Louise Gestermann

Louise Gestermann is an Associate Professor at the University of Bonn, Egyptological Department. Her research focuses on Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, transmission of funerary traditions, and Cultural history of the Middle Kingdom. She has held visiting professorships at the University of Heidelberg, Tübingen, and Munich.

• Education:
  • Studied Egyptology, Sociology, Classical Archaeology, and Near Eastern Archaeology (Mainz, Göttingen, Tübingen)
  • MA in Göttingen (1981)
  • PhD in Tübingen (1985): "Politics and Administration of the Middle Kingdom"
  • Habilitation in Bonn (1997): "Late period transmission of the coffin texts"

Her research includes a Fritz Thyssen Foundation-funded project (2012-2015) on tomb decoration programs in Thebes-West. She has collaborated on the Adolf Erman estate project (2002-2006) and German-Spanish-Egyptian tomb excavations (2006-2012).

Recent publications analyze:

• Coffin Texts diachronic transmission
• Decorative programs in Osireion at Abydos
• Divine wrath/mercy in Egyptian theology
• Textual evolution from Pyramid Texts to Book of the Dead
• Narrative structures in Egyptian letters

Scientific affiliations include the International Association of Egyptologists. She has co-edited critical series including Manuscripts of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts and Studies on Ancient Egyptian Funeral Texts.