EXC 264:  Topoi - The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilisations

• Subject Area: Ancient Cultures
• Term: from 2007 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 39235742

• Final Report Year: 2019

Final Report Abstract

Two universities, four research institutes, one project. The Excellence Cluster Topoi was launched on 1 November 2007, thanks to a successful joint application submitted by Freie Universität Berlin (FU) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU). The objective of Topoi was to explore the interdependency of space and knowledge in ancient civilizations. For the past 12 years, Topoi’s researchers investigated spatial systems and varied forms of knowledge as interdependent factors influencing the development of ancient cultures. This joint endeavor, involving more than 30 traditional disciplines, succeeded in creating a strong sense of cooperation and transcended traditional subject boundaries through the adoption of crossdisciplinary approaches. As the Cluster’s investigation proceeded, there was an intensification of the inquiry into the role of different manifestations of spaces in the generation of knowledge in the ancient world, from the historical evolution of developing societies to the creation and diffusion of knowledge and early technology. The interrelationship between knowledge and space was examined in paradigmatic case studies addressing a period extending from the late Neolithic to the post classical era, in five research areas, “Spatial Environment and Conceptual Design” (A), “Constructing Historical Space” (B), “Perception and Representation” (C), “Theory and Science” (D) and “The Processing of Space” (E, 2007–2012). In May 2011, the two Berlin universities, together with their partners, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW), the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI), the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (MPIWG), and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK), founded the Berliner Antike-Kolleg (BAK), thus providing a permanent central structure for ancient and classical studies in Berlin that is absolutely unique. The Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS), which is part of the BAK, brings together the full interdisciplinary and inter-institutional resources from the array of research institutions in Berlin for the purpose of training young scholars; the Research Center for Ancient Studies and the Forum Digital Antiquity foster collaboration and networking as well as new digital approaches in ancient studies. The BAK structures were established and filled with life during the course of Topoi I and II, laying the groundwork for the development of the BAK as the umbrella organization for ancient and classical studies in Berlin.

Link to the final report

https://doi.org/10.2314/KXP:1698795653

Publications

• "Runoff in two semiarid watersheds in a geoarchaeological context: A case study of Naga, Sudan, and Resafa, Syria." Geoarcheology 25.6 (2010): 815–836
  Berking, Jonas, Brigitta Schütt, and Brian Beckers
  
• Die Metapher der Mischung in den Platonischen Dialogen Sophistes und Philebos. Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag, 2010
  Mouroutsou, Georgia
  
• "Wurde das Rad zweimal erfunden? Zu den frühen Wagen in der eurasischen Steppe." Praehistorische Zeitschrift 85.2 (2011): 137–57
  Kaiser, Elke
  
• "A Method of Modal Proof in Aristotle." Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 42 (2012): 179–261
  Rosen, Jacob, and Marko Malink
  
• "Motivated Sign Formation in Hieroglyphic Egyptian and German Sign Language (DGS). Towards a Typology of Iconic Signs in Visual Linguistic Systems." In Lexical Semantics in Ancient Egyptian, edited by Eitan Grossmann, Jean Winand, and Stéphane Polis, 113-40. Hamburg: Widmaier, 2012
  Lincke, Eliese-Sophia, and Silvia Kutscher
  
• Bild – Raum – Handlung. Perspektiven der Archäologie. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 11. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2012
  Dally, Ortwin, Susanne Moraw, and Hauke Ziemssen, eds.
  
• Forms and Concepts: Concept Formation in the Platonic Tradition. A study on Proclus and his Predecessors. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2012
  Helmig, Christoph
  
• Herodes. König im Heiligen Land. München: Verlag CH Beck, 2012
  Baltrusch, Ernst
  
• Jenseitsästhetik. Literarische Räume letzter Dinge. Berlin, Wiesbaden: Berlin University Press, 2012
  Olejniczak Lobsien, Verena
  
• Konfigurationen. Gebrauchsweisen des Raums, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2012
  Echterhölter, Anna, and Iris Därmann, eds.
  
• "Plotinus' Unaffectible Matter." Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 44 (2013): 233–77
  Noble, Christopher
  
• Diversity and Standardization. Perspectives on social and political norms in the ancient Near East, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2013
  Cancik-Kirschbaum, Eva, Jörg Klinger, and Gerfrid G.W. Müller, eds.
  
• Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley. Leiden: Brill, 2013
  Huttner, Ulrich
  
• Galen. Psychological Writings. Cambridge: University Press, 2013
  van der Eijk, Philip, and Peter N. Singer
  
• Gesicht und Schrift. Die Erzählung von Jenseitsreisen in Antike und Mittelalter. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2013
  Benz, Maximilian
  
• Herrschaftsräume und Herrschaftswissen ägyptischer Lokalregenten. Soziokulturelle Interaktionen zur Machtkonsolidierung vom 8. bis zum 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 21. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2013
  Moje, Jan
  
• Mobilität und Wissenstransfer in diachroner und interdisziplinärer Perspektive. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 9. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2013
  Kaiser, Elke, and Wolfram Schier, eds.
  
• Parallele Raumkonzepte. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 16. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2013
  Hansen, Svend, and Michael Meyer, eds.
  
• Perspektiven der Spolienforschung. Vol. 1 - 2. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 15; Vol. 40. Berlin 2013; 2017
  Altekamp, Stefan, Carmen, Marcks-Jacobs, and Peter Seiler, eds.
  
• “Commensality, Public Spheres and Handlungsräume in Ancient Mesopotamia.” In Big Histories, Human Lives. Tackling Problems of Scale in Archaeology, edited by John Robb, and Timothy Pauketat, 145-170. Santa Fe: School for Adcanced Research Press, 2013
  Pollock, Susan
  
• “Global Heritage – Worlds Apart? The Cultural Production, Appropriation and Consumption of Archaeological Heritage Spaces in Northern Africa and the Middle East.” Archaeologies, Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, 9/3 (Dec 2013): 357-571
  Kleinitz, Cornelia, Claudia Näser, and Stefan Altekamp, eds.
  
• „Age determination of Petra´s engineered landscape. OSL and radiocarbon ages of floodwater farms in the Eastern Highlands of Jordan.” Journal of Archaeological Sciences 40 (2013): 333-48
  Beckers, Brian, Brigitta Schütt, Sumiko Tsukamoto, and Manfred Frechen
  
• "Akkulturation und die Konstituierung von Identitäten. Einige theoretische Überlegungen anhand des Fallbeispieles der hogbacks." In Die Wikinger und das Fränkische Reich. Identitäten zwischen Konfrontation und Annäherung, edited by Kerstin P. Hofmann, Hermann Kamp and Matthias Wemhoff, 21-50. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2014
  Hofmann, Kerstin P.
  
• "Untersuchungen am unteren Aufweg der Knickpyramide in Dahschur." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 68 (2014): 1–30
  Alexanian, Nicole, Wiebke Bebermeier, and Dirk Blaschta
  
• Features of Common Sense Geography: Implicit knowledge structures in ancient geographical texts. Wien: LIT Verlag, 2014
  Geus, Klaus, and Martin Thiering, eds.
  
• L'amministrazione municipale delle strade romane in Italia. Bonn: Habelt Verlag, 2014
  Campedelli, Camilla
  
• On Ancient Grammars of Space. Linguistic Research on the Expression of Spatial Relations and Motion in Ancient Languages. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 19. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014
  Kutscher, Silvia, and Daniel A. Werning, eds.
  
• Partitioning the Soul. Debates from Plato to Leibniz. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 22. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014
  Corcilius, Klaus, and Dominik Perler, eds.
  
• Spatial Analysis And Social Spaces. Interdisciplinary Approaches To The Interpretation Of Prehistoric And Historic Built Environments. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 18. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014
  Paliou, Eleftheria, Undine Lieberwirth, and Silvia Polla, eds.
  
• The Archaeology of Political Spaces. The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BC. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 12. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014
  Bonatz, Dominik, ed.
  
• The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle's Physics. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014
  Odzuck, Sebastian
  
• Untersuchungen zur hethitischen Raumgrammatik. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 20. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2014
  Brosch, Cyril
  
• „Den Sternen und dem Himmel würdig". Kaiserliche Palastbauten in Rom und Trier. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014
  Wulf-Rheidt, Ulrike
  
• "(Post)Moderne Raumkonzepte und die Erforschung des Altertums." Geographia Antiqua 23/24 (2015): 25–42
  Hofmann, Kerstin P.
  
