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 autumn 2024
| Week | Date | Day | Kl. | Activity | Place |
| 34 | 21. Aug | Wednsday | Kl. 12.15 | Einar Thomassen – “A newly identified letter of Valentinus?” | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 36 | 04. Sep | Wednsday | Kl. 12.15 | Sissel Undheim – "Thinking with popular culture. Theorizing religion, dissemination, and mobility in the Roman world." | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 37 | 12.sept | Thursday | Kl. 12-15 | Silk Road Study Day | Øystensgate 3, room 418 |
| 39 | 25. Sep | Wednsday | Kl. 12.15 | Eivind Heldaas Seeland - “Distance and Scale in Late Roman and Early Christian property structure as reflected in the Liber Pontificalis” | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 40 | 02.-04. Oct | Wednsday - friday | Workshop in Rome with the Norwegian Institute | ||
| 42 | 16. Oct | Wednsday | Kl. 12.15 | Moa Christina Airijoki – “Mobility, Controversy, and Apophthegmata Patrum: the Desert Father Legacy.” | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 44 | 01. Nov | Friday | Kl. 14.15 | Guest Lecture Prof. Michael Blömer – “Exploring Urbanism in Roman Syria. The Doliche Excavations” | Sydneshaugen skole, Aud. Q. |
| 46 | 13. Nov | Wednsday | Kl. 12.15 | Guest Lecture Bradley Jordan – "Connectivity and disconnectivity: translocal approaches to Hellenistic and Roman Mysia" | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 48 | 27. Nov | Wednsday | Kl. 12.15 | Torill Christine Lindstrøm – “The great fresco in Villa dei Misteri, Pompeii: A copy or not a copy? That’s the question.” | Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| 48 | 29.Nov | Friday | Kl. 14.15 | Guest Lecture Tomas Glomb, leder ved Centre for the Digital Research of Religion (Masaryk University, Brno) - Modeling the Impact of Situated Roman Professions on Religion in the Roman Empire: The Case of Silvanus | Øystensgate 3, seminarroom 418 |
| 50 | 11.Dec | Wednsday | Kl. 16.30 | End-of-Semester Meeting | TBA |
Greek Reading Group:
| First session: TBA | every thursday | Kl. 16.00 | Greek Reading Group – Lucian’s Περὶ τῆς Συρίης Θεοῦ / De Dea Syria | Special Collections Library at HF-bygget |
Programme spring 2024
| Wednsday 21.jan kl. 12.15 | Fynn Riepe – New Research on a Bathhouse from Northern Syria Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 7.feb kl. 12.15 | Christina Videbech - Sindets Ild: Sindssygdom og galskab i antikken - Et tværfagligt bogprojekt Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 21.feb kl. 12.15 | Sotiria Rita Koutsopetrou-Møller - TBA Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 28.feb kl. 12.15 | Annika Os - Ancient History in the Norwegian School system Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 6.mar kl. 12.15 | Tomas Larsen Høisæter - Like Islands in a Sea of Sand – NFR Project presentation Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 20.mar kl. 12.15 | Ingvild Gilhus - Conception of animals in Egyptian monastic texts (4-5th centuries CE) Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 3.april kl. 12.15 | Moa Christina Airijoki - Tending the Garden of the Monks: Investigation of a Medieval Copto-Arabic Apophtegmata Patrum Recension Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Onsdag 17.april | |
| Monday/Tuesday 22-23. april | GUEST LECTURE: Gerhard van der Heever - Of Materiality, Cultic Spaces, and Agency … and Discourse in Between: The Entanglement of Religious Space, Discourse, and Practice in Two Case Studies – Two Mithraea and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Sted: TBA |
| Wednsday 1.may | |
| Wednsday 15.may kl. 12.15 | Rhiannon Williams - Trajectories of Religious Transmission. Christianity in Kharga Oasis. Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
