Zoega, Georg (Jorgen)

zoega, georg (jorgen) (1755-1809), Danish antiquarian and scholar. He was educated at the University of Göttingen (1773). In 1782, while classifying the coins in the national collection at Copenhagen, he was sent on a mission in connection with numismatics, but the journey became a prolonged Roman residence which lasted for the rest of his life. He never went back to Denmark. In 1783 he came to the notice of Cardinal Stefano Borgia in Rome, secured his patronage, and later published a catalog of the Borgia Egyptian coins. He became interested in the decipherment of hieroglyphs and learned Coptic to assist his studies. He died in Rome in 1809. His Catalogus Codicum Copticorum Manuscriptorum (in Museo Borgiano) was published posthumously (Rome, 1810).