Short presentation

As professor of Egyptology, my research interests span

• ancient Egyptian political and social history
• nationalism and identity formation
• literature and libraries
• administration and archives
• antiquities trade and historiography

I studied at the University of Copenhagen, Freie Universität in Berlin, and Julius-Maximilians Universität in Würzburg, and have been employed by the University of Copenhagen since 1994.

My main academic achievements are connected to my research into the Tebtunis temple library, the only large-scale institutional library from ancient Egypt. The bulk of this library now belongs to the Papyrus Carlsberg Collection at the University of Copenhagen, for which I have been responsible since 1999. The collection as a whole comprises about 1,400 manuscripts, most of which were acquired in the 1920s, 30s and 50s with funds from the Carlsberg Foundation. My work encompasses everything from sorting the thousands of fragments, conservation, restoration, and cataloguing (all in collaboration with various assistants and colleagues over the years) to the discovery and publication of hitherto unknown works of ancient literature, science, and religion. Enormous progress has been made in the past 25 years, and nearly all of the collection has now been catalogued and carefully mounted for future safekeeping.

Other major research activities include political history, ancient Egyptian narrative literature and scientific literature, manuscripts and materiality (archaeological context, ink analyses, etc.), and antiquities trade.

From 2008 to 2013, I was PI/director of the Center for Canon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Literate Societies (funded by the University of Copenhagen Programme of Excellence), and from 2013 to 2017 I was CoPI/member of the project management team of CoNeXT: Fertilizing the ground and harvesting the full potential of the new neutron and X-ray research infrastructures close to Copenhagen (funded by the University of Copenhagen Excellence Programme for Interdisciplinary Research; PI Prof. Sine Larsen) and responsible for the subproject Ancient Ink as Technology. Between 2017 and 2022, I directed the international research group Scientific Papyri from Ancient Egypt. Since 2022, I have been co-advisor of From Texts to Literature: Demotic Egyptian Papyri and the Formation of the Hebrew Bible (DemBIB) (funded by an ERC Advanced Grant; PI Bernd Schipper). I have previously participated in the Franco-Italian excavations at Tebtunis and am also responsible for the ongoing international publication programme relating to the numerous demotic papyri excavated at the site (2013-).

I have continuously served in various academic services and committees. I am currently a member of the University of Copenhagen Senate and KU-Rådet (2022-), as well as the Academic Council of the Humanities. Earlier committees and functions include the Academic Council of the 4EU+ Alliance (2022-24), the Research Committee, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (2014-21), the Publication Committee of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (2021-25), the Research Policies Committee, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (2021-2025), and Director / Deputy director of Studies at the Carsten Niebuhr Department (2004-07/2001-04).

I was elected as a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences in 2011 and the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften in 2024.

I currently serve on the boards of several foundations and institutions, including the Carlsberg Foundation (2024-), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (2024-), the Edduba Foundation (2018-), Einar Hansen's Research Foundation (2013-), and the Danish Egyptological Research Foundation (2003-; chair 2012-2023).

Monographs:

• K. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800-1550 B.C. CNI Publications 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997. xiv + 463 pages.
• K. Ryholt, The Carlsberg Papyri 4: The Story of Petese son of Petetum, and Seventy Other Good and Bad Stories. CNI Publications 23. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1999. xx + 116 pages, 12 plates.
• K. Ryholt, The Carlsberg Papyri 6: The Petese Stories II. CNI Publications 29. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006. xiv + 210 pages, 22 plates.
• K. Ryholt, The Carlsberg Papyri 10: Narrative Literature from the Tebtunis Temple Library. CNI Publications 35. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2012. xvi + 230 pages, 23 plates.
• T. Christiansen, K. Ryholt, The Carlsberg Papyri 13: Catalogue of Egyptian Funerary Papyri in Danish Collections. CNI Publications 41. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2016. viii + 40 pages, 106 plates.
• F. Hagen, K. Ryholt, The Antiquities Trade in Egypt, 1880s-1930s: The H. O. Lange Papers. Scientia Danica, Series H, Humanistica, 4 vol. 8. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 2016. 335 pages, 169 illustrations.
• J. F. Quack, K. Ryholt, The Carlsberg Papyri 11: Demotic Literary Texts from Tebtunis and Beyond. CNI Publications 36. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2019. 2 volumes. xiv + 535 pages, 55 plates.

Edited volumes, articles, and other publications: see Curis

Teaching

Language classes:

• Middle Egyptian (BA)
• Late Egyptian (MA)
• Demotic (MA)
• Ptolemaic (MA)
• Coptic (MA)

History and culture classes:

• Introduction to ancient Egyptian culture (BA)
• Egyptian history (BA, MA)
• Egyptian literature (BA, MA)
• Egyptian documentary texts (MA)
• Egyptian religion (BA, MA)
• Egyptian art (BA, MA)