Prof. Dr. Patrick Sänger first Research Professor at the Kolleg

On 1 October 2021, Prof. Dr. Patrick Sänger from the University of Münster (WWU) has been assigned the research professorship at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg. The historian and papyrologist is an expert in Hellenistic legal history and will be intensively involved in shaping this winter semester’s programme. The first-time appointment of the research professorship is another important impulse for the interdisciplinary and trans-epochal work of the Kolleg.

Prof. Dr. Patrick Sänger has been Professor of Ancient History with particular reference to the Ancillary Sciences at the University of Münster since 2018. His research focuses on ancient administrative, legal and social history of the Eastern Mediterranean, minority and migration research in Hellenism, and the edition of papyri and inscriptions. In 2018, Sänger habilitated at the University of Vienna with a thesis on the organisational form of politeuma, a kind of semi-autonomous self-government of the Jewish minority in the Ptolemaic Empire. “Investigating the extent to which diaspora Jewry adapted to prevailing Greek and Egyptian legal opinions is a fascinating field of research for ancient legal pluralism,” says Sänger, who will optimally complement the epochal foci of the Kolleg.

This is the first time that the Käte Hamburger Kolleg, which was launched in June this year, has appointed its own research professor. The aim is to ensure long-term cooperation with scholars from whose expertise the Kolleg can benefit in a special way. For the next six months, Professor Sänger will be intensively involved in shaping the work of the Kolleg and will set thematic priorities together with the team of directors led by Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ludwig and Prof. Dr. Peter Oestmann. In addition, he will conduct research in the field of legal pluralism and seek interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration with the fellows.