third century BCE, at the very beginning of the Hellenistic period. Little is certain about his ...

which was used by

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

in his references to the

Sabians The Sabians, sometimes also spelled Sabaeans or Sabeans, are a religious group mentioned three times in the Quran (as , in later sources ), where it is implied that they belonged to the 'People of the Book' (). Their original identity, which ...

. His book ''The Price of Monotheism'' received some criticism for his notion of ''The Mosaic Distinction''. He too no longer held this theory, at least not in its original form (specifically, the mosaic aspect).

Awards

* 1996 Max Planck Award for Research * 1998 German Historians' Prize * 1998 Honorary Doctorate in Theology from the Theology Faculty, Munster * 2004 Soc.Sc.D. (honoris causa),

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

* 2005 Ph.D. (honoris causa),

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

* 2006

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

, First Class * 2006 Alfried Krupp Prize for Scholarship * 2011 Großer Literaturpreis der Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste * 2016 Sigmund Freud Prize * 2017 Balzan Prize for Collective Memory together with his wife

* 2018 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade together with his wife Aleida Assmann * 2020 Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts together with his wife Aleida Assmann

Publications

* ''Re und Amun: Die Krise des polytheistischen Weltbilds im Ägypten der 18.-20. Dynastie'' (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 51). Fribourg and Göttingen 1983. * ''Ägypten: Theologie und Frömmigkeit einer frühen Hochkultur'' (Urban-Bücherei, vol. 366, Stuttgart 1984). * ''The Search for God in Ancient Egypt'' trans. David Lorton (2001) * "Maât: l'Égypte pharaonique et l'idée de justice sociale" in: ''Conférences, essais et leçons du Collège de France''. Paris: Julliard, 1989. :German: ''Ma`at: Gerechtigkeit und Unsterblichkeit im alten Ägypten''. Munich 1990 (Arabic Translation 1996). * ''Stein und Zeit: Mensch und Gesellschaft im Alten Ägypten''. Munich 1991. * ''Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen''. Munich 1992. : trans.: ''Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination''. Cambridge University Press, 2011. * ''Monotheismus und Kosmotheismus'' (1993) * ''Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun, and the Crisis of Polytheism'' (Studies in Egyptology) (1995) ranslation into English by Anthony Alcock of the German 1983, ''Re und Amun'' * ''Ägypten: Eine Sinngeschichte'' (Munich: Hanser 1996; Frankfurt: Fischer, 1999); trans. ''The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs'' (New York : Metropolitan Books, 2002; Harvard University Press, 2003). * ''Moses der Ägypter: Entzifferung einer Gedächtnisspur''. Munich 1998. : ''Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism'' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997; 1998) * ''Weisheit und Mysterium: Das Bild der Griechen von Ägypten''. Munich 2000. * ''Herrschaft und Heil: Politische Theologie in Altägypten, Israel und Europa''. Munich 2000. * ''Religion und kulturelles Gedächtnis: Zehn Studien'' (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2000). : ''Religion and Cultural Memory: Ten Studies'' (Cultural Memory in the Present) trans. Rodney Livingstone, SUP (2005) * ''Der Tod als Thema der Kulturtheorie'' (2000) * ''Tod und Jenseits im Alten Ägypten'' (Munich 2001). : ''Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt'', trans. David Lorton (2006) * ''Altägyptische Totenliturgien'', Bd.1, Totenliturgien in den Sargtexten (2002) * ''Die Mosaische Unterscheidung oder der Preis des Monotheismus''. Munich 2003. : trans. Robert Savage: ''The Mosaic Distinction or The Price of Monotheism'' (SUP, 2009) * ''Ägyptische Geheimnisse'' (2003) * ''Theologie und Weisheit im alten Ägypten'' (2005) * ''Die Zauberflöte'' (2005) * ''Thomas Mann und Ägypten: Mythos und Monotheismus in den Josephsromanen'' (Munich 2006). * ''Monotheismus und die Sprache der Gewalt'' (2006) * ''Of God and Gods: Egypt, Israel, and the Rise of Monotheism'' (

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a Non-profit organization, non-profit university press publishing Peer review, peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic comm ...

, 2008) *''From Akhenaten to Moses. Ancient Egypt and religious change'' (The American University in Cairo Press 2014). * ''Exodus: Die Revolution der Alten Welt'' (Munich 2015) ;Books in English * ''Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom'', trans. Anthony Alcock (1994) * ''Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism'' (Harvard University 1997) * ''The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs'', trans. Andrew Jenkins (2003) * ''Of God and Gods: Egypt, Israel, and the Rise of Monotheism'' (2008) * ''Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination'' (Mũnchen 1992; Cambridge University 2011) * ''From Akhenaten to Moses: Ancient Egypt and Religious Change'' (American University in Cairo 2016) *

References

External links

Short biography
at litrix.de, German Literature Online *

at the University of Constance
Profile
at the

's Institute for Egyptology
Publications by Jan Assmann at Propylaeum-DOK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assmann, Jan 1938 births 2024 deaths Academic staff of Heidelberg University Academic staff of the University of Konstanz Cultural historians German Egyptologists German expatriates in Egypt German expatriates in France German male non-fiction writers German religion academics Heidelberg University alumni Intellectual historians Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Members of Academia Europaea Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Goslar (district) Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) University of Göttingen alumni University of Paris alumni