Project description
Decoding medieval apocalypticism
Between the 7th and 13th centuries, the eastern Mediterranean was a landscape of shifting borders and intense religious rivalry. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CESECIA project explores how Christians and Muslims used ‘the end of the world’ as a strategic cultural tool to navigate volatility. By examining texts in Arabic, Syriac and Greek, the project will show how apocalyptic expectations helped communities interpret crisis and frame the religious ‘other’. As an interdisciplinary research, it will reconceptualise these multilingual traditions as co-produced cultural resources. Ultimately, CESECIA offers vital insights into how humans use apocalyptic thought to manage uncertainty. It will also provide insights into how pluralistic societies manage uncertainty.
Objective
CESECIA (Competitive Eschatologies: Eastern Christianity and Islamic Apocalypticism) is an interdisciplinary project exploring the shared yet contested apocalyptic imagination of the eastern Mediterranean between the 7th and 13th centuries. It examines how eschatological narratives – written in Islamic Arabic, Christian Arabic, Syriac, and Greek – shaped interreligious relations and communal identities. The project hypothesizes that apocalyptic expectation functioned as a strategic cultural resource for interpreting crises, directing political action, shaping communal identity, and framing the religious “Other.” CESECIA pioneers critical editions and translations of understudied Arabic Christian apocalyptic texts, including the Arabic Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius and the Arabic Apocalypse of Peter, making them accessible through open-access publication. By combining philological rigor with cross-cultural analysis, the project reconceptualizes apocalyptic texts as co-produced, multilingual traditions that served as dynamic instruments of historical agency. Beyond medieval studies, CESECIA highlights the enduring relevance of apocalyptic thought for understanding uncertainty, imagining the future, and fostering reflection on interreligious and intercultural connections in pluralistic societies such as those in Europe.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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.
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.
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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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50121 Florence
Italy
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.