Otto Rubensohn (24 November 1867,

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

– 9 August 1964, Höchenschwand) was a German-Jewish classical archaeologist. He received his education at the Universities of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, Under the supervision of Adolf Michaelis, he earned his doctorate in 1892 with the thesis "''Die Mysterienheiligtümer in Eleusis und Samothrake"''. In 1897–99 he was associated with the German Archaeological Institute at Athens, and performed excavations of the sanctuaries of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

and

Asclepius Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...

on the island of

Paros Paros (; ; ) is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. Part of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos (island), Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Co ...

.SANCTUARIES, PAPYRI AND WINGED GODDESSES
The Archaeologist Otto Rubensohn From 1901 to 1907, on behalf of the Prussian Royal Museums of Berlin and the ''Papyruskommission'', he was involved in a number of archaeological excavations in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. In 1902–05 he conducted a series of significant excavations of the

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

at Abusir el-Meleq. While in Egypt, he also performed excavatory work at

Fayum Faiyum ( ; , ) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location. Name and etymology Originally ...

, at Ashmunein and on the island of Elephantine, where he uncovered numerous

Aramaic papyri Hebrew and Aramaic papyri have increasingly been discovered from the 1960s onwards, although these papyri remain rare compared to papyri written in Koine Greek and Demotic Egyptian (no relation except in name, "popular," to modern demotic Greek). ...

scrolls. He was later named director of the recently established Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim. From 1915 to 1932 he worked as a secondary school teacher in

. In 1939 he emigrated to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in order to escape Nazi persecution. There he settled in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, and at the age of 94 published "''Das Delion von Paros''", considered to be his most important written effort.

Selected works

* ''Die Mysterienheiligtümer in Eleusis und Samothrake'', 1892 – The mystery sanctuaries in

Eleusis Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost ...

and

Samothrace Samothrace (also known as Samothraki; , ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is long, in size and has a population of 2,596 (2021 census). Its main industries ...

. * ''Elephantine-Papyri'', 1907 (with

Wilhelm Schubart Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Schubart (21 October 1873 – 9 August 1960) was a German ancient historian. He was a leading authority in the field of papyrology. Schubart was born on 21 October 1873 in Liegnitz, then part of the German Empire. He st ...

;

Wilhelm Spiegelberg Wilhelm Spiegelberg (25 June 1870, Hannover – 23 December 1930, Munich) was a German Egyptologist. He specialized in analyses of Demotic and hieratic text. Spiegelberg grew up as the second oldest of four brothers in a German Jewish family. He ...

) –

Elephantine papyri The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan, which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian, Aramaic, Koine Greek, Latin and Cop ...

. * ''Das Grab Alexanders des Grossen in Memphis'', 1910 – The grave of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

in Memphis. * ''Hellenistisches Silbergerät in antiken Gipsabgüssen'', 1911 (Pelizaeus-Museum) –

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

silver objects in ancient plaster casts. * ''Das Delion von Paros'', 1962 – The Delion of Paros.OCLC Classify
List of published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubensohn, Otto 1867 births 1964 deaths People from Kassel University of Strasbourg alumni Archaeologists from Hesse German Egyptologists German male non-fiction writers