Much more than a " gloomy coda to the ... 1st century " the Roman Empire prospered between 81 and 96, in a reign which Theodor Mommsen described as the sombre but intelligent despotism of Domitian.

Mommsen wrote :“ The extensive repression of nationalistic resentment, which has led to a normalization of the relationship with the neighboring peoples and even has reduced xenophobia, is being described from the conservative side as a potential danger to political stability and as a putative “ loss of identity ”.

Mommsen described national-conservative resistance as " a resistance of servants of the state ", who over a period of time came to gradually abandoned their former support of the regime, and instead steadily came to accept that the only way of bringing about fundamental change was to seek the regime ’ s destruction.

In the Historikerstreit ( historians ' dispute ), Mommsen took the position that the Holocaust was a uniquely evil event that should not be compared to Stalinist terror in the Soviet Union.

In an article entitled " Neither Denial nor Forgetfulness Will Free Us " first published in the Frankfurter Rundschau on December 1, 1986, Mommsen argued that Historikerstreit was a result of the failures of modern society Mommsen argued that in the prosperous 1950s-60s, most Germans were happy to forget about their recent past, and looked forward to a brighter future Starting with the oil shock of the early 1970s and the rise of fundamentalist Islam in the late 1970s, Mommsen argued that the idea of a progressively better future was discredited, leading to a pessimistic public mood, and the a renewed interest in history This had occurred in tandem in a period when German historians had started to make a more critical examination of their recent past As a result at the precise mood when public demanded a past that could make them feel good about being Germans, German historians came under attack for not writing the sort of history the public wanted Mommsen argued that the work of those like Ernst Nolte was intended to provide the sort of history that would allow Germans feel good about being Germans by engaging in “… an explanatory strategy that … will be seen as a justification of National Socialist crimes by all those who are still under the influence of the extreme anti-Soviet propaganda of National Socialism " Mommsen charged that Ernst Nolte was attempting to egregiously whitewash the German past.

In the Historikerstreit debate, Mommsen argued that the Holocaust was a uniquely evil event which should not be compared with the other horrors of the 20th century.

In an essay entitled " The Search for the ‘ Lost History ” Observations on the Historical Self-Evidence of the Federal Republic ” first published in the September / October 1986 edition of Merkur magazine, Mommsen began his article by arguing that the Historikerstreit was the result of the desire of the German Right to have a history that they could approve of.

Mommsen argued that the Historikerstreit was caused because German rightists could no longer “ bracket out ” National Socialism and the Holocaust from German history, thus leading to attempts by Ernst Nolte to “ relativize ” Nazi crimes.

Mommsen argued that the growth in pacifist feeling in the Federal Republic as reflected in widespread public opposition to the American raid on Libya in April 1986 made it imperative for the Americans and the West German government to promote a more nationalistic version of German history, and that was what was behind the Historikerstreit.

" As part of his attack on Habermas and his supporters, Hildebrand assailed the functionalist interpretations of the Holocaust advanced by Hans Mommsen and Martin Broszat as little better than Holocaust denial, and commented sarcastically that in the Historikerstreit that the “ revisionists ” Mommsen and Broszat were supporting Habermas in his attacks on the “ revisionists ” Nolte and Hillgruber Hildebrand wrote as part of his attack on the “ singularity ” of the Holocaust that:

Mommsen wrote about Andreas Hillgruber's demands that historians identified with the “ justified ” German defence of the Eastern Front that :“ Andreas Hillgruber recently attempted to accord a relative historical justification to the Wehrmacht campaign in the East and the desperate resistance of the army in the East after the summer of 1944.

Writing of Klaus Hildebrand's attack on Habermas, Mommsen declared :“ Hildebrand ’ s partisan shots can be easily deflected ; that Habermas is accused of a “ loss of reality and Manichaeanism ”, and that his honesty is denied is witness to the self-consciousness of a self-nominated historian elite, which has set itself the task of tracing the outlines of the seeming badly needed image of history ”.

Mommsen declared that the Holocaust like all historical events were “ singular ”, and that :“ It is therefore equally justified to interpret National Socialism as a specific form of fascism as it is to compare it with Communist regimes.

Hildebrand is pleased that Nolte denies the singularity of the Nazi atrocities ” Hans Mommsen defended Habermas against Hildebrand by writing :“ Hildebrand ’ s partisan shots can be easily deflected ; that Habermas is accused of a “ loss of reality and Manichaeanism ”, and that his honesty is denied is witness to the self-consciousness of a self-nominated historian elite, which has set itself the task of tracing the outlines of the seeming badly needed image of history ” Writing of Hildebrand's support for Nolte, Mommsen declared that: “ Hildebrand ’ s polemic clearly suggests that he barely considered the consequences of making Nolte ’ s constructs the centrepiece of a modern German conservatism that is very anxious to relativize the National Socialist experience and to find the way back to a putative historically “ normal situation ” In another essay, Mommsen wrote that Hildebrand was gulity of hypocrisy because Hildebrand had until 1986 always claimed that generic fascism was invalid concept because of the " singularity " of the Holocaust Mommsen wrote that " Klaus Hildebrand explicitly took sides with Nolte's view when he gave his previously stubbornly claimed singularity of National Socialism ( failing to appreciate that was, as is well known, the standard criticism of the comparative fascism theory )" Martin Broszat observed that when Hildebrand organized a conference of right-wing German historians under the auspices of the Schleyer Foundation in West Berlin in September 1986, he did not invite Nolte, whom Broszat observed lived in Berlin.

