Jan Assmann
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Through Cairo
Life and works
Assmann studied Egyptology and classical archaeology in Munich, Heidelberg, Paris, and Göttingen. In 1966–67, he was a fellow of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, where he continued as an independent scholar from 1967 to 1971. After completing his habilitation in 1971, he was named a professor of Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg 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 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, which he considers as a break from earlier cosmotheism, first with Atenism and later with the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites.
Assmann died on 19 February 2024, at the age of 85.
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Writings on Egyptian and other religions
Assmann suggested that the ancient Egyptian religion 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 which was used by Maimonides in his references to the Sabians. 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
- 2005 Ph.D. (honoris causa), Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- 2006 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 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 Aleida Assmann
- 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