Einzelansicht Employees

ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Michael Zach

T: +43-1-4277-43204

michael.zach@univie.ac.at

https://univie.academia.edu/MichaelZach

Studying history in combination with African Studies at Vienna University I set my focus on two topics, namely Austrian travelers to Northeast Africa in the 19th century and the scientific discipline of Meroitic Studies. Therefore, I dedicated subsequent research on Austria’s involvement into regional African affairs during the named period as well as a unique culture, offering by its archaeological and textual sources reconstruction of a most significant civilization of African antiquity. So my MA thesis concerned Austrian travelers to Sudan in the 19th century and my Ph.D. thesis dealt with the biography of Martin Ludwig Hansal, who spent about 30 years in 19th century Sudan, whereas my habilitation presented a study on the social and economic structure of the Meroitic Empire.

Between 1985 and 1990 I have been collaborator in two research projects, one of which was dealing with the African component of the Meroitic culture and the other with the economic and social structure of the Meroitic Empire. In the course of these projects, I was able to visit the Sudan and its archaeological sites for the first time. Delivering courses on African history as lecturer and later on assistant since 1988, I became associate professor in 2001.

Being member of several national and international scientific societies (serving in the board of the “International Society for Nubian Studies” from 2002 to 2010), organizing the 11th International Conference for Meroitic Studies in Vienna in 2008, I am also editor of the international periodical “Beiträge zur Sudanforschung” and the accompanying monograph series “Beihefte zu den Beiträgen zur Sudanforschung”.

Research Interests:
Austria and the exploration of Africa, African history and archaeology, Meroitic Studies, Nubian Studies

Major Themes:
- Austrian travelers to Northeast Africa
- Meroitic Art
- Meroitic Iconography and Chronology
- “Museum Archaeology” (i.e. research on the whereabouts of “lost” Meroitic objects)

Summer term 2024

141061 VO From the Nubian Kingdoms to the Republic of Sudan: History of Northeast Africa 2

141065 VO In the Empire of Prester John: Ethiopia from the Middle Ages to the Present

143043 VO The Empire of the Black Pharaohs: History and Chronology of the Kingdom of Kush

143108 SE Under the Wings of the Double Eagle: Austria's Contribution to the "Exploration" of Africa

Winter term 2023

141074 VO Africa A Centre of the Ancient World: History of Northeast Africa 1

141092 SE Red Sea and Indian Ocean - Maritime Interaction between the Continents and Regional African Developments

143119 VO The Empire of the Black Pharaohs - Topography and Archaeology of Ancient Sudan

143127 VO At the Crossroads of the Continents: The Early History of Ethiopia and the Kingdom of Aksum

Summer term 2023

143043 VO The Empire of the Black Pharaohs: Kush and the Ancient World

143316 VO The Sudan in the 19th Century - Hegemonial Intentions, European Colonialism and the "Discovery" of Africa

143346 VO History of North Africa 2 - Periphery and Centre: New Order(s) of the Mediterranean World

Zach, M. (Editorial Journalist). (2023). Erich René Sommerauer (1948 – 2023). Web publication

Zach, M. (2023). Following the footprints of a jackal from Meroe to London. The origin of British Museum EA68502. Sudan & Nubia, 27, 214-218.

Zach, M. (2022). A hotel in modern Dongola and remains from Christian Nubia: the columns of Tabo Temple Church. Sudan & Nubia, 26, 199-203.

Zach, M. (2021). Bibliographie 1996. Annual Bibliography of Sudanese Studies. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, 13, 189-229.

Zach, M. (2021). Bibliographie 1997. Annual Bibliography of Sudanese Studies. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, 13, 231-265.

Zach, M. (2021). Meroitic Objects Found, Lost and Re-Discovered. The Importance of Museum Archaeology. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, 13, 155-168.

Zach, M. (2021). Pal Steiner, Alexandros Tsakos and Eivind Heldaas Seland (eds), From the Fjords to the Nile. Essays in honour of Richard Holton Pierce on his 80th birthday, Oxford 1980. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, 13, 185-188.

Zach, M. (2018). Aqedise-Khonsou / Khonsu / Chons. In V. Rondot, R. David, N. Licitra, A. Sackho-Autissier, É. David, C. Labia, V. Francigny, M. Maillot, J. W. Yellin, & M. Zach (Eds.), PRIMIS. Permanence des représentations, interprétations des modèles et imagerie sélective dans les sources figurées du royaume de Méroé: Prolégomènes au Répertoire d'iconographie méroïtique (pp. 31-35). Éditions Khéops.

Zach, M. (2018). Early Photography and the Ancient Monuments of Sudan. In M. Honegger (Ed.), Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st-6th September 2014 (pp. 773-784). Peeters. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta Vol. 273

Zach, M. (2018). Könige, Mütter und Generäle: Nachfolgestrategien im Reich von Kusch. In E. Widder, I. Holzwart-Schäfer, & C. Heinemeyer (Eds.), Geboren, um zu herrschen?: Gefährdete Dynastien in historisch-interdisziplinärer Perspektive (pp. 129 - 158). Mohr Siebeck.

Zach, M. (2018). Note on Panopolis in Upper Egypt (Now Akhmim, Governorate Sohag) in Late Antiquity and After. In H. Bannert, & N. Kröll (Eds.), Nonnus of Panopolis in Context II: Poetry, Religion, and Society: Proceedings of the International Conference on Nonnus of Panopolis, 26th.29th September 2013, University of Vienna, Austria (pp. 393-394). Brill.

Zach, M. (2018). Rediscovered, a 'Lost' Meroitic Object: The Hamadab Lion. Sudan & Nubia, 22, 96-99.

Zach, M. (2017). A Remark on the 'Akinidad' Stela REM 1003 (British Museum EA 1650). Sudan & Nubia, 21, 148-150.

Zach, M. (Interviewee). (2017). Aufstand in der Wüste: Die Herrschaft des Mahdi. Film, ZDF.

Zach, M. (2017). Bibliographie 1995 (Annual Bibliography of Sudanese Studies). In Beiträge zur Sudanforschung (Vol. 12, pp. 285-328).

Zach, M. (2017). Inge Hofmann (1939-2016). Sudan & Nubia, 21, 220.

Zach, M. (2017). Inge Hofmann (1939-2016). Der antike Sudan: Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin e.V, 28, 129-130.

Zach, M. (2017). Inge Hofmann (1939-2016). Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, 12, 5-22.

Zach, M. (2017). Rezension Cornelia Kleinitz und Claudia Näser (Hrsg.), "Nihna nâs al-bahar - We are the people of the river." Ethnographic Research in the Fourth Nile Cataract Region, Sudan, Wiesbaden 2012. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, 12, 278-283.

Zach, M. (2017). Thoughts on the Goddess Tley. In E. Fantusati, & M. Baldi (Eds.), Proceedings of The Fifth Day for Nubian Studies (pp. 187-196). Scienze e Lettere.