All Scholars

KOENEN, Ludwig

  • Ludwig Koenen
  • Date of Birth: April5, 1931
  • Born City: Cologne
  • Born State/Country: Germany
  • Parents: Klaus Eugen, a carpenter, & Elisabeth Piel K.
  • Date of Death: May 9, 2023
  • Death City: Ann Arbor, MI
  • Married: Margarete Ursula Christine Bolder, August 8, 1955.
  • Education:

    D.Phil., Cologne, 1957; study at London and Oxford, 1959-60; D.habil., Cologne, 1968; D.phil (hon.), Basel, 1995.
  • Professional Experience:

    Asst. prof curator to head curator of Papyrological and numismatic Collections at the Institut für Altertumskunde, Cologne, 1968-74, asso.prof. Greek & Latin, Cologne 1956-75; prof. U. of Michigan , 1975-2000, H.C. Youtie Professor of Papyrology, 19889-95; H.C. Youtie Distinguished University Professor of Papyrology, 1995-2000; chair, Dept. Classical Studies, 1985-94;  Bonsal Visiting Professor, Stanford, 1985; dir., University of Cologne mission in Egyptian Museum, Cairo, 1962-5; dir. mission of International archive of Greek and Latin papyri of the Association Internationale de Papyrologues, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976; dir., American team for decipherment of the carbonized papyrus rolls at Petra, Jordan, in collaboration with ACOR, Amman, 1994-2000; President, American Society of Papyrologists, 1981-5; sr. fell., Center for Hellenic Studies, 1985-1990; President, APA, 1993; Président, Association Internationale de Papyrologues 1995-2001; memb., IAS, 1991; memb., APhS, 1992; AAAS, 1993; corr. memb., German Archaeological Institute, 1975;  Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998; corr. fell., British Academy, 1998;
  • Publications:

    I.  MONOGRAPHS AND SERIES OF ARTICLES

    Eine ptolemäische Königsurkunde (P. Kroll), Klass.-phil. Studien 19 (Wiesbaden, 1957); Didymos der Blinde, Kommentar zu Hiob (Tura Papyrus), Kommentar zu Hiob Kap. 7.20-11, in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Ägyptischen Museum zu Kairo, ed. with U. u. D. Hagedorn (Bonn 1968); Didymos der Blinde, Kommentar zu Hiob (Tura Papyrus), Teil IV, Kommentar zu Hiob 12-16.8 (Ende), in Zusammenar­beit mit dem Ägyptischen Museum zu Kairo, ed. with D. Hagedorn (Bonn 1985); Eine agonistische Inschrift aus Ägypten und frühptolemäsche Königsfeste (Meisenheim 1976); The Cairo Codex of Menander, a photographic edition prepared under the supervision of H. Riad and Abd el-Kadr Selim (preface) (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1978); Three Rolls of the Early Septuagint: Genesis and Deuteronomy, a photographic edition prepared in collaboration with the International Photographic Archive of Greek and Latin Papyri of the Association Internationale de Papyrologues by Z. Aly (intro. & notes) (Bonn 1980); "Ein griechischer Mani-Codex", (with A. Henrichs)  ZPE  5, fasc. 2, 1970, 97-216; "Der Kölner Mani Codex" (with A. Henrichs).  (a) 1-72, ZPE  19, 1975, 1-85; (b) 72-99, ZPE  32, 1978, 87-199; 34, l979, 26; (c) 99-120, ZPE  34, 1981, 201-318; (d) 121-end, ZPE  48, 1982, 1-59; Der Kölner Mani Codex, Abbildungen und diplomatischer Text, (with C. Römer) (Bonn, 1985); Der Kölner Mani Codex, (critical edition) (with C. Römer) (Opladen: Nordrhein Westfälische Akade­mie der Wissenschaften, 1988);  L. K/C. Römer (Hs.), Mani. Auf der Spur einer verschollenen Religion (with C. Römer) (German transl. of CMC) (Frei­burg: Herder, 1993)

    Collaboration with partial responsibility:

    The Oxyrhynchus Papyri  XXVII, ed. with translation and notes with E.G. Turner, J. Rea, J.M.F. Pomar (London, 1962); Didymos der Blinde, Kommentar zum Ekklesiastes, Lage 1 des Tura-Papyrus, in Verbindung mit L.K.
    her­­­ausgeg. u. übers. von G. Binder und L. Liesenborghs, (Cologne, 1965); Didymos der Blinde, Kommentar zum Ekklesiastes (Tura-Papyrus), Teil VI, in Zusammenaarbeit mit dem Ägypt. Mu­seum zu Kairo unter Mitwirkung ed. G. Binder & L. Liesenborghs (Bonn, 1969); Didymos der Blinde, Kommentar zum Ekklesiastes (Tura-Papyrus), Teil III, in Zusammenarbeit I, ed. J. Kramer (Bonn, 1970).

