Are you a current student? For the programme of this academic year, check the course guide.
Study programme Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean Worlds
The programme has a course load of 60 EC* (one-year). All the courses are 10 EC and the Master’s thesis is 20 EC. A schematic overview can be found here.
- P3
- P4
General courses
The following courses are mandatory for all students of the specialisation Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean Worlds:
Historiography and Theory: Culture, Memory and Cultural Memory
Focusing on (political) culture and cultural memory, we will discuss processes such as cultural transfer, (state) religion, power and ideology, as well as mechanisms of identity formation and conflicts with a formative impact within the area under discussion. The programme’s overarching approach of the Mediterranean, in both a geographical and a chronological sense, allows for comparisons within the Greco-Roman world, and between the Greco-Roman world and its successors in the West (e.g. the Carolingian Empire) and the East (e.g. the Byzantine Empire or the Islamic Caliphates). Thus, this course lays the foundation for other courses within the MA-programme, including the students’ own research projects.
Research Seminar: Curing and Curating Crises: A Transhistorical Perspective
Many museums – in the Netherlands and elsewhere – are in a stage of transition, leaving behind their ‘traditional’ design and by implementing a ‘transhistorical’ approach in their permanent as well as temporary collections instead. At the same time, cCrises like the covidCOVID-19 pandemic remind us that, have rocked society since time immemorial, society is shaped by calamities and disasters. Historical research can teach us much about the way in which people responded to such crises, and how their responses in turn influence the way we want to memorialise those difficult times. This dynamic stands at the core of this course. You will explore how ‘curating’ objects can help societies to ‘cure’ crises and how the viewer plays a material role in attributing meaning to an object or text. You will bring together the results of these explorations in an exhibition of your own and a research paper that goes with it.
Electives
Students can fill in 20 EC worth of their programme. Possible options are:
- Roman Law and Society (a collaboration with the Faculty of Law)
- Coins and History: An Introduction to Ancient and Medieval Numismatics (in association with the Royal Dutch Numismatic Society)
- Project Seminar (in Dutch): Van Elektrum tot E-currency: moderne betaalmiddelen in historisch perspectief
- Excursion to Ravenna
- A course at the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome or the Netherlands Institute in Istanbul
- Courses in History, Art History, Tourism & Culture, Roman Law, Philosophy, Theology, etc. at Radboud University or another qualified university
- Internship: an internship is a unique opportunity to get a taste of the practical side of being a historian. Think of an internship at a museum or historical library. As a Master’s student you’ll be expected to have a prominent say in the content side of a project at such an institution.
Master's thesis
Your Master's thesis consists of an individual research project, which allows you to investigate a topic of your choice in any historical aspect connected to the ancient or medieval Mediterranean under the close supervision of our expert staff.