German theologian and orientalist, born at Bleicherode near Nordhausen on the 2nd of November 1838. He studied at Jena, where he became extraordinary professor in 1869. Subsequently he was ordinary professor of philosophy at Tübingen, and in 1873 professor of theology at Giessen. From 1875 till his death he was professor of theology of Heidelberg. In the course of his researches he made several journeys in the East. Among his many works are the following: Grammatica syriaca (1867–1870); Vocabulary of the Tigré language (1868); Das Gedicht vom Hiob (1871); Die Prophetie des Joel und ihre Ausleger (1879); Die Saadjanische Übersetzung der Hohenlieder ins Arabische (1882); Chrestomathia targumica (1888); Historia artis grammaticae apud Syros (1889); Ein samaritanisches Fragment (1893); Idee und Grundlinien einer allgemeiner Geschichte der Mystik (1893). Merx devoted much of his later research to the elucidation of the Sinaitic palimpsest discovered in 1892 by Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis, the results being embodied in Die vier kanonischen Evangelien nach ihrem ältesten bekannten Texte (1897–1905). His last work was an edition of the books of Moses and Joshua. He died at Heidelberg on the 6th of August 1909.
