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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Memory of empire: the post-imperial historiography of late Antiquity

Objective

"The current project aims at offering the first comprehensive interpretation and reconstruction of the historiographical traditions in the Mediterranean from the fourth to the eighth centuries AD, the crucial transitional period from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In particular, it advances the hypothesis that the historiography of this period should be understood as ‘post-imperial’, in the sense that the literary, cultural, religious and political traditions of the Roman Empire remained the point of reference at a time when that empire had, by the seventh century, lost its grip on the West and large portions of the East. New realities were thus still understood within a traditional framework and described with long-lived categories – a situation that generated fundamental tensions within late ancient historiography but also spurred great creativity in the genre. In order to be able to test this hypothesis, the project will make new sources available (especially regarding fragmentary Early Byzantine, Syriac, and late Latin historiography), increase the accessibility of existing sources through the creation of an online database, and explore different philological methodologies and interpretative models through a series of specifically targeted studies. Emphasing the shared cultural heritage instead of cultural and political fragmentation, the interpretation will especially focus on the continuation of the rhetorical tradition in late Antiquity, the incarnation of meaning in geographical space, and intercultural contacts across the Mediterranean. It thus hopes not only to establish a new paradigm for our understanding of late antique historiography but also set the study of this field on an improved methodological footing."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2012-StG_20111124
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Host institution

UNIVERSITEIT GENT
EU contribution
€ 1 446 600,00
Address
SINT PIETERSNIEUWSTRAAT 25
9000 GENT
Belgium

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Region
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen Arr. Gent
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Beneficiaries (1)

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