Simek studied German literature, philosophy and Catholic theology in the University of Vienna, before becoming a librarian and a docent at the institution. He taught among others in the universities of Edinburgh, Tromsø and Sydney. Since 1995 he has been a Professor of German studies at the University of Bonn. Rudolf Simek is the editor-in-chief of Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia. On 8 October 2013 Rudolf Simek received an Honorary degree at the University of Rzeszów.
Works
Rudolf Simek has translated into German 5 volumes of Norse sagas. He has also written numerous articles for journals and a number of books on the history of Germanic peoples, the Viking Age and Germanic mythology. The most important of them are:
Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie, Stuttgart, Kröner, 1984 ISBN 3-520-36801-3 (translations to English, French and Icelandic)
Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur (with Hermann Pálsson), Stuttgart, Kröner, 1987 ISBN 3-520-49001-3
Altnordische Kosmographie. Studien und Quellen zu Weltbild und Weltbeschreibung in Norwegen und Island vom 12. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert, Berlin/New York, de Gruyter, 1990 (Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Ergänzungsbände, Bd. 4) ISBN 3-11-012181-6
Erde und Kosmos im Mittelalter. München, C.H. Beck, 1992. ISBN 3-406-35863-2
Die Wikinger, München, C.H. Beck,1998 ISBN 3-406-41881-3 (translation to Spanish)
Religion und Mythologie der Germanen, Stuttgart, Theiss 2003 ISBN 3-8062-1821-8
Götter und Kulte der Germanen, München, C.H.Beck, 2004 ISBN 3-406-50835-9
Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook (with John McKinnell und Klaus Düwel), Wien, Fassbaender, 2004 ISBN 978-3-900538-81-1
Mittelerde — Tolkien und die germanische Mythologie, München, C.H.Beck, 2005 ISBN 3-406-52837-6
Der Glaube der Germanen, Limburg und Kevelaer, Lahn-Verlag, 2005 ISBN 3-7867-8495-7
Die Germanen, Stuttgart, Reclam, 2006. ISBN 3-15-017051-6