Ulrich Wilcken was a German historian and papyrologist who was a native of Stettin.

Wilcken studied ancient history and Oriental studies

Oriental studies

Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...

 in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Tübingen

Tübingen

Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

 and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. He was a disciple of historian Theodor Mommsen

Theodor Mommsen

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...

, who encouraged Wilcken to take a position as cataloguer of papyri

Papyrus

Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....

 following graduation. Mommsen was also instrumental in Wilcken succeeding Eduard Meyer

Eduard Meyer

Eduard Meyer was a German historian.-Biography:Meyer was born at Hamburg and educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums and later at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig. After completing his studies, he spent one year in Istanbul. In 1879, he went to the University of Leipzig as privatdocent...

 (1855-1930) as associate professor of ancient history at Breslau in 1889. Afterwards he was a professor at Würzburg

Würzburg

Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....

 (1900), Halle

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...

 (1903, where he was again a successor to Eduard Meyer), Leipzig (1906) and Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 (1912), where he succeeded Heinrich Nissen

Heinrich Nissen

Heinrich Nissen was a German Ancient historian.-Life:Heinrich Nissen studied in Kiel and Berlin under August Boeckh and Theodor Mommsen. After graduating, he travelled in Italy between 1863 and 1867. This research was later published as the major work Italischen Landeskunde...

. Later he worked at Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 (1915) and Berlin (1917), where he was successor to Otto Hirschfeld

Otto Hirschfeld

Otto Hirschfeld was a German epigraphist and professor of ancient history who was a native of Königsberg.In 1863 received his doctorate from the University of Königsberg, and in 1869 became a professor at the University of Göttingen...

.

Wilcken was a pioneer of Greco-Roman papyrology

Papyrology

Papyrology is the study of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., as preserved in manuscripts written on papyrus, the most common form of writing material in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome...

 in Germany and is credited for amassing an extensive archive of Ptolemaic papyrus documents and ostracon

Ostracon

An ostracon is a piece of pottery , usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In archaeology, ostraca may contain scratched-in words or other forms of writing which may give clues as to the time when the piece was in use...

.

In 1906 he became a member of the Saxon Society of Sciences, and in 1921, he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

Works

Among his written works was a 1931 book on Alexander the Great, which was later translated into English. Other publications by Wilcken include:

• Observationes ad historiam Aegypti provinciae Romanae depromptae e papyris Graecis Berolinensibus ineditis. Haack, Berlin 1885.
• Griechische Ostraka aus Aegypten und Nubien, Ein Beitrag zur antiken Wirtschaftsgeschichte. (Greek Ostracon of Egypt and Nubia, Contribution of historical antiques) . 2 Bände. Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig 1899. Nachdruck Hakkert, Amsterdam 1970.
• Grundzüge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde. Band 1: Historischer Teil (in zwei Hälften). Leipzig 1912. (Band 2: Juristischer Teil von Ludwig Mitteis.)
• Griechische Geschichte im Rahmen der Altertumsgeschichte. (Greek history in the context of ancient history), Oldenbourg, München 1924; 9. Aufl. 1962 (durchgesehen von Günther Klaffenbach).
• Urkunden der Ptolemäerzeit (ältere Funde). (Proceedings of Ptolemaic era excavations). 2 Bände. de Gruyter, Berlin 1927, Nachdruck 1977, ISBN 3-11-005711-5.