Study programme Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean Worlds

*only mandatory for students who do NOT follow the Masterprofiel Erfgoedbeleid. Students following the Masterprofiel Erfgoedbeleid can find more information about their curriculum below.

The following courses are mandatory for all students of the specialisation Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean Worlds:

Historiography and Theory

The Mediterranean is a sea that has both connected and divided people over the very long history of human settlement around its shores. In this course, we will explore how we might come to understand the Mediterranean during key phases of its human history: the Ancient and Medieval periods. During these more than two thousand years, empires around it flourished, rose and fell, people and goods moved around and through it, and with them culture and knowledge, both practical and intellectual. Ideas were shared but also debated and condemned. The Mediterranean brought people together in religious belief and practice, but also marked divisions as new religious movements arose, whether Christianity or Islam. We will therefore discuss in this course whether and how we can understand the Mediterranean as the focus of historical study – what might allow this sea to become a unit that centres us in our exploration of empires, cultures, religions and ideas. This course will introduce students to a key series of questions that can help us to understand the Mediterranean and its history anchored in different theoretical approaches: ecology/environmental history, post-colonialism, conflict studies, ethnicity and gender. 

Research Seminar: City Life in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean

Throughout history, cities have functioned as the backbone of regions, kingdoms, sultanates, caliphates and empires. Cities have been engines of innovation, melting pots of people and cultural exchange, economic hotspots and centers of social and political power play. This course examines city life in the Mediterranean in the Graeco-Roman, early Byzantine, Medieval and Islamic worlds. While deliberately taking a long-term perspective, the course will demonstrate how our artificial chronological boundaries and east-west divides are not particularly useful when studying developments and patterns in city life. Analyzing cities of various sizes, the course will deal with themes such as infrastructure, urban design, city government, public and private spaces, and cultural exchange. Building on a broad range of written sources and archaeological evidence, it invites students to confront their existing views on city life with new insights gained from current scholarly debates.