Oriental Studies in Germany: Analytic Study on Rise of Aspiring to the East

Abstract

This paper attempts to study German Orientalism; its beginnings and evolution with a focus on an important and effective model in the development of the work of this Orientalist school. So it required us to shed light on two of the most prominent Orientalist societies in Germany which, in turn, attracted us to review the most prominent academic and intellectual output of German Orientalists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The present paper includes, an introduction and two sections. The first section deals with the beginnings; the Academy of German Orientalism to address the circumstances of the establishment of the German Oriental Society (Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft) and the resulting academic and well written studies on the East and its various societies. Moreover, the political conditions, that had a clear impact on the course of development of this association in particular, and Orientalist studies in Germany in general, are touched upon.

The second section handles the German Orient Society (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft), which was mainly concerned with the field of research in archeology, with a comparison of what had already been achieved by the rest of the most prominent European schools of Orientalism, especially the French and English ones, to conclude the most important goals and achievements of the German Orient Society. The active role it played in the development of archaeological excavations in the East is also explored by the paper.