EBERS

ebers, georg moritz (1837-1898), german egyptologist and novelist, was born in berlin on the 1st of march 1837. at goettingen he studied jurisprudence, and at berlin oriental languages and archaeology. having made a special study of egyptology, he became in 1865 _docent_ in egyptian language and antiquities at jena, and in 1870 he was appointed professor in these subjects at leipzig. he had made two scientific journeys to egypt, and his first work of importance, _aegypten und die buecher moses_, appeared in 1867-1868. in 1874 he edited the celebrated medical papyrus ("papyrus ebers") which he had discovered in thebes (translation by h. joachim, 1890). ebers early conceived the idea of popularizing egyptian lore by means of historical romances. _eine aegyptische koenigstochter_ was published in 1864, and obtained great success. his subsequent works of the same kind--_uarda_ (1877), _homo sum_ (1878), _die schwestern_ (1880), _der kaiser_ (1881), of which the scene is laid in egypt at the time of hadrian, _serapis_ (1885), _die nilbraut_ (1887), and _kleopatra_ (1894), were also well received, and did much to make the public familiar with the discoveries of egyptologists. ebers also turned his attention to other fields of historical fiction--especially the 16th century (_die frau buergermeisterin_, 1882; _die gred_, 1887)--without, however, attaining the success of his egyptian novels. apart from their antiquarian and historical interest, ebers's books have not a very high literary value. his other writings include a descriptive work on egypt (_aegypten in wort und bild_, 2nd ed., 1880), a guide to egypt (1886) and a life (1885) of his old teacher, the egyptologist karl richard lepsius. the state of his health led him in 1889 to retire from his chair at leipzig on a pension. he died at tutzing in bavaria, on the 7th of august 1898. ebers's _gesammelte werke_ appeared in 25 vols. at stuttgart (1893-1895). many of his books have been translated into english. for his life see his _die geschichte meines lebens_ (stuttgart, 1893); also r. gosche, _g. ebers, der forscher und dichter_ (2nd ed., leipzig, 1887).