Theodor Mommsen, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1902 for his "Roman History" is one of the outstanding German historians of all time. His scholarship is as impressive as it is seminal, and is appreciated even today: every path in Roman historical studies leads to him. However, Mommsen's importance is not limited to his work as an historian and organiser of historical research; as a convinced liberal, he also took an energetic part in political affairs of his time. The present volume contains lectures delivered by renowned scholars from Germany, Italy and Norway at the Free University of Berlin to mark the 100th anniversary of Mommsen's death on 1st November 2003. The authors pay tribute to thevarious aspects of Mommsen's personality and work - from his scholarly achievements to his political commitment and his private life and the verdict of posterity - and thus provide a vivid and multi-facetted picture of this great scholar and his age.

The process of transformation which saw the Byzantine Empire and the world of the Early Middle Ages develop from the Late Antique Imperium Romanum led to changes in all areas of life. The central topic of this volume of international contributions is the question of how the historiography of the period confronted these changes.

"As a statesman a genius of the first order" was Theodor Mommsen's verdict in 1886 on Diocletian, the Dalmatian whose career took him from a released slave to Emperor. Diocletian stabilised the Imperium after it had been thrown into turmoil in the imperial crisis of the period of military anarchy. After his abdication in 305, he retired to the magnificent palace of Spalato (Split, Croatia) built for his old age. Although his arrangements for the succession, his price controls and his anti-Christian policies were not a lasting success, his comprehensive reforms created the basis for Constantine and the transition to the Late Classical Age. Renowned scholars from Germany, Great Britain, Croatia, Slovenia and Switzerland contributed to an international conference held in Split in 2003. Their papers collected here show the present state of research on the Tetrarchy in its political, social, economic, ideological, historico-religious and archaeological aspects and on the reception of Diocletian up to modern times.