Theodor Mommsen

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (30 November 1817 - 1 November, 1903) was a German classical scholar and historian, generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research.

Scientific Works

• History of Rome: Mommsen's most famous work appeared in three volumes between 1854 and 1856, and exposed Roman history up to the end of the Roman republic and the rule of Julius Caesar, whom Mommsen portrayed as a gifted statesman. Political issues, especially of the late republic, are closely compared (also in their terminology) to political developments in the 19th century (nation state, Democracy). It is counted among the great classics of historical works. Mommsen never wrote a continuation of his Roman history to incorporate the imperial period. Notes taken in his lectures on the Roman empire were published (in 1992). In 1885 a presentation of the Roman provinces in the imperial period appeared as volume 5 of Roman History (The Provinces of the Roman Empire from Caesar to Diocletian). There never was a volume 4.
• Roman Constitutional Law: (1871-1888) This systematical treatment of Roman constitutional law in three volumes has always been of great importance for research in ancient history.
• Roman Criminal Law (1899)
• more than 1500 further studies and treatises on single issues.

Mommsen published hundreds of works - a 1905 bibliography lists over 1,000 items - and effectively gave a new order to the study of Roman history. He pioneered epigraphy, the study of inscriptions on stone and wood. His main work was the unfinished History of Rome, but today his most relevant work is perhaps the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, a collection of Roman inscriptions he contributed to for the Berlin Academy.

Related Topics:
1905 - Roman - Epigraphy - Inscription - History of Rome - Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum - Berlin Academy

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