Karel van der Toorn (born 8 March 1956 in The Hague) is a Dutch scholar of ancient religions. From 2006 to 2011 he was chairman of the Board at the University of Amsterdam, where he was a professor since 1998 and until he became the chairman of the Board.Van der Toorn previously taught at Utrecht University and Leiden University. In 2012 he was made a Commander of the French National Order of Merit. Source: Wikipedia (en)