The ancient Greeks and Romans were great innovators, not only in the realm of technology but also in other human domains, such as literature, politics and religion. How did those innovations take place? How did people come to accept these innovations? A consortium of Dutch classicists from the universities of Amsterdam, Groningen, Leiden, Nijmegen and Utrecht investigate this in a ten-year program that is coordinated by Radboud University. The premise of the program is that in successful innovations people perceive a meaningful coherence between the new and the old. For this multifaceted phenomenon, the researchers use the concept ‘anchoring’. They are developing this concept in an investigation of Greco-Roman antiquity and its reception in modern times. This will result in a new and better understanding of innovation processes in antiquity but also in our own time.
Click here for a complete overview of the organisation
