- Jörgen Zoega
Jörgen Zoega (
December 20 ,1755 -February 10 ,1809 ) was an Danisharchaeologist andnumismatist ; born atDaler nearTönder , near the westcoast of northernSchleswig .His father, whose family came originally from Northern
Italy , was Christian Zoega,Protestant pastor ofVilhad ; his mother was "Henriette Clausen".As a boy Jörgen was taught at home and then attended the gymnasium in
Altona . He went in 1773 to theUniversity of Göttingen and later toLeipzig , studyingphilosophy and the Classics. Repeated journeys toItaly developed an interest inarchaeology , which had awakened early in him. In 1782, thanks to the Danish ministerOve Høegh-Guldberg , he received for two years a pension from the State. FromVienna , where he studied under the celebrated numismatist Eckhel, Zoega went toRome early in 1783. Through introductions he received here a kindly welcome fromStefano Borgia , then aprelate and later cardinal.On his way home, Zoega heard in
Paris of the political overthrow of his patron Guldberg. He therefore returned to Rome and took up permanent abode in that city, which a man, as he said, should never see or else never leave. He had before this catalogued and exhaustively described Borgia's fine collection of coins; the prelate now gave him strong support andPius VI granted him apension of 400scudi . With the aid of influential friends Zoega also received permanent assistance fromDenmark , and in 1790 was made an honorary member of the Academy of Art inCopenhagen . When his patron, Cardinal Borgia, was exiled from Rome in 1798, Zoega, grateful for the cardinal's hospitality to Danes who had gone to Rome, obtained a pension for Borgia from the state revenues of Denmark.From 1798 Zoega was Danish consul at Rome and a member of the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen. His work in numismatics led him to take up Egyptological and Coptic studies, which he conducted with success. By his power of penetration and sound judgment, he pointed out to later investigators the path to be followed in interpreting hieroglyphics. He is regarded as the associate of Winckelmann and Visconti in establishing scientific archaeology. His services to learning were also acknowledged in foreign countries by his election in 1806 to membership in the Academies of Science at Berlin and Vienna. He died in
Rome three years later.Zoega's most important works are:
* "Nummi aegyptii imperatorii" (Rome, 1787)
* "De origine et usu obeliscorum" (Rome, 1797)
* "Bassorilievi antichi di Roma" (2 vols., Rome, 1808), translated into German byFriedrich Gottlieb Welcker (1811)
* "Catalogus codicum copticorum manuscriptorum, qui in museo Borgiano Velitris adservantu" (Rome, 1810), a posthumous work.He also wrote several treatises on classical archaeology, also translated into German by Welcker, "Georg Zoegas Abhandlungen" (Gottingen, 1817). A work on the
topography of Rome was left unfinished inmanuscript .
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