Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Relations and Identities in a Saharan Environment (late third-tenth century CE)

Project description

A closer look at Egypt’s desert dynamics

For centuries, Egypt’s Western Desert oases have been seen as quiet backwaters, overshadowed by the bustling Nile Valley. Yet, these remote lands were anything but isolated between the 3rd and 10th centuries CE. It was a time of dramatic change, from Roman to Arab Muslim rule. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the RISE project will explore the complex relationships between nomads and oasis settlers. Studying ancient texts and archaeological finds, RISE seeks to explain how these interactions shaped the region’s social and political landscape. It will challenge old assumptions and open fresh perspectives on Egypt’s desert frontiers during a pivotal era of transformation.

Objective

From the late 3rd to the 10th c. CE, Egypt transitioned from a Roman province to an Arab Muslim state. Despite much work, the societal and political changes in Egypt’s Western Desert oases (the Roman westernmost districts along the Libyan Sahara) remain poorly understood. RISE aims to fill this gap. By challenging the view of the oases as merely peripheral to the Nile Valley, RISE focuses on overlooked historical actors: the nomads in the Western Desert and their interactions with the oasis settlers. The working hypothesis is that these relations lie at the basis of the region's historical evolution. Nomads were often invisible, but in this transitional era, nomad-settler interactions evolved persistently, leaving records that let us trace them from the perspective of oasis settlers and in literary portrayals. Based on bibliographical data, RISE’s analysis is conducted on 2 corpora (100 documentary texts and 126 literary passages, respectively), including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Arabic texts, complemented by archaeological evidence. Combining expertise in the history of literature, papyrology, archaeology, and digital humanities, RISE adopts a socio-anthropological approach to interpreting socio-cultural dynamics. RISE is the first systematic study of nomad-settler interactions in Egypt’s Saharan frontier, late 3rd-10th. This broadens the debate on the oases, exploring an overlooked period and on nomad-settler relations in Rome’s Desert Frontier, including Egypt’s Saharan one. An international workshop (part of RISE) will foster a comparative discussion on Rome’s desert frontiers from Africa to the Levant. This interdisciplinarity needs a host like the UP1 - ArScAn unit, where I will be integrated and trained in digital humanities, archaeology, and papyrology, developing a distinctive expertise in Late Antique desert frontiers from a comparative view. New career opportunities in France and abroad will open. Dissemination will use various channels to maximase impact.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITE PARIS I PANTHEON-SORBONNE
Net EU contribution
€ 226 420,56
Address
Place du Pantheon 12
75231 Paris
France
Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data