In 1860 he was sent to Persia on a special mission under Baron Minutoli, travelled over the country, and after Minutoli's death discharged the functions of ambassador.[2] In 1863, he founded the Egyptological journal, Zeitschrift für Aegyptische Sprache.[1] In 1864 he was consul at Cairo, in 1868 professor at Göttingen, and in 1870 director of the school of Egyptology, founded at Cairo by the khedive.[2] He was soon raised to the rank of bey (1873); from this post, he was unceremoniously dismissed in 1879 by the European controllers of the public revenues, determined to economize at all hazards; and French influence prevented his succeeding his friend Mariette at the Bulaq Museum in 1883. He had been made a pasha by the khedive in 1881.[2]