Franz Cumont

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Franz-Valéry-Marie Cumont (born January 3, 1868 in Aalst , Belgium , † August 20, 1947 in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre near Brussels ) was a Belgian classical archaeologist and religious historian , philologist and epigraphist who specialized in the study of the syncretistic mystery religions of late antiquity , especially the Mithras cult .

Live and act

Cumont received his doctorate from Ghent University in 1887 . After receiving royal research grants, he undertook archaeological research (excavations) in Pontus and Armenia (published 1906) and in Syria.

He is best known for his studies of the influence of the Eastern mystery religions , especially Mithraism , on the Roman Empire . To this day, these works are fundamental for research into the Eastern Mystery Religions, even if research today deviates from its results in many points. In particular, he saw a Persian origin of the Mithras religion, first presented in a book from 1896. He also dealt with the history of astrology , where he collaborated on manuscript catalogs (such as the first part of Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum 1898 with Franz Boll ).

Cumont's international standing was brilliant, but his public demeanor was careless. In 1910, Baron Edouard Descamps , the Catholic Minister of Science and Arts of Belgium, refused to approve the unanimous recommendation of the Faculty of Ghent University for Cumont for the Chair of Roman History; Cumont had been a professor there since 1906. There was a lively press campaign and student movement in favor of Cumont because the rejection was seen as overt religious interference in university life. When another candidate was appointed, Cumont resigned from Ghent University; In 1912 he also gave up his position at the Royal Museum in Brussels, left Belgium and lived alternately in Paris and Rome.

He contributed to many standard encyclopaedias, published many books and carried out excavations in 1922 under difficult political conditions on the banks of the Euphrates at the previously unknown site of Dura-Europos ; he published these research results in 1926. He was a member of most of the European academies. In 1936 Franz Cumont was awarded the Francqui Prize for Human Sciences . In 1947 Franz Cumont donated his library to the Academia Belgica in Rome .

In 1997 the Royal Library in Brussels celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Cumont's death with a colloquium on syncretism in the ancient Mediterranean.

Publications (selection)

  • Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra. 2 volumes. Lamertin, Brussels 1896/1899.
  • Les mystères de Mithra. Lamertin, Brussels 1900.
    • The mysteries of Mithra. A contribution to the religious-historical imperial era. German edition by Georg Gehrich. Teubner, Leipzig 1903.
    • The mysteries of Mithra. A contribution to the religious history of the Roman Empire. Authorized German edition by Georg Gehrich. 5th edition. Unchanged reprint of the third, increased and revised edition from 1923, arranged by Kurt Latte . Teubner, Leipzig 1981.
  • Studia Pontica. 3 volumes. Lamertin, Brussels 1903–1910.
  • Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain. Conférences faites au Collège de France en 1905. Leroux, Paris 1906.
    • The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. Lectures at the College de France given by Franz Cumont. Teubner, Leipzig 1910.
    • The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. After the 4th French edition based on Gehrich's translation, edited by August Burckhardt-Brandenberg . 3. Edition. Teubner, Leipzig 1931.
  • Astrology and religion among the Greeks and Romans. Putnam, New York 1912; Dover, New York 1960.
  • with Joseph Bidez : Juliani imperatoris epistulae, leges, poematia fragmenta varia. Les belles lettres, Paris 1922.
  • Afterlife in Roman paganism. Lectures delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation. Yale University Press, New Haven 1922; Dover, New York 1959.
  • Le temple aux gradins decouvert a Salihiyeh et ses inscriptions. Geuthner, Paris 1923.
  • Les fouilles de Salihiyeh sur l'Euphrate. Geuthner, Paris 1923.
  • Les Syriens en Espagne et les Adonies a Seville. Geuthner, Paris 1927.
  • Deux autels de Phenicie. Geuthner, Paris 1927.
  • Un sarcophage d'enfant trouve a Beyrouth. Geuthner, Paris 1929.
  • L'Egypte des Astrologues. Fondation égyptologique Reine Elisabeth, Brussels 1937
  • with Joseph Bidez: Les mages hellénisés. Zoroastre, Ostanès et Hystaspe d'apres la tradition grecque. Les belles lettres, Paris 1938.
  • Recherches sur le symbolisme funéraire des Romains. Geuthner, Paris 1942; Arno Press, New York 1975.
  • Lux perpetua. Geuthner, Paris 1949.

Bibliotheca Cumontiana

literature

  • Mélanges Franz Cumont. 2 volumes. Secrétariat de l'institut Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels 1936.
  • Corinne Bonnet: La correspondance scientifique de Franz Cumont conservée à l'Academia Belgica de Rome (= Études de philologie, d'archéologie et d'histoire anciennes. Volume 35). Institut historique belge de Rome, Brussels / Rome 1997, ISBN 90-74461-25-5 .
  • Corinne Bonnet: Le "Grand Atelier de la Science". Franz Cumont et l'Ancient Studies. Héritages et émancipations (= Études de philologie, d'archéologie et d'histoire anciennes. Volume 41). Institut historique belge de Rome, Brussels / Rome 2005, ISBN 978-90-74461-58-0 .
  • Danny Praet: Cumont, Franz. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Ed.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Sp. 260-262.

Web links

Wikisource: Franz Cumont  - Sources and full texts

Works by Franz Cumont online

personal data
SURNAME Cumont, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cumont, Franz-Valéry-Marie (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian archaeologist, religious historian, philologist and epigraphist
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Aalst , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1947
Place of death Woluwe-Saint-Pierre near Brussels