This project investigates the way in which weather influenced the lives of people in Late Antiquity. Weather in classical antiquity has raised considerable interest in recent years, with a focus on climate change and natural disasters. In this project, however, the period of (long) Late Antiquity (4th-7th century AD) is central, with a focus on 'normal', everyday weather and its representation in Greek and Latin sources.
In cooperation with Ghent University, we organize an international and transdisciplinary conference at Soeterbeeck (24-26 June 2026) in order to retrieve late antique reflections on weather, the distribution and transmission of meteorological sources from Antiquity, religious representations (literary and visual) of weather and the agency of weather in late antique sources. The results from this wide-range of case-studies are linked to the actual weather conditions in several climate zones of the Ancient world.
This workshop is the second workshop of the Weather, knowledge and experience in Late Antiquity research initiative of Radboud University Nijmegen and Ghent University:
- A programme of the conference may be found here.
- The number of places is limited (costs: €25,- for lunch). Please register asap at ancientweather [at] ru.nl (ancientweather[at]ru[dot]nl).
- You can also join us online via Teams. Register via these links, whereupon you will receive links to participate: Wednesday 24 June | Thursday 25 June | Friday 26 June.
The first workshop was held in Ghent, Belgium: Meteorology in the first millennium. Socializing nature, naturalizing society, 19-20 March 2026. The proceedings of both conferences will be published.
List of participants:
- dr. Amedeo Raschieri (Università degli Studi di Milano)
- Angelo Gargiulo MA (Universiteit Gent)
- ir. Annette Hansen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
- prof. dr. Christian Rohr (Universität Bern)
- prof. dr. Edward Schoolman (University of Nevada Reno)
- dr. Ellen Fenzel Arnold (Ohio State University)
- prof. dr. ir. Frits Heinrich (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
- prof. dr. Helen Foxhall Forbes (Ca’ Foscari Venice)
- dr. Joop van Waarden (RU)
- prof. dr. Kristina Sessa (Ohio State University)
- prof. dr. Lucinda Dirven (RU)
- Mariechristine Garcia MA (University of South California, Dornsife college)
- prof. dr. Marjolein Oele (RU)
- dr. ir. Maurits Ertsen (TU Delft)
- dr. Péter Kovács (Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem)
- prof. dr. Peter van Nuffelen (Universiteit Gent)
- Rachel Singer MA (Georgetown University)
- dr. Roald Dijkstra (RU)
- Sanne de Jong MSc MA (RU)
- prof. dr. Steven Vanden Broecke (Universiteit Gent)