    II. ARTICLES AND EDITIONS IN PERIODICALS

    "Bemerkungen zum Tyrtaiosfragment 1", RhM 96 (1953) 187-9; 2. "Tereus in den Vögeln des Aristophanes" (zu 16 u. 279ff.) in Studien zur Textgeschichte und Textkritik, ed. R. Merkelbach & H. Dahlmann (Köln-Opladen 1959) 83-7; "Yeo›sin §xyrÒw. Ein einheimischer Gegenkönig in Aegypten," Chron. d'Eg. 34 (1959) 103-19; "Die demotische Zivilprozessordnung und die Philanthropa vom 9. Okt. 186 v. Chr.," APF 17 (1960) 12-16; "Ein theologischer Papyrus der Kölner Sammlung: Kommentar Didymos' des Blinden zu Zach. 9,11 und 16. Anhang: Verfasser und Abfassungszeit der Schrift De trinitate (PG 39)," APF 17 (1960) 61-105; "Die Prophezeiungen eines Töpfers. Von der Welterneuerungsprophetie zur Apokalypse" in X. Internationaler Kongress für Religionsgeschichte (Marburg, 1961) 103-4; "Der brennende Horusknabe. Zu einem Zauberspruch des Philinnapapyrus," Chron. d'Eg. 73 (1962) 167-74; "Ein neues Epikurfragment bei Didymos dem Blinden" (with G. Binder & L. Liesenborghs), ZPE  1 (1967) 33-4; "Aristophanes, Lysistrate 145-153, 182-199 (P.Colon. Inv. Nr. 3)" (with A. Henrichs), ZPE 1 (1967) 117-20; "Eine Einladung zur Kline des Sarapis (P. Colon. Inv. Nr. 2555)," ZPE  1 (1967), 121-6; "Johannes  3,7-19. Aus einem Minuskelkodex (P. Colon. Inv. Nr. 523)," ZPE  1 (1967) 127-30; "Nouvel inventaire des papyrus de Toura,” (with L. Doutreleau)," Rech. de sc. rel. 55 (1967) 547-64; "Ein christlicher Prosahymnus des 4. Jahrhunderts" in Antidoron Martino David, Papyrologica Lugduno-Batavia 17 (1968) 31-52; "Die Unschuldsbeteuerungen des Priestereides und die römische Elegie,  ZPE 2, 1968, 31-38; "Zu den Papyri aus dem Arsenioskloster bei Tura (jointly with W. Müller-Wiener)," ZPE 2, 1968, 31-63; "Zwei Inschriften aus El Bagawat," ZPE 2, 1968, 75-80; "Die Prophezeiungen des Töpfers," ZPE 2, 1968, 178-209 (edition of the text), cf. ibidem 3, 1968, 137; "The Prophecies of a Potter, BASP  5,1968, 76f.; "The Prophecies of a Potter. A Prophecy of World Renewal becomes an Apocalypse" in Proceedings of the XII Intern. Congr. of Papyrology, ASP  7, 1970, 249-54; "Drei Demosthenespapyri der Kölner Sammlung (jointly with A. Henrichs)," ZPE 3, 1968, 113-23; "Die Hypothesis zur Auge des Euripides und die Plynterien," ZPE 4, 1969, 7-18; "Ein Hymnus auf den Allgott (jointly with J. Kramer)," ZPE 4, 1969, 19-21; "Eine Handschrift des Achilleus Tatios (jointly with D. Hagedorn)," Mus. Helv. 27, 1970, 49-57; "Kleopatra III als Priesterin des Alexanderkultes (P. Col. Inv. Nr. 5063)," ZPE  5, 1970, 61-84; "Die Leichenrede des Augustus auf Agrippa," ZPE 5, 1970, 217-83; ZPE  7, 1971, 186; cf. 30; "Nochmals: Der Prolog des Misumenos Menanders," ZPE  6, 1970, 99-104; "Zum Misumenos-Prolog und anderen Papyri," ZPE 6, 1970, 283-6; "Zum Eingang des Misumenos," ZPE 8, 1971, 141ff.; "Summum fastigium; zu P. Colon. Inv. Nr. 7701 (Leichenrede des Augustus für Agrippa)," ZPE 6, 1970, 239-43; "Zu der griechisch-koptischen Rezension der Menandersentenzen," ZPE 8, 1971, 105-108 (see also p. 288); jointly with G.M.  Browne;  R. Köbert, "Orientalistische Bemerkungen zum Kölner Mani-Codex;" L.K., "Das Datum der Offenbarung und Geburt Manis," ZPE 8, 1971, 243-50; "Formular eines Liebeszaubers," ZPE 8, 1971, 199-206; L.K.-H.Riad, "Das photographische Archiv griech. Papyri; Mitteilungen über neue Lesungen an Kairener Papyri" (H. Riad, "General Information and New Readings on Menandros;" L. Koenen, "Neue Lesungen zu Kairener Urkunden und zu einem Vergilpapyrus"), ZPE 11, 1973, 201-34; R. Coles-A. Geißen-L.K., "Some Corrections and Notes to P. Fouad," ZPE 11, 1973, 235-9; "Zur Herkunft des Kölner Mani-Codex, ZPE 11, 1973, 240f.; L.K.-Sayed Omar, "P.Cairo Isid. 5," ZPE 11, 1973, 245-250; "Eine Berechnung der Regierungsjahre des Augustus vom Tode Caesars; zur Datierung der Gesprächssituation von Ta­citus' Dialogus  (17.3)," ZPE 13, 1974, 228-34;

