New Polities – Peter Van Nuffelen, P.I.
Peter Van Nuffelen is working on a general study of late antique political thought. He is also exploring ideas about social relations, economy, rulership and natural and cosmic order through a study of representations of the figure of Adam.
Justine De Rouck
The PhD project focuses on political thought within Gnostic and Manichaean traditions in late antiquity. Gnostic and Manichaean worldview placed humanity in a different cosmological constellation and history, with consequences for thinking about human society and its relationships in social, political and spiritual sense. Both traditions, considered heresies, took on aspects of contemporary Hellenic and Judeo-Christian thinking, making them an interesting subject for the study of political thought in the crossroads of ancient and medieval history.
Tanguy Desimone
The PhD project focuses on Byzantine monasticism before the 10th century, with particular attention on political thoughts.
Household and Women’s Spaces in Christian and Jewish Communities under Sasanian Rule and the Early Islamic Era (5th–8th c.) – Anna Giaconia
This PhD project explores family law, gender roles, and interreligious dynamics within minority communities under Sasanian and early Islamic rule.
The nakharar-system in Late Antique Armenia – Thomas Girault
This PhD project focuses on the nakharark’-system in Late Antique Armenia (5th-9th c.). The research addresses the functioning of the Late Antique Armenian aristocracy in its relationship with Byzantium, the Sassanian Empire/Umayyad & Abbassid Caliphate and its other Caucasian neighbours, and its self-representation as part of the construction of an ‘Armenian’ identity. It also investigates the various representations of power and rulership in Late Antique Armenian historiography.
Genealogies and concepts of legacy in historiographical traditions of the first millennium – Jeroen Verrijssen
Legitimacy, in all aspects of society, relies heavily on genealogical legacy. In the first millennium, the biblical genealogies formed the basis for later models that would evolve and adapt to the communities that inherited them. These new genealogies were not only fundamental tools used to assert political and religious authority, but also served as vehicles for political theorization, embodying models of leadership, succession, and communal belonging. Often, these structures reflect conceptions of cosmological order or ‘divine hierarchy’ (e.g., Adam, Noah and the Table of Nations). One genre of literature in which these genealogies frequently appear are historiographical works. In the first millennium especially, these works had great popularity. Some historiographic works ensured communal ‘continuity’ by building on ancient foundations (e.g., Seder Olam Zutta), while other traditions reworked genealogies to articulate new models of religious community or sacred polity (e.g., Aphrahat). This work will focus predominantly on genealogies as they appear in historiographical works composed (or finalized) in the first millennium, in Jewish and Christian sources. Connections will be made to other traditions (e.g., Arabic, Persian, Armenian) when relevant.