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 Rome, city of Rome as well as the Ancient Rome, civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman la ...

Biography

After he entered the

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

in 1894, he obtained his

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

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 The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Aurelian Aurelian (; ; 9 September ) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 270 to 275 AD during the Crisis of the Third Century. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disinte ...

, and the book he published in 1904 still constitutes a reference. His secondary thesis dealt with

Claudius Gothicus Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" (10 May 214 – August/September 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Batt ...

, 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 ...

from 1897 to 1900, he conducted archaeological excavations in 1900 on the site of

Dougga Dougga or Thugga or TBGG (; ) was a Berber, Punic and Roman settlement near present-day Téboursouk in northern Tunisia. The current archaeological site covers . UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it repres ...

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 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, *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 Fayar ...

*1947: ''Le Siècle d'or de l'Empire romain'', Paris, Fayard *1949: ''Vespasien, l'empereur du bon sens (69-79)'', Paris,

Albin Michel Albin may refer to: Places * Albin, Wyoming, US * Albin Township, Brown County, Minnesota, US * Albin, Virginia, US People * Albin (given name), origin of the name and people with the first name "Albin" * Albin (surname) ;Mononyms * Albin of ...

*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,

(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, « 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