Spiegelberg, Wilhelm, 1870-1930

Wilhelm Spiegelberg (25 June 1870, Hanover – 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 studied Egyptology and archaeology in Strasbourg and Berlin, obtaining his doctorate from the University of Strasbourg in 1891. As a student his influences included Johannes Dümichen, Adolf Michaelis and Adolf Erman. After graduation, he continued his education in Paris as a student of Gaston Maspero. In 1899, he became an associate professor at the University of Strasbourg, where in 1907 he obtained a full professorship. In 1919, he relocated to Heidelberg University, and four years later succeeded Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing as chair of Egyptology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Starting in 1894, he took part in excavator work in Egypt, most notably at the Necropolis of Thebes. Around 1900, he began work at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, serving as a cataloger and editor of Demotic material. Spiegelberg made important contributions towards the deciphering of Demotic script and in the field of Demotic lexicography. During his tenure at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, he accompanied novelist Thomas Mann to Egypt, where he provided assistance towards the drafting of Mann's Joseph tetralogy. In 1919, he became a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (a non-resident member since 1923), and from 1924, was a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.