• CIL XVII/1.1: Miliaria provinciae Hispaniae Citerioris. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015
  Schmidt, Manfred G., and Camilla Campedelli
  
• Cityscaping. Constructing and Modelling Images of the City. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015
  Fuhrer, Therese, Felix Mundt, and Jan Stenger, eds.
  
• Die Kinder des Prometheus. Eine Geschichte der Menschheit vor der Erfindung der Schrift. München: C. H. Beck Verlag, 2015
  Parzinger, Hermann
  
• Galeni de locis affectis I–II. Galen: Über das Erkennen erkrankter Körperteile I–II. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015
  Gärtner, Florian
  
• Landschaften der Ritualisierung. Die Fundplätze kupfer- und bronzezeitlicher Metalldeponierungen zwischen Donau und Po. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 26. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015
  Neumann, Daniel
  
• Museumsvisionen. Der Wettbewerb zur Erweiterung der Berliner Museumsinsel 1883/84. Kiel: Verlag Ludwig, 2015
  Bernau, Nikolaus, Hans-Dieter Nägelke, and Bénédicte Savoy, eds.
  
• Prehistoric Mobility and Diet in the West Eurasian Steppes 3500 to 300 BC. An Isotopic Approach. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 25. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015
  Gerling, Claudia
  
• The Faculties: A History. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2015
  Perler, Dominik ed.
  
• "Late Roman Military Law in the Bavarian Code." clio@themis. Revue électronique d'histoire du droit 10 (2016): 1–24
  Esders, Stefan
  
• "Scalar Differences: Temporal Rhythms and Spatial Patterns at Monjukli Depe, Southern Turkmenistan." Antiquity 90 (2016): 64–80
  Bernbeck, Reinhard, and Susan Pollock
  
• "The Receptacle as a Material Base for Bodies in Plato’s TIMAEUS." In Soma: Körperkonzepte und körperliche Existenz in der antiken Philosophie und Literatur, edited by Thomas Buchheim, David Meißner, and Nora Wachsmann, 201-226. Hamburg: Meiner, 2016
  Beere, Jonathan
  
• Ancient Sundials, 2016, Edition Topoi
  Graßhoff, Gerd, Elisabeth Rinner, Karlheinz Schaldach, Bernhard Fritsch, and Liba Taub
  
• Das Siebenstromland zwischen Bronze- und Früheisenzeit. Eine Regionalstudie. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 28. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 2016
  Gass, Anton
  
• Gottes Körper. Jüdische, christliche und pagane Gottesvorstellungen in der Antike. München: Verlag CH Beck, 2016
  Markschies, Christoph
  
• Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae, Edition Topoi, 2016
  Breytenbach, Cilliers, Klaus Hallof, Ulrich Huttner, Jennifer Krumm, Jean Ogereau, and Marina Veksina
  
• Modelling Human Behaviour in Landscapes. Basic Concepts and Modelling Elements. Wien, New York: Springer, 2016
  Nakoinz, Oliver, and Daniel Knitter
  
• Raum, Gabe und Erinnerung. Weihgaben und Heiligtümer in prähistorischen und antiken Gesellschaften. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 38. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2016
  Hansen, Svend, Daniel Neumann, and Tilmann Vachta, eds.
  
• Space and Knowledge. Topoi Research Group Articles. eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies, Special Volume 6, 2016
  Graßhoff, Gerd, and Michael Meyer, Eds.
  
• Spatial Metaphors. Ancient Texts and Transformations. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 39. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2016
  Horn, Fabian, and Cilliers Breytenbach, eds.
  
• Spatial Thinking and External Representation: Towards a Historical Epistemology of Space. Berlin: Edition Open Access, 2016
  Schemmel, Matthias, ed.
  
• The Aristotelian Mechanics. Text and Diagrams. Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing, 2016
  van Leeuwen, Joyce
  
• Wasser - Wege - Wissen auf der iberischen Halbinsel. 3 volumes. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2016 - 2018
  Czeguhn, Ignacio, Cosima Möller, Yolanda Quesada Morillas, and José A. Pérez Juan, eds.
  
