WELCOME TO THE EXCELLENCE CLUSTER TOPOI!

Topoi is a research network with a focus on the study of the ancient world. In Topoi, more than 200 researchers from diverse disciplines investigate how space and knowledge were formed and transformed in ancient civilizations. Detailed information on the members, the research activities and publications you will find at the various sections of this site. To learn more about the graduate school with their different graduate groups please visit the website of the Berliner Antike-Kolleg.

A multi-cultural metropolis: Antioch in Late Antiquity

A cityscape becomes a literary backdrop for religious communities

Upside Down

New location: The touring exhibition Auf den Kopf gestellt | Welt-Bilder – Bild-Welten has moved and is now being shown at the Institut für Europäische Ethnologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Mohrenstr. 41, 10117 Berlin, (first floor). Open from Monday to Friday: 8.00-20.00 h.

Key Topic Water Management

The junior research group of Area A takes a closer look at a fundamental basis of culture.

Mathematical Astronomy

Within the research project “Mathematical astronomy in Babylonia” (D-1-1) Emily Villey investigates how the sky and the earth are represented in astronomical texts written during Late Antiquity.

Archaeotopia

The project "Archaeotopia" (C-3-5) investigates the production, appropriation and consumption of archaeological heritage spaces and their role in the formation of collective identities.

Topoi-Publication: Berlin Studies of the Ancient World. Volume 14

Vermessung der Oikumene
Klaus Geus, Michael Rathmann (eds.)

Berlin: de Gruyter. 2013
Series: Topoi / Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 14
ISBN: 978-3-11-029092-9

This collection presents major portions of a Berlin conference on ancient geography. The volume is devoted to questions about the shape and size of the Greco-Roman Oecumene, including its boundaries and internal structure. Building upon on analysis of different literary genres, the articles contained in this volume help to unite dispersed and fragmentary knowledge about the subject, as well as to reconstruct and analyze the different contexts in which this knowledge was generated and preserved.

All titles from the series | more Topoi publications