    "Ein Mönch als Berufsschreiber; zur Buchproduktion im 5/6. Jahrh.; P.Colon. Inv. Nr. 1473;" in Festschrift zum 150jäh­­rigen  Bestehen der Berliner Museen, Berlin 1974, 347-54; "Ein wiedergefundenes Archilochos-Gedicht?"  Eine Diskussion von Th. Gelzer, W. Theiler, L.K., M.L. West, H. Flashar und K. Maurer,  Poetica 6, 1974, 468ff., particularly pp. 499-508; "Bemerkungen zum Text des Töpferorakels und zu dem Akaziensymbol," ZPE 13, 1974, 313-19; "Ergänzende Bemerkungen zu Menanders Perikeiromene 345, ZPE 15, 1974, 214-16; "Egyptian Influence in Tibullus, ICS 1, 1975, 127-59; "Apollodoros, Epicharm und die Meropis" in Coll. Pap. Youtie, Texts published in Honor of H.C. Youtie I, Bonn 1976, 3-26 (co-authored with R. Merkelbach); "Papyrologie in the FRG and Fieldwork of the Intern. Photogr. Archive in Cairo" and "A new Fragment of the Hell. Oxyrh. (Cratippus), Stud. Pap. 1976, 39-79; "Cordoba and no End, ZPE 26, 1977, 73-93; "Horaz, Catull und Hipponax, ZPE 26, 1977, 73-93" (corrigenda: 44, 1981, 154); "The Samian Statute on kãphloi in the precinct of Hera, ZPE 27, 1977, 211-216; 28, 1977, 72; "Der erweiterte Trishagion-Hymnus des Ms. Insinger und des P. Berl. Inv. No. 16389," ZPE 31, 1978, 71-6; "Augustine and Manichaeism in Light of the Cologne Mani Codex," ICS 3, 1978, 154-95; "Notes on Papyri (P. Mich. Inv. No. 4682: Rules for Musical Contests; P. Cologne Inv. No. 3328: Lollianos; P. Mich. Inv. No. 4925 r.: Comedy)," BASP 16, 1979, 109-16; "Eine staatsnotarielle Abtretung von Staatsland aus dem Archiv des Didymion" in Papyri Edited in Honor of E.G. Turner, Lond. 1981, 102-107 (co-authored with S. Omar); "From Baptism to the Gnosis of Manichaeism" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism II, edit. by B. Layton (Leiden 1981); "Manichäische Mission und Klöster in Ägypten" in Das Römisch-Byzantinische Ägypten, Aegyptiaca Treverensia II, 1983, 93-108; "Demosthenes, 2 Phil. 3-6 und 10-12 (P. Mich. Inv. No. 1359)" in P.Rain. Cent., Wien 1983, 260-3; "Die Adaption ägyptischer Königsideologie am Ptolemäerhof" in Egypt in the Hellenistic World, Studia Hell. 27, Lou­vain 1984, 143-90; "A Supplementary Note on the Date of the Oracle of the Potter," ZPE 54, 1984, 9-13; "Euclid, Elements I, Definitions 1-10 (P. Mich. III 143)" (co-authored with Sir Eric G. Turner, D.F. Fowler, L.C. Fowler) YCS (1985);    "Gallus as Triptolemos on the Tazza Farnese"  (co-authored with D.B. Thompson),  BASP21 (1984) 111-56; "Neue Lesungen im Kölner Mani Kodex" (co-authored with C. Römer), ZPE 58, 1985,47-54; "Manichaean Apocalypticism at the Crossroads of Iranian, Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian Thought" in Codex Ma­ni­chaicus Coloniensis, Atti del Simposio Intern. (Rende, 3-7 Settembre, 1984), Cosenza 1986, 285-332; "Neue Lesungen Im Kölner Mani-Codex" (co-authored with C. Römer), ZPE 66, 1986,265-8; "The Dream of Nektanebus", BASP 22 (1986) 171-94; "Offizielle Korrespondenz:, co-authored with P. Sijpesteijn, APF 33, 1987, 55-62; "Eine Neuedition von P. Mich. Inv. 3779" (co-authored with D. Hagedorn), ZPE 74, 1988, 225-8; "Euripides, Orestes 835-846, P. Mich. 4735, ZPE 77, 1989, 261-266 (together with P.J. Sijpesteijn); "How Dualistic is Mani's Dualism?" in Il Codice Manich, di Colonia II, Atti di Secundo Simposio Internazionale in Co­senza (maggio 1988), Cosenza 1990,1-34 (cf. # 61; 68); "Wie dualistisch ist Manis Dualismus" in Carl-Schmidt-Kolloquium an der Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, ed. P. Nagel, Wissenschaftlich