Homo Sum — Volume 04

Georg Moritz EbersProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 93K words
Chapters: 10

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Homo Sum — Volume 04 by Georg Ebers. Author: Ebers, Georg, 1837-1898, Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is the fourth volume of Georg Ebers's long historical novel Homo Sum, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook. The title comes from Latin and means "I am human"; the work continues the author's tradition of setting narratives in the ancient Mediterranean world and focuses on characters' choices amid conflicts of religion, ethics, and emotion. As one volume in a multi-volume work, it is not a standalone story but a link in the overall plot chain, and its value emerges fully only when the whole work is read through. For researchers, it is a usable text for examining how nineteenth-century German historical fiction used ancient subject matter to discuss issues of human nature; for general readers, it is better suited as part of a long serial reading than as a first choice for beginners. The public-domain electronic format makes it easy to search keywords and compare editions, but it lacks a modern introduction and annotations, so readers must fill in the historical background themselves. Reading in volume order is recommended, with attention to the ethical threads the author embeds in dialogue and psychological description.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers reading Homo Sum volume by volume who need to connect the middle plot
Literature enthusiasts interested in ancient themes and the ethics of human nature
Scholars studying religious and moral narrative in nineteenth-century German historical fiction
Course users who need a public-domain English electronic text for close reading

Not a good fit for

First-time readers who want to understand Ebers's style quickly through a single volume
Readers impatient with multi-volume serial structure who prefer standalone stories
Readers expecting modern annotations, introductions, and full editorial apparatus

Reading tips

Read in volume order, grasping the characters and conflicts of the first three volumes before entering this one.
Note the theme of human nature signaled by the title "I am human" and track related dialogue as you read.
Use background material on early Christianity and the classical world to help understand the ethical conflicts.
Use the electronic text's search function to sort character names and key plot points, reducing the sense of being lost in a long read.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What does the title Homo Sum mean?

It is Latin, usually translated as "I am human." It signals the work's focus on the shared condition of being human, involving issues of religion, ethics, and emotion. As you read this volume, note how characters understand their relation to themselves and others amid conflict.

Do I need to read the first three volumes before the fourth?

Yes. This volume is part of a multi-volume long work, and character relationships and plot development depend on earlier text. Jumping directly to the fourth volume can make causes and motives feel remote; read in order or first learn the outlines of the first three volumes.

Is this public-domain eBook suitable for academic citation?

It can be used as a public-domain text, but the Gutenberg edition is plainly formatted and lacks modern annotations; check edition information and page references before citing. For academic writing, consult authoritative print or scholarly editions as well to ensure accuracy of quotations.

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About the author

Georg Moritz Ebers Author · German · 1837–1898

Georg Ebers (1837–1898) was a German Egyptologist and novelist. Born in Berlin in 1837, he served as a professor at the University of Leipzig. His major contribution to Egyptology was the discovery, editing, and publication of the famous Ebers Papyrus, which provided valuable material for the study of ancient medical texts. At the same time, he devoted himself to spreading Egyptological knowledge through literature, writing historical novels such as An Egyptian Princess and Uarda. These works weave the social life and historical settings of ancient Egypt into their narratives, making specialized scholarship more accessible to general readers. His works number 172 in the library's collection, including the serialized volumes of An Egyptian Princess and Cleopatra, which shows how widely his historical novels circulated. Overall, Ebers combined scholarly rigor with a novelist's gift for popular expression, occupying a distinctive place in the popularization of Egyptology in the nineteenth century.