• “Ancient Babylonian Astronomers Calculated Jupiter’s Position from the Area Under a Time-Velocity Graph.” Science 351 (29 Jan 2016): 482-484
  Ossendrijver, Matthieu
  
• "Großbaustellen in Sumer: Aufwand und Kosten." In Groß Bauen. Großbaustellen als kulturgeschichtliches Phänomen, edited by Klaus Rheidt, and Werner Lorenz, 27-36. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017
  Brunke, Hagan
  
• "Of Paths and Places: the Origin of Ptolemy’s Geography." Archive for History of Exact Sciences 71 (2017): 81–101
  Graßhoff, Gerd, Florian Mittenhuber, and Elisabeth Rinner
  
• "Transforming Technical Know-how in Time and Space. Using the Digital Atlas of Innovations to Understand the Innovation Process of Animal Traction and the Wheel." eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies 6 (2017): 16–63
  Klimscha, Florian
  
• Between Memory Sites and Memory Networks. New Archaeological and Historical Perspectives. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 45. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2017
  Bernbeck, Reinhard, Kerstin P. Hofmann, and Ulrike Sommer, eds.
  
• Das Meer als Versprechen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017
  Kopp, Hans
  
• Imagining Empire: Political Space in Hellenistic and Roman Literature. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2017
  Asper, Markus, and Victoria Rimell, eds.
  
• On The Mount Of Intertwined Serpents. The Pictorial History of Power, Rule, and Land on Lienzo Seler II. Petersberg: Imhof Verlag, 2017
  König, Viola
  
• Praxagoras of Cos on Arteries, Pulse and Pneuma. Fragments and Interpretation. Leiden: Brill, 2017
  Lewis, Orly
  
• Studies on the Ancient Exact Sciences in Honor of Lis Brack-Bernsen. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 44. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2017
  Steele, John, and Mathieu Ossendrijver, eds.
  
• Tabula Peutingeriana. Die einzige Weltkarte aus der Antike. Darmstadt: Philipp von Zabern in WBG, 2017
  Rathmann, Michael
  
• The Iberian Peninsula in Ptolemy’s Geography. Origins of the Coordinates and Textual History. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 51. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2017
  Defaux, Olivier
  
• Vom Wandern der Völker. Migrationserzählungen in den Altertumswissenschaften. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 41. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2017
  Wiedemann, Felix, Kerstin P. Hofmann, and Hans-Joachim Gehrke, eds.
  
• Aristotle’s Theory of Bodies. Oxford: University Press, 2018
  Pfeiffer, Christian
  
• Atlas of Innovations, 2018, Edition Topoi
  Hansen, Svend, Jürgen Renn, Florian Klimscha, Jochen Büttner
  
• Außenräume in Innenräumen. Die musealen Raumkonzeptionen von Walter Andrae und Theodor Wiegand im Pergamonmuseum. Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 2018
  Maischberger, Martin, and Barbara Feller, eds.
  
• Das öffentliche Auftreten des Christentums im spätantiken Antiochia. Eine Studie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Agonmetaphorik in ausgewählten Märtyrerpredigten des Johannes Chrysostomos. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018
  Krautheim, Frauke
  
• Development of Gymnasia and Graeco-Roman Cityscapes. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 58. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2018
  Mania, Ulrich, and Monika Trümper, eds.
  
• Die Dekonstruktion antiker Räume und die Spolienverwertung beim Neubau von St. Peter in Rom. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 63. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2018
  Fritsch, Bernhard
  
• Early Christianity in Lycaonia and Adjacent Areas. From Paul to Amphilochius of Iconium. Leiden: Brill, 2018
  Breytenbach, Cilliers, and Christiane Zimmermann
  
• Frühe Eisenverhüttung bei Glienick. Siedlungs- und wirtschaftsarchäologische Forschungen zur vorrömischen Eisen- und römischen Kaiserzeit in Brandenburg. Rahden/Westf.: Verlag Marie Leidorf, 2018
  Brumlich, Markolf
  
• Hyginus – Das Feldmesserbuch. Ein Meisterwerk der spätantiken Buchkunst. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2018
  Lindermann, Jens-Olaf, Eberhard, Knobloch, and Cosima Möller
  
• Paths of Knowledge. Interconnection(s) between Knowledge and Journey in the Greco-Roman World. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 60. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2018
  Ferella, Chiara, and Cilliers Breytenbach, eds.
  
