Johann Andreas Michael Nagel

Nagel was born in Sulzbach, to the east of Nuremberg. He was taught by the local Cantor who later moved on to teach at the St. Lawrence School in Nuremberg. Additionally, he received his early instruction in Latin and Religion from his father. Other tutors also came to the house, in the first instance with the intention of preparing him for a life in business. In the end, however, he was redirected to a theological career. Now taught not in the vernacular but in Latin, by a deacon who covered the middle eastern languages, he moved on to the Gymnasium (secondary school) in Nuremberg. At school, too, he was taught the languages, also receiving instruction on geography and morals. Eventually, in 1731, he entered Altdorf University where his principal focus was on theology. Here he also studied philosophy, history and the history of literature, geography, mathematics, logic, the history of philosophy, "Belles-lettres" and natural law.

In 1734 he produced a formal defence of work he had undertaken on the Panegyrici Latini of Pliny, and the next year he was awarded a Magister degree based on his inaugural disputation which dealt with the Roman calendar in the period after the consulate. Still in 1734 he briefly relocated to Jena, and then Leipzig where he heard lectures on Asceticism and Exegesis, and also attended lectures by Johann Christoph Gottsched on rhetoric and poetry creation. At Leipzig Nagel also received support from Johann Erhard Kapp and Gottfried Mascov. It was on the recommendation of Mascov that he published a descriptive work concerning Ptolemy's Geographical writing, which ended up in the Leipzig City Library. Nagel was able to deepen the extent of his studies through the Leipzig library. Relative relaxation after his studying came from visits to the Collegium Musicum, then under the direction of Johann Sebastian Bach.

From Leipzig he went on to the (then separate) universities of Halle and Wittenberg, where he befriended various academics, before returning to Altdorf in 1736. Here, in 1737, he successfully defended a dissertation, thereby receiving his habilitation (qualification) and obtaining a lectureship. In 1738 he was appointed a schools inspector, two years later appointed to a full professorship of Metaphysics and Middle-eastern literature. On taking office he delivered a speech on the authority ascribed to the Talmud in recent Jewish scholarship. Shortly after this he was appointed University Librarian with timetabling responsibilities and Professor of Rhetoric.

Nagel was Rector of his university three times. (The appointment normally lasted for six months at a time.) He served fourteen times as dean of his faculty. In 1762 he established a Latin Society, serving as its moderator. In 1766 he became Faculty Senior, becoming University Senior in 1783. He died on 29 September 1788, aged 78.

In 1747 Nagel married Maria Magdalena Riederer, the daughter of the Nuremberg Market superintendent. The marriage produced 14 recorded children. Three of the sons died shortly after completing their education. There is further information on six of their children as follows:

• Maximilian Nagel (1747–1772) was a notable scholar who died shortly after completing his education.
• Johann Christoph Nagel died shortly after completing his education.
• Michael Christoph Nagel died shortly after completing his education.
• Johann Bartholomäus Nagel was working as a Lutheran pastor in Hersbruck in 1806.
• Ursula Jacobina Nagel married the historian Konrad Mannert (1756-1834).
• Johann Bernhard Nagel, worked in Windsheim.

Heinrich Döring describes Nagel as a modest and unassuming man, with a learning that was both deep and broad. He was an outstanding orientalist, but was also at home with Latin and Greek literature, with philosophy and with the arts.[3] Several scholars have identified him as the first German philologist, and the first of the great German orientalists. Nevertheless, there were colleagues who believed he could have achieved far more if he had been more assertive. His many written works display a high level of skill with the Latin language. He mostly wrote dissertations. Some of his works with middle-eastern contents were still considered important in the nineteenth century even though by that time research in these areas had progressed enormously. Nagel also contributed to Johann Friedrich Hirt's "Orientalische und exegetische Bibliothek" (1772–76) and to other academic journals.