| Wednsday 29.may kl. 12.15 | Sissel Undheim - Disseminating gods. Religion and “popular culture” in antiquity. Sted: Classics Library in HF-bygget; Rom 373 |
Programme autumn 2023
| Wednsday 30. aug | Reading Group Classical language |
Thursday 7. sept | Prøveforelesning Christina Videbech sted: Sydneshaugen skole, Aud. B |
| Friday 8. sept kl. 09.30 - 13 | Disputas: Christina Videbeck - "Quo Vadis, Romane?" sted: Sydneshaugen skole, Aud. B |
| Wednsday 13. sept | Reading Group Classical language |
| Wednsday 20. sept kl. 12.00 - 14 | Introduction Phds Fynn Riepe and Annika Os sted: Sydneshaugen skole, grupperom H |
| Thursday/Friday 28-29. sept | ATHENS, Norsk institutt i Athen |
| Wednsday 4. okt | Reading Group Classical language |
| Tuesday 18. okt kl. 14.15 - 16 | Sotiria Koutsopetrou-Møller - The legal remedies for rape in the Roman Republic and Principate sted: HF-bygget, Seminarrom 217 |
| Wednsday 25. okt kl. 12.00 - 14 | Christina Videbeck - Prosjektbeskrivelsen (mobilitetsstipendiet) sted: Classics library in HF-bygget (373) |
| Wednsday 1. nov | Reading Group Classical language |
| Wednsday 8. nov kl. 12.00 – 14 | Jørgen Bakke - Travelling Images from Ancient Athens sted: Classics library in HF-bygget (373) |
| Wednsday 15. nov | Reading Group Classical language |
| Wednsday 22. nov 12.00 – 14 | sted: Classics library in HF-bygget (373) |
| Wednsday 29. nov kl. 12.15 - 14 | Simon Malmberg - Romas elvemurer: når bygdes de, og hvorfor? sted: Sydneshaugen skole, Seminarrom K |
| Wednsday 6. des kl. 12.00 - 14 | Christina Videbeck - Sindets Ild: sindssygdom og galskap i antikken - Et tværfagligt bogprosjekt sted: Classics library in HF-bygget (373) |
Programme spring 2023
| Tuesday 17 January kl. 12.15–13 | Christian Bull - Astral Healing in the Hermetica |
| Tuesday 24 January kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| Tuesday 31 January kl. 12.15–13 | Christina Videbech – Roman graffiti |
| Tuesday 7 February kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| Tuesday 14 February kl. 12.15–13 | Sissel Undheim - From taking the veil to changing the garb |
| Tuesday 21 February kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| Tuesday 7 March kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| Tuesday 14 March kl. 12.15–13 | Ivan Miroshnikov – "So too it happens with unreasoning animals": Towards a New Edition of Coptic Literary Manuscript 1220. |
| Tuesday 21 March kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| Tuesday 28 March kl. 12.15–13 | Marijn Visscher – The Seleucid kings in the Sibylline Oracles |
| Tuesday 11 April kl. 12.15–13 | Simon Malmberg – Resilient Ports: a new perspective on harbours in the city of Rome |
| Tuesday 18 April kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| OBS! Thursday 20 April kl. 12.15–13 | CANCELLED Tomas Høisæter – Sten Konow og utforskinga av Xinjiang |
| Tuesday 25 April kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| Tuesday 2 May kl. 12.15–13 | Classical languages reading group |
| OBS! Friday 5 May kl. 12.15–13 | Guest lecture – dr. Chris Siwicki (The Norwegian Institute in Rome) – 'The Romans Who Didn't Build' Place: Sydneshaugen skole, seminar room K |
| Tuesday 16 May kl. 12.15–13 | Guest lecture – dr. Sam Newington (University of Aberdeen) – 'Corporeal defilement and beautification in Sappho's poetry' Place: HF-bygget, seminar room 264 |
| OBS! Wednesday 24 May kl. 16.15–17 | + drinks Dr. Tomas Høisæter (HVL) - 'Sten Konow og utforskinga av Xinjiang' Place: Sydneshaugen skole, seminar room K |
| OBS! Friday 9 June kl. 10.15 | Workshop – prof. Elisa Uusimäki (Aarhus) – 'Women, Travel and Transformation in the Ancient Jewish Tradition' + response Place: Sydneshaugen skole, seminar room K |
