Tonio Sebastian Richter

Tonio Sebastian Richter is a Professor of Egyptology with a focus on Coptology at the Free University of Berlin's Department of History and Cultural Studies, Institute of Egyptology. He holds the position of Academy Professor at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and has served as the head of several major research projects including the DFG long-term project "Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic" (DDGLC) and the Academy project "Structures and Transformations of the Vocabulary of the Egyptian Language. Text and Knowledge Culture in Ancient Egypt."

His educational background includes a Magister Artium in Egyptology and Religious History from the University of Leipzig (1996), followed by a doctorate in 1999 and habilitation in 2005, both based on works concerning Coptic legal documents and their linguistic features. Richter has held academic positions at the Universities of Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Berlin, including serving as a Heisenberg Fellow of the German Research Foundation from 2011-2014.

Richter's research interests span the history and cultural history of Egypt during the Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic periods, with particular focus on Coptic language and texts. His work examines documentary texts including papyri, ostraca, and inscriptions that illuminate economic, legal, and social history. He has made significant contributions to the study of Coptic legal documents, magical and alchemical texts, and language contact phenomena between Egyptian/Coptic and Greek/Arabic.

His research has revealed important insights into Coptic alchemical papyri, which represent some of the earliest witnesses to "the divine art" and enrich our knowledge of the development of late antique science and its transmission from Greek to Arabic. Richter has also pioneered work on language change and contact in the Egyptian-Coptic language, particularly regarding Greek and Arabic loanwords.

• Academy Professor, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2015-present)
• Professor of Egyptology with focus on Coptology, Free University Berlin (2014-present)
• Heisenberg Fellow, German Research Foundation (2011-2014)
• Extraordinary Professor, University of Leipzig (2011)

Richter has received numerous scientific awards including the Heisenberg Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (2011) and the Friedrich-Weller Prize from the Saxon Academy of Sciences (2000). He serves on the scientific advisory boards of several prestigious institutions including the International Thesaurus Commission of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Archaeological Institute.

As an educator, Richter has been a main instructor for multiple International Summer Schools in Coptic Papyrology and has organized numerous academic conferences and workshops on Coptology, papyrology, and Egyptology. His work bridges linguistic, historical, and archaeological approaches to understanding ancient Egyptian civilization through its textual remains.