Herman Gummerus

Herman Gregorius Gummerus (24 December 1877 – 18 July 1948) was a leading Finnish classical scholar, diplomat, and one of the founders of the Patriotic People's Movement (IKL).

Early life Born in Saint Petersburg into a Swedish-speaking family to Herman Erik Gummerus and Olga Elisabeth Krook, Gummerus became an expert on the economy and society of Ancient Rome, and lectured at the University of Helsinki from 1911 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1947. He initially studied in Helsinki, and then specialized in ancient history under the direction of Eduard Meyer in the University of Berlin.

Career Academic His studies on Rome were particularly concerned with rural life in the later period of the empire, a subject upon which he wrote widely. Gummerus' doctoral dissertation Der römische Gutsbetrieb als wirtschaftlicher Organismus nach den Werken des Cato, Varro und Columella (1906) examined large Roman estates using mainly literary sources. A new edition of the dissertation was published in Germany in the 1960s, and key parts were translated into Italian in 1982. He further examined the economic system of the Roman empire in an article (Industrie und Handel, RE IX (1916), coll. 1381–1535) published in the Pauly–Wissowa classical encyclopedia, this time systematically using Archeological artifacts in his study. This article remained the standard work on the subject for half a century. He became Envoy to Rome in 1920 (a post he held until 1925) and developed an admiration for the growing fascist movement whilst in Italy.