Persona

Keimer, Ludwig Joseph Gustav

1892-1957

German Egyptologist; born Hellenthal, Germany, 23 August 1892, son of Hubert K., a forester; he studied German Language and Literature, Ancient History and Classics at Münster, 1912-3 and then Archaeology at Berlin, 1913-17 where he took courses on Egyptology under Erman and Möller; he also studied Law and National Economy; he took several doctorates at this time, PhD in the University of Münster, 1917; Doctor Juris utriusque at the University of Würzburg, 1920; Doctor rerum politicarum, Wüzburg, 1922; he later obtained his habilitation from the German University in Prague, 20 September 1930; influenced by G. Schweinfurth he became interested in the flora and fauna of Egypt, particularly in relation to those existing in the Pharaonic period, and he published his first important work in this field, Die Gartenpflanzen im Alten Ägypten, 1924, repr. 1967; he then went to work with V. Loret at Lyons and then settled in Egypt in 1928, where he was made Professor at the School for Dragomans and Guides, 1929-31, and was also attached to the General Catalogue of the Museum, 1932; he directed the historical section of the Fuad I Agricultural Museum from 1931-36; he became Professor of Egyptian Archaeology in the University of Cairo, 1936; he was closely associated with the Institut d'Égypte to which he was elected in 1937, contributing many communications to its Mémoires and serving as secretary-general and vice-president; from 1930-40 he was appointed lecturer at the German University of Prague, 1938 and took Czechoslovak nationality; on his return to Egypt, he was arrested as a German spy, 1940-1 and later released thanks to Emery's intervention in 1951 he became an Egyptian national; he was a member of numerous scientific organizations, notably Société Royale de Géographie d'Égypte, 1929; Fondation égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, Bruxelles, 1930; Société française d'Égypte, 1937; Association des amis de l'art copte, 1938; committee member of the Société Royale de Papyrologie d'Égypte, 1934; in all his published output reached 200 items, including Egyptian formal bouquets, 1925; Études d'Ég. fasc. I-VII, 1940-5; Histoires de serpents dans l'Égypte ancienne et moderne, 1947; Interpretation de quelques passages d'Horapollon, 1947; Remarques sur le tatouage dans l'Égypte ancienne, 1948; Notes prises chez les Bisarin et les Nubiens d'Assouan, 1951-3; Jardins zoologiques d'Égypte, 1954; his library and archives were acquired by the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo; he died in Deir el-Chifa Hospital, Cairo, 16 August 1957.

• Who Was Who in Egyptology (5th ed. 2019), 249-250 fig. (portrait).