[1] In the same year, he was sent by Frederick William IV of Prussia to Egypt and Ethiopia, where he joined an expedition led by professor Karl Richard Lepsius.

In 1848 he received an appointment in the Prussian ministry for foreign affairs, and in 1853, he was promoted to be privy councillor of legation (Geheimer Legationsrath).

He was much employed by Bismarck in the writing of official despatches, and stood high in the favour of King William, whom he often accompanied on his journeys as representative of the foreign office.

In 1851, he published anonymously Babylon und Jerusalem, a scathing criticism of the views of Ida, Countess von Hahn-Hahn.

Emperor Wilhelm I described Abeken in a condolence letter to his widow: "One of my most reliable advisors, standing on my side in the most decisive moments; His loss is irreplaceable to me; In him his fatherland has lost one of the most noble and most loyal men and officials".