Topoi-Topic. Spotlight on Topoi Research

Topoi-Topic offers brief insights into current research questions and Topoi projects selected at random. You can find a complete overview of topics and research areas as well as detailed project descriptions in the Research section.

Topoi-Topic. Exhibition “Antike Welten”

The Berliner Antikensammlung is showing its newly conceived Greek art exhibition on the main floor of the Altes Museum. The exhibition features a room dedicated entirely to Greek coins and presenting, via a special exhibition display case, a Topoi project on numismatics. Excerpts from Angela Berthold‘s post-doctoral research project “Spatial Representation on Greek Coins and Its Effect on Neighboring Coinage” (C-II Images) are presented here, thanks to generous support from the Berliner Münzkabinett.

The project display case introduces visitors to a unique phenomenon in Greek coinage: the reproduction of spaces and places. Interestingly enough, in antiquity many imaginary spatial structures came to achieve greater fame than actually existing spaces. The most famous example is surely the labyrinth of the Cretan city of Knossos, which is inextricably linked with the legend of the Minotaur, Theseus and Ariadne. The labyrinth was employed on Knossian coins in the most diverse ways as a fictitious emblem of the city. By contrast, the Sicilian city of Zankle illustrated its coins with its actually existing, eponymous harbour, which has a characteristic sickle shape. Like the labyrinth, the harbour was depicted in a manner unusual for other art forms, but typical for coins, i.e. a bird’s-eye view. Coins from various Greek cities feature depictions of everyday places, such as scenes occurring in a temple, a well house, or a racetrack. These few examples alone suffice to make it clear that Greek coins, with their broad geographical distribution and rapid chronological succession, afford an excellent opportunity presented by hardly any other art form to conduct an image-based scientific analysis of the depiction of space and spatiality in antiquity. All of the project-related coins exhibited at the Altes Museum may also be viewed online via a virtual display case.

Topoi-Topic. The Surveyors of Antiquity
– Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum

The editing and translation project Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum revives the texts of the Roman gromatics, which were named after the most popular surveying instrument, the `groma`. This collection of texts from the 1st to the 6th century A.D. deals with legal issues, surveying techniques and instruction in geodesy. The authors include Iulius Frontinus, Siculus Flaccus, Agennius Urbicus and Hyginus.

The text corpus will be translated into German for the first time in Topoi, and the edition will include a thorough commentary. Researchers of Roman law, the history of science, mathematics and classical philology are working together on this project which is based in the research area “Social Spaces” (B). The termini technici are being collected in a lexical glossary, and an online database will facilitate access to important research results.

The Topoi-conference “Römisches Vermessungswesen – Juristischer, wissenschaftsgeschichtlicher und historischer Kontext”  held in March 2011 has opened up new interdisciplinary perspectives on the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanum.

-> Program and Poster of the conference “Römisches Vermessungswesen”

Topoi-Topic. The Partition of the Soul

Where is the soul located? Plato and Aristotle considered the soul to be the ability possessed by beings that enables them to do the things they usually do. On this understanding, the soul is a complex unity of functions. We taste, smell, think and reproduce – different processes and therefore different parts of the soul.

So how can the soul as a concurrence of different functions still remain a unity? Does the soul have ‘parts’, and if so, can they be divided from each other? Are the parts of the soul located in different parts of the body? How do the parts of the soul interact? A broad spectrum of possible answers is presented in ancient and medieval philosophy. The concept of location in the human body is also being studied in connection with ancient medicine in a Topoi project based in the research area “Theory and Science” (D), particularly concerning the theories of Galen, gladiator doctor and physician to the Roman imperial family.

 

Topoi-Topic. Spatial Prepositions in Hieroglyphic Ancient Egyptian

Semantic space of simple spatial prepositions in Hieroglyphic Egyptian

The semantic space of simple spatial prepositions in Hieroglyphic Egyptian

Languages differ in respect to the linguistic devices used by the prepositions to encode simple static spatial relations. Many languages use prepositions for this purpose. Furthermore, languages divide the cognitive space of possible spatial relations into different subspaces. German differentiates, for example, between ‘Der Stift liegt auf dem Tisch’ and ‘Das Bild hängt an der Wand’. English, on the other hand, uses the same preposition in both cases: ‘The pen is on the table’ and ‘The picture is on the wall’. It is possible to visualize and compare the subdivisions that different languages make in the semantic space of simple spatial relations by using a fixed set of pictures that show various simple spatial configurations.

Based in the research area “Presentation and Representation” (C) this Topoi project investigates the corresponding subdivisions in the semantic space of simple spatial prepositions in Hieroglyphic Ancient Egyptian and seven more modern languages into which hieroglyphic texts are often translated. This will lead to a better understanding of the subtle differences in meaning that arise when translating these prepositions, and will therefore open up further perspectives on how far concepts of space and linguistic structures are related.

 

Topoi-Topic. Cosmos and Earth – Ancient and Modern Maps

Maps document how certain societies inhabit, control or explore space. Therefore, they are of a central importance in the external representation of spatial knowledge. The Topoi researchers in one group of the research area “The Processing of Space” (E/Transformations) are investigating the knowledge required for the production of maps as well as the possible impact of maps on the concepts of space present in a culture. Historical maps produced by different cultures are surveyed and classified. Particular focus in the research is placed on the relation between astronomical knowledge, cosmological theories and geographical knowledge in ancient times. In Topoi, electronic tools are being developed to facilitate exact calculation of historical astronomical phenomena and constellations mentioned in ancient texts, to convert data on the duration of the longest day of a given year into geographical latitude, and more.