Beiträge 1990/23 (K 9), Halle (Saale) 1990, 241-57; “Explanations of Callimachean Aitia”, co-authored with V. Pagán and W. Luppe, ZPE 88, 1991, 157-164; "A first Century Archive of Oxyrhynchos or Oxyrhynchite Loan Contracts and Egyptian Marriage" (co-authored with Traianos Gagos and Brad E. McNellen) in Life in a Multi-Cultural Society: Egypt from Cambyses to Constantine and Beyond, ed. by Janet H. Johnson, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 51, Chicago 1992, 181-205; "The Ptolemaic King as a Religious Figure" in Images and Ideologies: Self-definition in the Hellenistic World, Ber­keley 1994, 25-115; "President's Message: I. The Presidential Forum on the Role of Graduate Classics Programs in Relation to Secondary Schools; II. The Centrality of Classics in Liberal Art Education", APA Newsletter. 16.6 (Dec. 1993); "Greece, the Near East, and Egypt: Cyclic Destruction in Hesiod and the Catalogue of Women", The American Philolo­gical Association Presidential Address, 1993, Washington DC, TAPA 124, 1994, 1-34; "Phoinix from the Ashes, An Update on the Petra Papyri”, ACOR Newsletter 7.1 (1995) 9; "Phoenix from the Ashes: The Burnt Archive from Petra", Michigan Quarterly Review 25, 1996, 513-31; The Carbonized Archive from Petra" (a shortened, updated and footnoted version of the preceding item), JRA 1996, 177-188); "Reports on Decipherment of Petra Payri", together with M. Kaimio, ADAJ 41 (1997) 459-62; Z. Fiema, L. K., and F. Zayadine, "Petra Romana, Byzantina, et Islamica" in T. Weber and R. Wennig (ed.), Sonder­heft der Antiken Welt (Mainz 1997) 145-62, esp. 157-8; "Letter from Herais to Lucretias", co-authored with R. Caldwell, Papyri in Honorem J. Bingen Octogenarii (Leuven 2000), # 74, 313-28; "Preliminary Observations on Legal Matters in P. Petra 10 (P. Petra Khaled and S. Shoman)", Atti del XXII Congresso Intern. di Papirologia, 1999, (Florence 2001) 727-42; "Die Apologie des Töpfers vor König Amenophis, oder: Das Töpferorakel" (adnotated translation), in collabora­tion with A. Blasius, in Apokalyptik und Ägypten, ed. A. Blasius and B. Schipper, OLA (Leuven 2002) 139-64; "Das Töpferorakel und die ägyptische Tradition", in collaboration with A. Blasius, in Apokalyptik und Ägypten, edd. A. Blasius and B. Schipper, OLA, (Leuven 2002) 164-87; "Die Decipherment and Edition of the Petra Papyri: Preliminary Obsercations" (in collaboration with R. Ch. Caldwell, R.W. Daniel, and T. Gagos) in Semitic Papyrology in Context: A Climate of Creativity, Papers from the NYU conference marking the retirement of Baruch A. Levine, ed. L.H. Schifman, Leiden and Boston 2003, 201-26; "Petra in the Sixth Century: The Carbonized Papyri,” in collaboration with B. Daniel and T. Gagos in Petra Rediscov­ered: Lost City of the Nabatean Kingdom, ed.  G. Markoe, (New York) 250-61; "Sprachliche Bemerhungen zu P. Petra 17", Antike Literatur in neuer Deutung, ed. A. Bierl, A. Schmitt, A. Willi (München-Leipzig 2004) 353-71; “Papyrology, Ptolemaic Egypt and Byzantine Palestine”, Presidential Address, Ackten des dreiundzwanzigsten Inter­nati­onalen Papyrolo­genkongresses in Wien, 2001, ed. B. Palme (Wien 2007) 5-13; “Herbert Chayyim Youtie” in Hermae. Scholars and Scholarship in Papyrology, ed. M. Capasso, (Centro di Studi Papirologici dell’ Università degli Studi di Lecce, 2007; "Sale of an Egyptian Woman Enslaved in an Insurrection, edition of P. Mich. Inv. No. 6947,” in volume dedicated in memoriam, P.J. Sijpesteijn, ed. Ann Hanson.
  • Notes:

