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The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
Born in Koblenz, he first completed a commercial apprenticeship and then obtained his Abitur (A-levels) through adult education. He studied Ancient, Medieval and Modern History and Protestant Theology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, first obtaining a Master's degree and then, in 1972, a doctorate with an outstanding thesis entitled ‘Kaisergericht und Bischofsgericht’ (Imperial Court and Bishop's Court). From 1972 to 1980, he worked as an assistant at the University of Trier, interrupted by a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Research Foundation, and habilitated there in 1979 with his study ‘Die Ordnung der Welt – ein Beitrag zur philosophischen und politischen Interpretation von Ciceros Schrift “De legibus”’ (The Order of the World – a Contribution to the Philosophical and Political Interpretation of Cicero's ‘De legibus’).
Appointed professor of ancient history at Saarland University in 1980 as the successor to Prof. Dr. Werner Eck, he taught and conducted research at the Saarbrücken campus until the summer semester of 2015, beyond his retirement in 2005. The jubilarian also took on extensive tasks in academic self-administration in a special way as Vice-Dean of the academic field of Art and Ancient Civilization Studies, Senator, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, History and Cultural Studies (2000-2004) and as a member of the University Council (2002-2005). The founder of the ‘Saarbrücken Forum for Ancient Studies,’ which was initiated in 2003, is a full member of several scientific organisations, including the ‘Accademia Storico-Romanistica Constantiniana’ (Perugia), the ‘German Archaeological Institute’ (Berlin) and the ‘Societas Internationalis Historiae Conciliorum Investigandae’ (Rome/Vatican).
His academic oeuvre comprises around 100 publications, primarily on the history of the Roman Republic, the early Principate and late antiquity, including the monographs ‘Die Alte Geschichte der Europäer und das Europa der Zukunft’ (The Ancient History of Europeans and the Europe of the Future) (2001), ‘Die Konstantinische Wende’ (The Constantinian Turn, 2007), ‘Rom auf dem Weg von der Republik zum Prinzipat’ (Rome on the Way from Republic to Principate, 2007), ‘Kaisertum, Religionspolitik und das Recht von Staat und Kirche in der Spätantike’ (Emperor, Religious Policy and the Law of State and Church in Late Antiquity, 2009), ‘The Emperor and His God: Christianity in the Thought and Religious Policy of Constantine the Great’ (2010), ‘Studies on the Ancient History of Europeans’ (2016) and ‘January 49 BC: Caesar's Military Coup: Background, Legal Situation, Political Aspects’ (2017). He has also published several student record books on the history and culture of the ancient world, publications in the series ‘Annales Universitatis Saraviensis – Faculty of Humanities’ and, together with his colleague Ulrich Nortmann, the volume ‘Human Rights and European Identity – the Ancient Foundations’ (2005). Most recently, in the spring of 2025, a collection of over 400 pages of his ‘Essays and Lectures on the Ancient History of Europeans’ was published.
Contact:
Dr. Wolfgang Müller, Universitätsarchiv
E-Mail: wolfgang.mueller@uni-saarland.de
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