Theodor Mommsen

Theodor Mommsen is a statue by Adolf Brütt at Humboldt University in Berlin. Wheelchair access makes this art landmark approachable for visitors. Here, you encounter a memorial to a German historian whose work transformed the study of Roman history. His scholarship also covered philology and legal studies.

Born in 1817, he became a leading interpreter of Roman history and helped develop the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. That collection gathered Latin inscriptions into one major scholarly project. In 1902, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature for vivid, empathetic writing, especially A History of Rome. His political life included the upheavals of 1848 and opposition to anti-Semitism. His admiration for Julius Caesar and criticism of senatorial oligarchy shaped interpretations of Rome for years.