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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. LIFE Mommsen was born in Garding in Schleswig , grew up in Oldesloe and attended school in Altona . Mommsen studied Jurisprudence at the University Of Kiel ( Holstein ) from 1838 to 1843 . Thanks to a Danish grant, he was able to visit France and Italy to study classical History . During the Revolution Of 1848 , Mommsen was a correspondent in Rendsburg and became professor of Law in the same year at the University Of Leipzig . Due to his liberal political views he had to resign in 1851, but already in 1852 obtained a professorship in Roman Law at the University Of Zürich , and then in 1854 at the University Of Breslau . In in 1868 , honorary citizenship of Rome , and the Nobel Prize For Literature in 1902 for his main work ''Römische Geschichte'' (''Roman History''). He is one of the very few Non-fiction writers to receive the literature Nobel. Mommsen had sixteen children with his wife Marie (daughter of the editor Karl Reimer from Leipzig), some of whom died while still very young. Two of his great-grandsons, Hans and Wolfgang , are prominent German historians. SCIENTIFIC WORKS
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 Inscription s 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 . MOMMSEN AS SCIENTIFIC EDITOR AND ORGANISER While he was secretary of the Historical-Philological Class at the Berlin Academy (1874-1895), Mommsen organised countless scientific projects, mostly editions of original sources. ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' At the beginning of his scientific career, Mommsen already envisioned a collection of all known ancient Latin inscriptions when he published the inscriptions of the Neapolitan Kingdom ( 1852 ). He received additional impetus and training from Bartolomeo Borghesi of San Marino . The complete '' Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum '' would consist of sixteen volumes, of which fifteen appeared during Mommsen's lifetime, five made by Mommsen himself. The basic principle of the edition (contrary to previous collections) was the method of autopsy (which in Greek means literally "to see for oneself"), according to which all extant inscriptions were tested and compared to the original. Further editions and research projects Mommsen also published the fundamental collections in Roman law: the '' Corpus Iuris Civilis '' and the '' Codex Theodosianus ''. Furthermore, he played an important role in the publication of the '' Monumenta Germaniae Historica '', the edition of the texts of the Church Fathers , the Limes research and countless other projects. MOMMSEN AS POLITICIAN Mommsen was a delegate to the Prussia n Landtag in 1863-1866 and again in 1873-1879, and delegate to the Reichstag in 1881-1884, at first for the Liberal ( German Progress Party (''Deutsche Fortschrittspartei''), later for the National Liberal Party (''Nationalliberalen''), and finally for the Secessionists. He was very concerned with questions regarding scientific and educational policies and held national positions. Disappointed with the politics of the empire, regarding whose future he was quite pessimistic, in the end he advised a collaboration between Liberals and Social Democrats. Regarding social policies Mommsen had a disagreement with Bismarck in 1881, concerning the question, whether Jews could be Germans with equal rights, and in 1879/80 with his colleague Heinrich Von Treitschke (the so-called 'Berliner Antisemitismus streit'). TRIVIA Mommsen was both the oldest person to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and the first-born laureate; born in 1817, he won the second Nobel ever awarded at the age of eighty-five. The next oldest laureate in Literature is Paul Heyse , born in 1830, who won the Nobel in 1910. REFERENCES
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