Burkhard Backes

Burkhard Backes is a researcher at the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (Faculty of Humanities, University of Tübingen), specializing in Ancient Egyptian religion and funerary texts. He holds a doctorate in Egyptology (2003, Bonn) and completed his habilitation in 2014. His career spans research roles at University of Bonn (1999-2008), Oxford (2008-2010), and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (2012-2014), with ongoing DFG-funded projects on Late Period burial practices and textual traditions.

• Education: PhD in Egyptology (University of Bonn, 2003)
• Positions: Departmental Lecturer (Oxford), Postdoctoral Fellow (Munich), and multiple DFG-funded researcher roles at Tübingen

His research integrates textual criticism, funerary archaeology, and cultural studies. Publications include monographs on the Book of the Dead, Late Period ritual texts, and co-edited volumes on prestige dynamics and liturgical papyri. Recent work examines text-object correlations in funerary artifacts and cross-cultural reception of Egyptian symbols.

Public engagement includes articles in The Independent and Art Quarterly, alongside exhibition contributions. His collaborative editorial work spans volumes like Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch and Münchner Studien zur Alten Welt.