Theodor Mommsen, William W. Fowler and Georges Dumezil among others rejected the accountability of the tradition that ascribes a Sabine origin to the Roman cult of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius, partly on linguistic grounds as the theonym is Latin and no mention or evidence of a Sabine Semo is found near Rome, while the Semones are attested in Latin in the carmen Arvale.

This union produced one son, Apollinaris, and at least two daughters: Sidonius mentions in his letters Severina and Roscia, but a third, Alcima, is only mentioned much later by Gregory of Tours, whom Theodor Mommsen has speculated may be identified with one of his other daughters.

Mommsen thought he was rex sacrorum of Rome, view that is now not considered probable.

The apparently needless cruelty of Mummius in Corinth, by no means characteristic of him, is explained by Mommsen as due to the instructions of the senate, prompted by the mercantile party, which was eager to dispel a dangerous commercial rival.

Livy states distinctly that they were of Etruscan origin ( a belief that is favored by Niebuhr and Mommsen ).

The commentary by Saumaise in his Plinianae exercitationes ( 1689 ) is indispensable ; best edition by Mommsen ( 1895 ), with valuable introduction on the manuscripts, the authorities used by Solinus, and subsequent compilers.

The classic edition is that of 19th-century German classical scholar Theodor Mommsen ( in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, auctores antiqui, v.

It was founded in 1853 by Theodor Mommsen and is the first and major organization aiming at a comprehensive survey.

( The biography of Marcus Aurelius's colleague Lucius Verus, which Mommsen thought ' secondary ', is however rich in apparently reliable information and has been vindicated by Syme as belonging to the ' primary ' series ) The ' secondary ' lives allowed the author to exercise free invention untrammelled by mere facts, and as the work proceeds these flights of fancy become ever more elaborate, climaxing in such virtuoso feats as the account of the ' Thirty Tyrants ' said to have risen as usurpers under Gallienus.

It is doubtless no coincidence that Habermas, Jäckel, Mommsen and others become involved in the recent election campaign in this way.

Mommsen went on to comment that given Goerdeler's background in the fiercely anti-Semitic German National People's Party, what is surprising was not his anti-Jewish prejudices, but rather that he was able to make any sort of moral objection to Nazi anti-Semitism.

The Messapian language is preserved in a scanty group of perhaps fifty inscriptions, of which only a few contain more than proper names, and in a few glosses in ancient writers collected by Mommsen ( Unteritalische Dialekte, p. 70 ).

It is therefore safest to rely on the texts collected by Mommsen, cumbered though they are by the various readings given to him by various authorities.

The History of Rome () is a multi-volume history of ancient Rome written by Theodor Mommsen ( 1817 – 1903 ).

" It is high time for such a work ", Mommsen wrote to an associate in Roman studies, " it is more than ever necessary to present to a wider audience the results of our researches.

With rigor Mommsen is shown narrating the grave political drama and illuminating its implications ; the book closes with his lengthy description of the new order of government adumbrated by Julius Caesar.

A quarter of the way into his short " Introduction " to the Provinces Mommsen comments on the decline of Rome, the capital city: " The Roman state of this epoch resembles a mighty tree, the main stem of which, in the course of its decay, is surrounded by vigorous offshoots pushing their way upward.

A major work is Handbuch der römischen Alterthümer ( 1843 – 1868 ), completed after Becker's death by Marquardt and Mommsen.

Hans Mommsen ( born 5 November 1930 ) is a left-wing German historian.

He is the twin brother of the late Wolfgang Mommsen.

Mommsen is a leading expert on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

The picture Mommsen has consistently drawn of the Final Solution is of an aloof Hitler largely unwilling and incapable of active involvement in administration who presided over an incredibly disorganized regime.

Mommsen is best known for arguing that Adolf Hitler was a " weak dictator " who rather than acting decisively, reacted to various social pressures.

He may have assumed the title of king before ; but he now became totius Orientis imperator, not indeed joint-ruler, nor Augustus, but independent lieutenant of the emperor for the East ( Mommsen, Provinces, ii.

Mommsen argued against Hildebrand that Hitler operated largely as an opportunistic showman concerned only with the best way of promoting his image in the here and now with no regard for the future.

Mommsen wrote that Michael Stürmer's attempts to create a national consensus on a version of German history that all Germans could take pride in was a reflection that the German rightists could not stomach modern German history, and was now looking to create a version of the German past that German rightists could enjoy.

Mommsen argued that attempts by Nolte to “ relativize ” Nazi crimes had been going on for a long time, and had only now attracted attention with Jürgen Habermas's attack on Nolte.

" The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas wrote that Broszat had written " convincingly " on the need for " historicization " Hans Mommsen praised Broszat's call for " historicization " as a way to avoid "... this ubiquitous tendency to " shake off the mortgages of a past now happily made morally neutral "".