Orientalist of his time, Professor Dr. Theodor Nöldeke. In German Universities, Orientalism had evolved into a separate academic discipline in its own right, and was anchored within a Philosophy Faculty. It was based on a knowledge of languages and culture, and could also embrace historical-critical methodology for the analysis of texts. For Schwally, this was his natural home. On obtaining his Dr Habil in 1893 from Strassburg, Schwally's first teaching position there, from 29 April 1893, was as a sessional lecturer (Privat-Dozent). Later in 1898, he was promoted to Associate Professor (Außerordentlicher Professor) in Semitic Languages. This was the traditional career progression for an academic in a German University. Schwally remained at Strassburg until 1901 from whence he took up a position at Gießen University at the same level as an Associate Professor (Extraordinary professor) in Semitic Languages. His study trips to Cairo in both the spring of 1903 and 1904, each for three months, gave him deeper grounding for his work on the texts of the Koran and also on his study of issues of contemporary Islam. At the time, Cairo was regarded as the centre of Islamic erudition. Schwally studied at the Kedhivial Library and the Al-Azhar Mosque. He took private lessons in the methods of Koran translation and immersed himself in the local language and culture by living in Arab households. Schwally would return again to Cairo in 1912. In 1906 he was offered, but declined, a full professorship in a newly created chair in Arabic at the privately operated Islamic Aligarh University in India. That year also saw the publication of Aegyptiaca, an essay on the lives of modern Egyptians. This was Schwally's contribution as a part of a two volume, 70th birthday tribute book to Professor Noeldeke by 86 scholars. On 1 August 1908 he was promoted to a full professorship (Ordinary professor) at Gießen. There was a trip to Istanbul in the summer of 1908 for several months. This was the period of the "Young Turks" uprising; a topic on which Schwally published. The year 1912 saw the publication of Letzte Krankheit, und Tod...., Schwally's contribution of Volume II, Part 2, to a nine volume series on the life of Muhammad by Eduard Sachau and others. At the beginning of 1913, Schwally took over as head of the Philosophy Faculty at Giessen, in addition to his regular academic duties. On 5 July 1913, the