Theodor Mommsen als Reiseschriftsteller. Über die Forschungsreise durch das Kaisertum Österreich und seine Domänen (1857)

Abstract

Theodor Mommsen as a Travel Writer. About his Research Trip through the Austrian Empire and Its Domains (1857)

In 1857, Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) travelled throughout the territory of the Austrian Empire, as he was working on volumes 3 and 5 of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). While he never published a full account of his trip, he nevertheless provided a travelogue in the shape of 13 long letters to his wife, family, and friends. These letters offer a rather direct view on the work of a travelling scholar and on Mommsen’s thoughts about the people he met. They also show how Mommsen created an enduring network of local scholars to gather information on epigraphic matters and on newly found inscriptions. Further­more, his reports about the scientific and political situation in the countries that he visited are a rich source for understanding the intellectual world of one of Germany’s most important liberal scholars of the 19^th century.