Editing August Dillmann

{{Short description|German orientalist and biblical scholar (1823–1894)}}
{{ infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> 
| name          = Christian Friedrich August Dillmann
| image         = August Dillman-1894.jpg
| imagesize     = 200px
| alt           = Head and torso portrait in black and white.  Depicts a light-haired man in dinner jacket and bow tie, wearing thin wire-rimmed spectacles.
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| pseudonym     = 
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| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1823|4|25|df=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Illingen, Baden-Württemberg|Illingen]], [[German Confederation]]
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1894|7|7|1823|4|25|df=y}}
| death_place    = [[Berlin]], [[German Empire]]
| occupation    = Orientalist and biblical scholar
| nationality   = German
| education     = [[University of Tübingen]]
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| signature     = August Dillmann signature.png
| signature_alt = Dr. A. Dillman
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'''Christian Friedrich August Dillmann''' (25 April 1823{{snd}}7 July 1894) was a German [[oriental studies|orientalist]] and biblical scholar.

==Life==
The son of a [[Württemberg]] schoolmaster, he was born at [[Illingen, Baden-Württemberg|Illingen]]. He was educated at the [[University of Tübingen]], where he became a pupil and friend of [[Heinrich Ewald]], and studied under [[Ferdinand Christian Baur]], though he did not join the new Tübingen school. For a short time, he worked as pastor at [[Sersheim]], near his native place, but he soon came to feel that his studies demanded his whole time.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=272}}<ref name=AD>[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Dillmann,_August ADB:Dillmann, August]  In: [[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie]] (ADB). Band 47, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1903, S. 699–702.</ref>

He devoted himself to the study of [[Ethiopic]] manuscripts in the libraries of [[Paris, France|Paris]], [[London]] and [[Oxford]], and this work caused a revival of Ethiopic study in the 19th century. In 1847 and 1848, he prepared catalogues of the Ethiopic manuscripts in the [[British Museum]] (now the [[British Library]]) and the [[Bodleian Library]] at Oxford. He then set to work upon an edition of the [[Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon|Ethiopic Bible]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=272-273}}<ref name=AD/>

Returning to Tübingen in 1848, in 1853, he was appointed professor extraordinarius. Subsequently, he became professor of [[philosophy]] at the [[University of Kiel]] (1854), and of theology in [[University of Giessen|Giessen]] (1864) and [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]] (1869),{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=273}} where he succeeded [[Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg]].<ref name=AD/>

==Works==
In 1851, he had published the "[[Book of Enoch]]" in Ethiopian (German, 1853; English, [https://archive.org/details/bookenochtransl00dillgoog 1893]), and at Kiel, he completed the first part of the Ethiopic bible, ''Octateuchus Aethiopicus'' (1853–55). In 1857 appeared his ''Grammatik der äthiopischen Sprache'' (2nd edition by [[Carl Bezold]], 1899); in 1859 the "[[Book of Jubilees]]"; in 1861 and 1871 another part of the Ethiopic bible, ''Libri Regum''; in 1865 his great ''Lexicon linguæ aethiopicæ''; in 1866 his ''Chrestomathia aethiopica''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=273}} In 1853, Dillmann published an article comparing [[Regnal lists of Ethiopia|Ethiopian king lists]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dillmann|first=August|title=Zur Geschichte des abyssinischen Reichs|journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft|volume=7|pages=338–364|year=1853|language=German|url=https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/titleinfo/20825}}</ref>

Always a theologian at heart, he returned to theology in 1864. His Giessen lectures were published under the titles, ''Ursprung der alttestamentlichen Religion'' (1865) and ''Die Propheten des alten Bundes nach ihrer politischen Wirksamkeit'' (1868). In 1869 appeared his commentary on ''Hiob'', ([https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005764407 4th edition 1891]) which stamped him as one of the foremost [[Old Testament]] exegetes.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=273}}

His renown as a theologian was mainly founded on the series of commentaries, based on those of [[August Wilhelm Knobel]]'s [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100349616 ''Die Genesis''] (Leipzig, 1875); ''Die Bücher Exodus und Leviticus'', 1880; ''Die Bücher Numeri, Deuteronomium und Josua'', with a dissertation on the origin of the [[Hexateuch]], 1886; [https://archive.org/details/derprophetjesaj00knobgoog ''Der Prophet Jesaja''], 1890. In 1877 he published the "[[Ascension of Isaiah]]" in Ethiopian and Latin. He was also a contributor to [[Daniel Schenkel]]'s ''Bibellexikon'', [[Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus|Brockhaus's]] ''[[Conversations-Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten|Conversationslexikon]]'', and [[Johann Jakob Herzog]]'s ''[[Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge|Realencyklopädie]]''. His book on Old Testament theology, ''Handbuch der alttestamentlichen Theologie'', was published by [[Rudolf Kittel]] in 1895.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=273}}<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1526434 Handbuch der alttestamentlichen Theologie] OCLC WorldCat.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Dillmann, Christian Friedrich August|volume=8|pages=272–273}}
*{{BBKL|d/dillmann_a|band=1|autor= Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz|artikel=Dillmann, August|spalte=1306}}
* George L. Robinson, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3135228 "August Dillmann (Obituary)"], in: ''The Biblical World'' 4/4 (1894), pp.&nbsp;244–258.

==External links==
*[http://www.tau.ac.il/~hacohen/Biblia.html Online version of the Octateuchus Aethiopicus (1853) and several other Ethiopic books of the Bible edited by Dillmann].
*[https://archive.org/details/chrestomathiaaet00dilluoft Online version of the Chrestomathia Aethiopica (1886)] at the [[Internet Archive]].

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillmann, August}}
[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1894 deaths]]
[[Category:Ethiopianists]]
[[Category:German orientalists]]
[[Category:German biblical scholars]]
[[Category:Old Testament scholars]]
[[Category:University of Tübingen alumni]]
[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:People from Enzkreis]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Giessen]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Tübingen]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Kiel]]
[[Category:Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]