Hermann Dessau (6 April 1856,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

– 12 April 1931,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German

ancient historian Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...

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 literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

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, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'', 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 The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

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 ce ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1877 from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

. 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 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 () 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 Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...

Literary works

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

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

'' 24 (1889), S. 337ff.
online about Gallica
* '' Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae''. 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, Paul von Rohden).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