Léon Homo (16 December 1872 – 16 August 1957) was a 20th-century French historian, a specialist of

Roman history The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced ma ...

Biography

After he entered the

École normale supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in 1894, he obtained his

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

in 1897, and defended his doctoral thesis in 1904. His principal thesis based on an analysis of the ''

Augustan History 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 sim ...

'' was devoted to

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited t ...

, and the book he published in 1904 still constitutes a reference. His secondary thesis dealt with Claudius Gothicus, the predecessor of Aurelian. A member of the

École française de Rome The École française de Rome (EFR) is a French research institute for history, archaeology, and the social sciences; overseen by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and a division of the Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et d ...

from 1897 to 1900, he conducted archaeological excavations in 1900 on the site of Dougga in Tunisia. From 1904 until 1940 he was a professor of ancient history at the Faculté de Lettres de Lyon. When he retired in 1940, he settled in Paris where he pursued his historical publications.

Works

From 1928, Léon Homo published a number of popular books for an educated public addressing Roman history as a whole, and the relations between the Empire and Christianity. In 1926, he vigorously opposed the thesis of

Hermann Dessau Hermann Dessau (6 April 1856, Frankfurt am Main – 12 April 1931, Berlin) was a German ancient historian and epigrapher. He is noted for a key work of textual criticism published in 1889 on the ''Historia Augusta'', which uncovered reasons to ...

on the uniqueness of the author of the ''

'', defending the traditional view of six writers and their historical value. Subsequent historical research proved him wrong.

André Chastagnol André Chastagnol (21 February 1920 – 2 September 1996) was a French historian, specializing in Latin epigraphy and literature. After teaching at the Universities of Algiers, Rennes and Paris-X, he finished his career as a professor at the Pa ...

, introduction de l'Histoire Auguste, coll. Bouquins, Paris, Laffont, 1994, , p. XXIV *1904: ''Essai sur le règne d’Aurélien (270-275)'', Paris, 1904 (doctorate thesis) *1922: ''Problèmes sociaux de jadis à présent,'' Paris,

Éditions Flammarion Groupe Flammarion () is a French publishing group, comprising many units, including its namesake, founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion, as well as units in distribution, sales, printing and bookshops (La Hune and Flammarion Center). Flammarion b ...

, *1925: ''L'Italie primitive et les débuts de l'impérialisme romain'', Paris, *1925: ''L'Empire Romain : le gouvernement du monde, la défense du monde, l'exploitation du monde'', Paris, Payot *1926: Notes de lecture de Paul Graindor, ''Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire'', vol. 5, n° 4, p. 1068-1074

*1926: « Les documents de lHistoire Auguste'' et leur valeur historique », ''Revue historique'', 151 (2), and 152 (1), . *1927: ''Les institutions politiques romaines, de la cité à l'Etat'', Paris, Renaissance du livre *1930: ''La civilisation romaine'', Paris, Payot *1931: ''Les empereurs romains et le christianisme'', Paris, Payot *1933: ''Le Haut Empire'', Paris, PUF, Histoire générale under the direction of Gustave Glotz *1934: ''Rome médiévale, 476-1420 : histoire, civilisation, vestiges'', Paris, Payot *1935: ''Auguste'', Paris, Payot *1936: Notes de lecture de Paul Graindor, ''Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire'', vol. 15, n° 1, pp. 177–17

*1936: ''Sylla'', Paris, Desclée de Brouwer *1941: ''Nouvelle histoire romaine'', Paris,

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayard ...

*1947: ''Le Siècle d'or de l'Empire romain'', Paris, Fayard *1949: ''Vespasien, l'empereur du bon sens (69-79)'', Paris, Albin Michel *1950: Notes de lecture de André Charles André, ''L'antiquité classique'', Tome 19, fasc. 2, pp. 507–50

*1950: ''De la Rome païenne à la Rome chrétienne'' *1951: ''Alexandre le Grand'', Paris, Fayard *1951: ''Rome impériale et l'urbanisme dans l'Antiquité'', Paris, Albin Michel (series "L'évolution de l'Humanité"). *1952: Notes de lecture de Laet Sigfried, ''L'Antiquité classique'', Tome 21, fasc. 2, pp. 547–54

References

Bibliography

* * *

Pierre Wuilleumier Pierre Wuilleumier (1 January 1904 – 20 November 1979) was a 20th-century French scholar, normalian, professor of Latin language and literature at the Sorbonne and archaeologist. Biography Pierre Wuilleumier held the chair of National Antiqu ...

, « Léon Homo », ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'', T. 70, 1958. pp. 446–44

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homo, Leon 20th-century French historians French scholars of Roman history École Normale Supérieure alumni People from Épernay 1872 births 1957 deaths