          Ludwig Koenen was a scholar of exceptional importance in papyrology and Greek literature and religion, a tireless and generous editor, advisor and teacher, and a model of service to his department and his discipline.

           Koenen, whose father was a Social Democrat, spent his childhood under Nazism and was imbued with resistance to tyranny and bigotry.  He studied classical philology at the University of Cologne and became a papyrologist as a student of Reinhold Merkelbach (1918-2006). After earning his PhD, he became archivist of the Cologne papyrus collection from 1957, while teaching papyrology, epigraphy and paleography. In 1967 he and Merkelbach founded the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, the most important journal in both papyrology and ancient Mediterranean epigraphy.  After his habilitation in 1969 he became professor at the University of Cologne in 1971.  In 1975 Ludwig joined the University of Michigan as Associate Professor and taught there until his retirement in 2000.

           Koenen undertook many initiatives for the University of Michigan papyrus collection, including working with the Library’s conservation department to begin the conservation of the collection, which at that time was still housed largely in the original packaging in which papyri had arrived from Egypt in the 1920s.  He regularly taught seminars in papyrology, and the first publication of many Michigan students was the edition of a Michigan papyrus. In both teaching and research, he went beyond the technical side of papyrology, seeking to place both documents and literary texts in their historical and cultural contexts.   

           He also taught an undergraduate class on Greek religion and some undergraduate Greek, and graduate courses on Greek prose composition and on Greek poetry, archaic through Hellenistic.  He directed dissertations and served on committees in all these areas.  His meticulous attention to students’ work could be intimidating, although his warning “I have a problem with your dissertation” often turned out to refer to an error in the second paragraph on page 145.  Students were immensely grateful for his helpfulness and kindness.

           Most of the 129 publications listed under his name in L’ Année philologique (from 1953 to 2013) are papyrological, and he is perhaps most remembered for his work on the Cologne Mani-Codex—which transformed our understanding of this important ancient religion— the Egyptian apocalyptic “Oracle of the Potter,” and the Byzantine documents from Petra that constituted his last major project.  The range of his bibliography, however, is astonishing, including important contributions about the new Archilochus, Menander, Egyptian elements in Tibullus, and many Biblical papyri. At the same time, he devoted endless hours to rigorous and thoughtful editing at ZPE and the monograph series Beiträge zum Altertumskunde.
  • Sources:

    WhAm 49 (1995) 2056; 
  • Author: Ruth Scodel