DÜMICHEN, JOHANNES (1833-1894), German Egyptologist, was born near Grossglogau. He studied philology and theology in Berlin and Breslau. Subsequently he became a pupil of Lepsius and Brugsch, and devoted himself to the study of Egyptian inscriptions. He travelled widely in Egypt, and published his results in a number of important books. In 1872 he was chosen professor of Egyptology at Strassburg. The value of his work consists not only in the stores of material which he collected, but also in the success with which he dealt with many of the problems raised by the inscriptions.
Among his works are Bauurkunde des Tempels von Dendera (1865); Geographische Inschriften altagyptischer Denkmaler (4 vols., 1865-1885); Altagyptische Kalenderinschriften (1866); Altagypt. Tempelinschriften (2 vols., 1867); Historische Inschriften altagypt. Denkmaler (2 vols., 1867-1869); Baugeschichte und Beschreibung des Denderatempels (Strassburg, 1877); Die Oasen der libyschen Wüste (1878); Die kalendarischen Opferfestlisten von Medinet-Habu(1881); Gesch. des alten Äegypten (1878-1883); Der Grabpalast des Patuamenap in der thebanischen Nekropolis (1884-1894).
DÜMMLER, ERNST LUDWIG (1830-1902), German historian, the son of Ferdinand Dümmler (1777-1846), a Berlin bookseller, was born in Berlin, on the 2nd of January 1830. He studied at Bonn under J.W. Löbell (1786-1863), under L. von Ranke and W. Wattenbach, and his doctor’s dissertation, De Arnulfo Francorum rege (Berlin, 1852), was a notable essay. He entered the faculty at Halle in 1855, and started an historical Seminar. In 1858 he became professor extraordinary, in 1866 full professor. In 1875 he became a member of the revised committee directing the Monumenta Germaniae historica, himself undertaking the direction of the section Antiquitates, and in 1888 became president of the central board in Berlin. This was an official recognition of Dümmler’s leading position among German historians. In addition to numerous critical works and editions of texts, he published Piligrim von Passau und das Erzbistum Lorch (1854), Über die älteren Slawen in Dalmatien (1856), Das Formelbuch des Bischofs Salomo III. von Konstanz (1857) and Anselm der Peripatetiker (1872). But his great work was the Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reiches (Berlin, 1862-1865, in 2 vols.; 2nd ed. 1887-1888, in 3 vols.). In conjunction with Wattenbach he completed the Monumenta Alcuiniana (Berlin, 1873), which had been begun by Philipp Jaffé, and with R. Köpke he wrote Kaiser Otto der Grosse (Leipzig, 1876). He edited the first and second volumes of the Poëtae latini aevi Carolini for the Monumenta Germaniae historica (Berlin, 1881-1884). Dümmler died in Berlin on the 11th of September 1902.
His son, Ferdinand (1859-1896), who won some reputation as an archaeologist and philologist, was professor at the university of Basel from 1890 until his death on the 15th of November 1896.
DUMONT, the name of a family of prominent French artists. François Dumont (1688-1726), a sculptor, best known for his figures in the church of Saint Sulpice, Paris, was the brother of the painter Jacques Dumont,[1] known as “le Romain” (1701-1781), whose chief success was gained with a great allegorical composition for the Paris hôtel-de-ville in 1761. François’s son Edme (1720-1775), the latter’s son Jacques Edme (1761-1844), and the last-named’s son Augustin Alexander (1801-1884) were also famous sculptors.
See G. Vattier, Une Famille d’artistes (1890).
[1] Not to be confounded with his contemporary Jean Joseph Dumons (1687-1779), sometimes called Dumont, best known for his designs for the Aubusson tapestries.