Bücheler, renowned for his work as a Latinist, influenced the young Otto to such a degree that the latter dedicated the bulk of the following 20 years to topics centred on Roman culture and literature - this, despite the fact that he is principally remembered as a Hellenist.
Otto graduated in 1897 with the thesis Nomina propria latina oriunda a participiis perfecti ("Latin Personal Names derived from the Perfect Participle").
In the Fall of that year, Otto was offered and accepted a professorship at Vienna, where he met fellow philologist Hans von Arnim, and the two became close friends.
In 1934, the Nazi regime forced Otto to accept the offer to serve as the successor to Paul Maas, who was removed from his position for being of Jewish descent, in Königsberg.
From that point until the end of the Second World War, Otto found refuge in Elmau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, where he entertained the local community with lectures and small theatrical performances.
This explains the palpable and continuing influence Otto's writings have had, not only on classical philologists such as Karl Kerényi, but particularly on scholars from fields unrelated to philology.