Theodor Mommsen was a German historian and writer who specialized in Roman history. Theodor grew up in Oldesloe as the son of a Protestant minister. In Theodor's early years he attended school in Altona. When he grew older, Theodor went on to study Jurisprudence at the University of Kiel. When Theodor had completed his Masters Degree and Ph.D. , the King of Denmark allowed him to study for three years (1844-1847) in Italy. During these three years, Theodor researched Latin inscriptions that were preserved on stone and iron. Theodor became a master of epigraphy, which is the study and interpretation of inscriptions, he made it possible to understand life in the ancient world.
When Theodor came home to Schleswig from Italy, his country was in an uproar because the Danish king was trying to overtake Germany. Although he was a native of Schleswig, Theodor considered himself a German and he wanted nothing more than freedom for the German citizens. His work in politics began with his editorship of the Schleswig-Holsteinische Zeitung for the government in 1848. Because journalism really wasn't for him, he was excited to accept a professorship in Civil Law at the University of Leipzig. Theodor did remain politically active, but never achieved much there except for a career downfall. In 1849, he lost his job as a Professor because he had participated in the uprising in Saxony.
Luckily in 1854, Theodor was offered another professorship in Prussia at the University of Breslau. This was also the year that Theodor married his wife, Marie Reimer. They obviously had a very happy and successful marriage as they had 16 children together. While Theodor was a Professor at Breslau he wrote the first three volumes of the Romische Geschicte. This work contained the new historical method applied to Roman history.
In order to pursue his project of publishing his collection of Latin inscriptions, Theodor was offered another professorship in 1858, this time in Berlin. Theodor joined the Philosophy Department of this University in 1861, where he trained many students to become outstanding in this field. Also his primary work was continued with the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, which was published in 1863. Theodor's historical work was never completely finished. He had left off with the third volume, and he decided not to write a fourth but he did publish a fifth volume in 1885, which is about the Roman provinces in the first three centuries of the empire. The Romische Geschichte has been translated into English as The History of Rome, and the fifth volume is entitled The Provinces of the Roman Empire.
The greatest work which Theodor is known for is actually Romisches Statsrecht, or Roman Constitutional Law. He published this work in three volumes between 1871 and 1888. The Romans never actually codified their constitutional law, it was Theodor who did it first. This complicated body of law was made easier to understand by his historical development approach. Theodor was able to understand and explain this law so well because of his background in law and historical concepts.
His last work dealt with criminal law. In 1899, Theodor published Romisches Strafrecht, or Roman Criminal Law. Theodor was well recognized for all of his great works, in fact he was awarded the Nobel Prize of 1902 in Literature. Theodor had completed all he had set out to accomplish in his life when he died in Berlin on November 1, 1903.
References:
Funk and Wagnalls. Infopedia-Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Funk and Wagnalls Corp.,1994.
Webster, Merriam. Infopedia-Websters New Biographical Dictionary. CD-ROM. Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1994.
Mommsen, Theodor. Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/printable/1/0,5722,54621,00.html 27 Feb. 2001.
Written by Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007