• Studies in Multilingualism, Lingua Franca and Lingua Sacra. Berlin: Edition Open Access, 2018
  Geller, Mark J., and Jens Braarvig, eds.
  
• Wandernde Dinge als Assemblagen. Neo-Materialistische Perspektiven zum ‚römischen Import‘ im ‚mitteldeutschen Barbaricum‘. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 52. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2018
  Schreiber, Stefan
  
• Water Management in Ancient Civilizations. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 53. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2018
  Berking, Jonas, ed.
  
• „Mathematical Modeling of the Spreading of Innovations in the Ancient World.” eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies 7 (2018): 1-32
  Djurdjevac Conrad, Nataša, Daniel Fürstenau, Ana Grabundžija, Luzie Helfmann, Martin Park, Wolfram Schier, Brigitta Schütt, et al.
  
• „The early history of weighing technology from the perspective of a theory of innovation.” In Emergence and expansion of pre-classical mechanics, edited by Rivka Feldhay, Jürgen Renn, Matthias Schemmel, and Matteo Valleriani, 81-109. Dordrecht: Springer, 2018
  Büttner, Jochen, Jürgen Renn, and Mathias Schemmel
  
• "Describing Spaces: Topologies of Interlace in the St Gall Gospels." In Sacred Scripture / Sacred Space: The Interlacing of Real Places and Conceptual Spaces in Medieval Art and Architecture, edited by Tobias Frese, Wilfried E. Keil, and Kristina Krüger, 11-36. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2019
  Bawden, Tina
  
• "Reconstructing human–landscape interactions in the context of ancient iron smelting on Elba Island, Italy, using sedimentological evidence." Geoarchaeology, 2019 (Feb 2019): 1–24
  Becker, Fabian, Raphael Eser, Philipp R. Hoelzmann, and Brigitta Schütt
  
• Camminando vedrete. Wege durch das antike Rom in der Reiseliteratur des 7. bis 16. Jahrhunderts. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 71. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2019
  Römer, Lisa
  
• Chemical Composition of Ancient Ceramics, 2019, Edition Topoi
  Schneider, Gerwulf, and Malgorzata Daszkiewicz
  
• Das dritte Jahrtausend im osteuropäischen Steppenraum. Kulturhistorische Studien zu prähistorischer Subsistenzwirtschaft und Interaktion mit benachbarten Räumen. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 37. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2019
  Kaiser, Elke
  
• Das Höhlenbuch im Grab des Petamenophis (TT33). Szenen, Texte, Wandtafeln. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 66. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2019
  Werning, Daniel A.
  
• Galen: Works on Human Nature. Mixtures (De Temperamentis). Cambridge: University Press, 2019
  van der Eijk, Philip, and Peter N. Singer
  
• Johannes Chrysostomos und die Christianisierung der Polis: “Damit die Städte Städte werden”. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019
  Stenger, Jan
  
• Music and Politics in the Ancient World. Exploring Identity, Agency, Stability and Change through the Records of Music Archaeology. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 65. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2019
  Eichmann, Ricardo, Mark Howell and Graeme Lawson, eds.
  
• Zentralität. Theorie, Methoden und Fallbeispiele zur Analyse zentraler Orte. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 56. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2019
  Nakoinz, Oliver
  
• “Evaluating the Potential of Semi-Automated Image Analysis for Delimiting Soil and Sediment Layers.” Journal of Field Archaeology 44, 7 (2019)
  Haburaj, Vincent, Jan Krause, Sebastian Pless, Björn Waske, and Brigitta Schütt
  
• Approaching Economic Spaces. Methods and Interpretation in Archaeometric Ceramic Analysis. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 64. Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2020
  Meyer, Michael, ed.
  
• Spatial Environment and Conceptual Design. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, Vol. 44. Berlin: Edition Topoi
  Knitter, Daniel; Schier, Wolfram; Schütt, Brigitta