Hermann Dessau (6 April 1856,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

– 12 April 1931,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

) was a German

ancient historian Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

and

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

. He is noted for a key work of

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

published in 1889 on the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the si ...

'', which uncovered reasons to believe that this surviving text of ancient Roman imperial history had been written under circumstances very different from those previously believed. He studied at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

as a pupil of

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centur ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1877 from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. On behalf of the

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

(CIL) he travelled to Italy and North Africa. In 1884 he was

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

as a historian in Berlin, where he subsequently became an associate honorary professor (1912) and full honorary professor (1917). From 1900 to 1922 he served as a scientific officer for the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

Literary works

* ''Über Zeit und Persönlichkeït der Scriptores historiae Augustae''. In: ''

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...

'' 24 (1889), S. 337ff.
online about Gallica
* ''

Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae ''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'', standard abbreviation ''ILS'', is a three-volume selection of Latin inscriptions edited by Hermann Dessau. The work was published in five parts serially from 1892 to 1916, with numerous reprints. Supporting mat ...

''. 3 vols. in 5 Teilbänden. Weidmann, Berlin, 1892–1916. * '' Prosopographia imperii romani saec I. II. III. Edita consilio et avctoritate Academiae scientiarvm regiae borvssicae'', 3 volumes, Berolini, apvd Georgivm Reaimervm, 1897-98 (with

Elimar Klebs Elimar Klebs (15 October 1852 – 16 May 1918) was a German historian of ancient history. He was the brother of botanist Georg Klebs. Biography Klebs was born in Braunsberg (Braniewo), Prussia. He studied in Berlin under Theodor Mommsen ...

Paul von Rohden Paul von Rohden (12 December 1862, Barmen – 28 February 1939, Pieterlen) was a German-Swiss schoolteacher and historian known for his research in the field of prosopography. He was the son of theologian Ludwig von Rohden (1815–1889) and the b ...

).Prosopographia imperii romani saec I. II. III.
Catalog HathiTrust * ''Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit.'' 2 vols. in 3 Teilbänden. Weidmann, Berlin, 1924–1930

Bibliography

* Schmidt, Manfred G. (ed.). ''Hermann Dessau (1856-1931) zum 150. Geburtstag des Berliner Althistorikers und Epigraphikers'' (Berlin, Walter de Gryuter, 2009) (Beiträge eines Kolloquiums und wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz des Jubilars. Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum / Auctarium s.n., 3).

References

External links

* 19th-century German historians Epigraphers 1856 births 1931 deaths Writers from Frankfurt Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin University of Strasbourg alumni German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-archaeologist-stub