The Ancient World
The research group has as its overall objective to create a collaborative platform for research and teaching in antiquity and unite researchers from UiB and other universities.
Main content
In addition to bringing antiquities researchers together in Bergen, the research group will also contribute to improving national and Nordic cooperation on antiquities research
The research group The Ancient World has as its overall objective to create a collaborative platform for research and teaching in antiquity and unite researchers from Department of Archaeology, History, Culture studies and Religion (AHKR), Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic studies (LLE), Department of Philosophy (FoF) and other universities.
In addition to bringing antiquities researchers together in Bergen, the research group will also contribute to improving national and Nordic cooperation on antiquities research. Here we will especially gather around using the Norwegian institutes in Rome and Athens, which we have a special national responsibility for maintaining the activity at.
We also have common interests in developing national strategies to maintain a strong teaching offer in ancient subjects, and increase the recruitment of bachelor's, master's and PhD students.
Ongoing projects
O Muse, tell me of that man of many ways, who travelled
Far and wide, after he sacked the sacred citadel of Troy;
Many mens’ cities he saw and knew their minds,
Many pains too he suffered at sea (Homer, Odyssey. 1.1-4)
From the earliest epic narratives about the heroic wanderings of Odysseus and Gilgamesh to the early Christian pilgrimage to the ‘Holy Land’ in late antiquity, humans have been preoccupied with the dangers and benefits of travel. Mobility, both inside communities and crossing borders, creates networks, enables (cross-)cultural contact and facilitates changes. Although the ancient world lacked the fast methods of travel and mass communication that defines the modern world, it was nevertheless a world of travel, interaction, and communication. From travelling individuals, such as traders, pirates, and monks, to multi-ethnic empires stretching to the edges of the known world, many agents and institutions facilitated mobility and contact. In this world, urban communities were often nodes in these networks. This research group is interested in the mobility of individuals (human and divine), goods and texts, as well as ideas, and the role urban centers played in dissemination and distribution. It will look both at networks at a macro level and at individual case studies.
Programme spring 2025
| Week | Date | Day | Kl. | Activity | Place |
| 4 | 22.jan | Wednsday | 12.15 | Moa Christina Airijoki – Mobility, Controversy, and Apophthegmata Patrum: the Desert Father Legacy | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 5 | 31.jan | Friday | 09:00- 12:00 | Introduction Seminar – Anthology «Roads (not) taken: travelling people, gods, ideas, texts and goods in the ancient world | Sydnesplassen 12-13; Rom 129 |
| 6 | 05.feb | Wednsday | 12.15 | Einar Thomassen – Travelling Gnostics – Fiction and Reality | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 8 | 19.feb | Wednsday | 12.15 | Simon Malmberg – Guiding the Traveler in Rome: Monuments and Martyr in the Urban Landscape | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 10 | 05.mar | Wednsday | 14.15 | Thomas Hussøy – Gods and Legends: Festivals, myths, and religion as methods of forging identity in ancient Arcadia and Aetolia | Øysteinsgate 3; Rom 418 |
| 12 | 19.mar | Wednsday | 12.15 | Lucian and the Syrian Goddess – Experiences of a Reading Group | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 14 | 02.apr | Wednsday | 12.15 | Guest Lecture – Lasse Løvlund Toft - The Creation of Michael and Angel Christology in Coptic Literature in Egypt and Nubia | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 17 | 23.apr | Wednsday | 12.15 | Magnus Knutsen - The Shifting Settlements of the Hellenistic Peloponnese | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 18 | 29.apr | Tuesday | 09.00-16.00 | The Ancient World BA-seminar | Sydneshaugen skole, grupperom J |
| 19 | 07.may | Wednsday | 12.15 | Francis Borchardt – Never Again Shall Masada Fall: The Discovery and Use of Masada in Zionist Discourse | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 21 | 21.may | Wednsday | 12.15 | TBA | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 23 | 04.jun | Wednsday | 15.15 | Laura Feldt - ERC Presentation/ Semester Close | TBA |
Greek Reading Group:
| every thursday | Kl. 16.00 | Greek Reading Group – Lucian’s Περὶ τῆς Συρίης Θεοῦ / De Dea Syria | Special Collections Library at HF-bygget |
