The little boy, who received his primary education at home with his grandmother, did not at all think that he would become a famous historian, even a classic, and they would quote him and take notes. His many years of fundamental work, the book The History of Rome, will truly be something exciting and in demand.
Mommsen Theodor, “History of Rome” in 5 volumes
There were disputes, whole wars appeared about his book, but Theodor Mommsen will forever remain in the hearts of history buffs as a wonderful writer and Nobel Prize winner for this monumental work.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Theodore received a host of other no less honorable awards. And how he wrote this book is an interesting story in general.
History of writing a book
Mommsen was simply lucky that the right people found him at the right time. Teaching at the University of Leipzig, he once gave an entertaining lecture on the land laws of the Gracchus brothers, Roman reformers and revolutionaries.
This lecture caused such a sensation in the historical community that publishers immediately contacted Theodore and asked him to write a series of books about Ancient Rome, about his life and development. Mommsen thought about this opportunity for a long time until he accepted the offer. As he commented on this:
“In part, I took up this to feed myself, because I was terribly disliked at the university and had to be fired, and in the second half I was interested in this period and knew deep down that I would succeed. The idea of writing this book attracted me. ”
The first publications and the subsequent life of the book
Publishers sought for their work such authors who could, in a simple language that did not go beyond academic rigor, explain to young people and older people the whole topic, fully reveal it and capture it with their head. Mommsen knew the history of Rome and had the skills to write this work, because for some time he worked as a journalist, and his academic language was remarkably developed, as was his desire for academic research.
He was just the author who arranged the publisher, and therefore immediately set to work. He wanted to present his work to the public as soon as possible so that she would evaluate the results of research and learn more about Ancient Rome.
The book turned out to be broken down into as many as 5 volumes, which is very, very impressive at the time. The history of Rome was revealed by Mommsen in such a way that the first three volumes talked about the periods covering the early history of Italy even before the founding of Ancient Rome as a state. The third volume ended with events in 46 BC, during the Battle of Thaps, where the Republican forces were defeated by Guy Julius Caesar and his legions.
There were big problems with the fourth volume. There was even information that Theodore Mommsen in the history of Rome found something that was strictly forbidden to talk about. He was barely recovered from the author’s drafts, naturally, not having found part of the story. For some periods, they look like a white spot and it is obvious that some events took place at this time.
The fifth volume was entirely devoted to the Roman provinces, and not to Rome itself, which was given attention in all other volumes. The fifth book was a relatively “calm” end to the history of the Roman Empire, telling only about how life went on and how people from the provinces experienced changes in power, war and other hardships.
Critique of The History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen
Most of both modern historians and critics, and reviewers, and historians of those times completely disagreed on the reliability of the facts presented.
Modern criticism is well-founded. Mommsen as an author is accused of a special love for the history of early Rome. In all conflicts, none other than the neighbors were to blame, and Rome himself acted as a “whipping boy” who barely had time to rectify the situation and win.
The second nitpicking was only that Mommsen was tired of writing the history of Rome and missed a huge chunk of the events of those times. We recall the restored fourth draft of the draft. And in general, for some reason, in the last volume, he described the provinces of Rome, and not the wars that raged in those days and the complete collapse of the empire.
Some reviewers even accuse him of propagating the Roman foundations that he showed. These principles were later taken as a basis by the National Socialists and are still being taken. For this, in some circles, Mommsen received the stigma of a “Nazi of the 19th century."
The same leader of the Nazi party of Germany, Adolf Hitler, used many key positions when creating his party, relying on the Roman Empire, its dictators, as well as their regime.