Heeren had given lectures on ancient history as early a 1790. His new circumstances soon brought out his talent as a historian of classical antiquity, in which he would achieve both intellectual fulfillment and great scholarly eminence. From his earlier lectures grew his magisterial "Politics, Trade, and Commerce in the Ancient World", which would go through numerous later editions, with Heeren providing fundamental revisions as it continued to appear. With the appearance of the first edition, Heeren awoke to find himself famous. Even today, when Heeren has become a minor figure in the story of nineteenth-century German scholarship, his name continues to be associated with this work.