 

Topoi-Topic. Mobility, Migration and Innovation

Spatially oriented and spatially effective innovations like wagons and draft animals, early herding and nomadism have influenced the demographic, social historical, and cultural historical development of antiquity. One Topoi group based in the research area “Spatial Environment” (A) is investigating the genesis and spread of these innovations. Mobility and migration are important factors here. In order to reconstruct them, natural scientific analyses based upon prehistoric archaeological data are being conducted. Isotope-chemical analyses of teeth and bone from burial mound sites, for example, can provide information re-location of buried individuals. The examination of animal teeth can yield evidence of specialized cattle breeding in certain areas. How mobile people were in antiquity is shown by wheel and wagon models at archaeological sites in northwestern Ukraine, which suggest that the innovation of the wagon with solid wheels spread as early as the fourth millennium B.C.

 

Topoi-Topic. Diversity of Spaces

The definition and constitution of space results from various forms of influences. Within the research area “Historical Spaces” (B) the focus is mainly on those mechanisms which define governed territories on territorial, socio-economic and ideological levels. In their project “Diversity of Spaces”, subgroup B-III-2 researches forms of political organization and knowledge transfer in early Christendom, which was characterized by plurality and multicentricity. Further research focuses on the question of how the widely dispersed early Christian communities were united, organized and linked together. In this context, it remains to be determined how Christian knowledge was communicated and passed on in the form of letters, circulars, liturgical texts and Christian literature, and how this enabled the founding of a Christian culture. Since October 2011 Werner Eck has supported the group as Senior fellow. He is working on an analysis of military diplomas for the Roman Army, which in combination with other epigraphic material provides information on the question of social structure in Asia Minor.

 

Topoi-Topic. Central Place Research

Central places are a source of impetus and a crucial element for economic and cultural development in landscapes. Topoi group A-I-21 is researching this topic.

Certain places constitute very important points in the settlement structure – we call these central places. Such places are interrelated with their surroundings to an extraordinary high degree and can effectively spur development. On the other hand they are sensitive to environmental change. They reflect developments in culture and economy. Most central places can be detected due to the size of the settlement. The ease with which they are detected and the significance of their impact on interpretation makes central-place research an important sub-discipline of archaeology, which focuses on the spatio-temporal development of settlement structures and society. To understand the fundamental role of central places in archaeological research we have to examine their function, developmental conditions and environmental interrelations. Topoi research area A-I focuses on the examination of central places. Several projects involve archaeological and geographical research on selected central places. Project A-I-21 started in fall 2010 and is working on both the theoretical fundamentals of central place research and a synthesis of all A-I projects.

 

Topoi-Topic. Topoi-Summerschool 2011 – Ostia Antica

The archaeological excavation in Ostia Antica, led by Axel Gering (HU Berlin, BKO-Excavations – Classical Archaeology), made it possible for TOPOI Research Groups A-III-6 (Undine Lieberwirth – Quantitative Archaeology), A-III-x (Hans-Peter Thamm – Remote Sensing), A-III-x (Burkart Ulrich – Geophysics) and E-xx (Bernhard Fritsch – Photogrammetry) to carry out interdisciplinary cooperation focused on the testing of diverse methods on a single object. Research was conducted not only into the qualitative spectrum of possibilities, but also into their efficiency, practical applications and actual conditions. The research goalof this year’s Topoi Summer Campaign in September 2011 was to bring together the broad spectrum of methods available not only in Area A-III, but also through inter-area cooperation with E-I.

 

Topoi-Topic. Archaeotopia: the archaeological site as focus, expression and motor of collective identities

The CSG-V project “Archaeotopia” investigates the production, appropriation and consumption of archaeological heritage spaces and their role in the formation of collective identities. Research focuses on non-western settings in northern Africa and the Near East, in which the concept ‘archaeological place’ and the related practices and operations are ideational imports, and where their adoption and transformation by a wide range of widely different stakeholders in multiple, sometimes conflictive ways results in constellations of particular analytical vibrancy. The aim of the project is to make a significant contribution towards understanding the complex dynamics underlying the creation and the development of archaeological heritage spaces in the abovementioned settings.

 

Topoi-Topic. The City as Site of Discourse

In one of its sub-projects, Group C-IV spotlights the city space as the site of public discourse in a political, as well as a cultural and religious, dimension. The project focuses on the unique character of three metropolises of late antiquity – Antioch on the Orontes, Milan and Rome – in the transition period between traditional paganism and increasingly influential Christendom at the end of the 4^th century.

Past and Present in late antique Rome: Forum Romanum, Temple of Saturn as restored in Late Antiquity. Photo: Susanne Muth

As manifested in both architecture and surviving texts, the example of these three cities clearly shows that the material dimension of space and the social interactions – human thought and activity – within this space exert a mutual influence on each other and make reference to each other in terms of this reciprocity. Mechanisms of personal and institutional interaction, as well as the attribution of concrete meanings to specific locations, are researched in detail on the basis of surviving texts and archaeological findings. The methodological principles applied in the project include the concept of field theory advanced by Pierre Bourdieu and the formulation of constellation analysis developed by Dieter Henrich and Martin Mulsow. The comparatively large number of literary testimonies, inscriptions and archaeological findings allows us to draw up a fairly detailed description of the constellations of individuals, documents and buildings in the three cities and to draw conclusions about the genesis of political, religious and philosophical positions held by those individuals and represented in the texts – positions which have since become relevant in the history of the ideas. The goal of the project is, through textual analysis and networking with problems and theoretical concepts from archaeology and social and religious history, to expose the dynamics of the intellectual and political discourse in metropolitan Rome, Milan, and Antioch at the turn of the 4^th and 5^th centuries.