Habilitation (book project)

The manuscript (ca. 290,000 words) was submitted as a habilitation thesis to FB III of the University of Trier on 7 April 2021.

The monographic study will be chronologically limited to the years between the Theodosian dynasty until the end of the reign of Emperor Herakleios and his directly related successors, i.e. from the second half of the 4th century to the second half of the 7th century. The focus on the Eastern Roman emperors in Constantinople is a consequence of both the better overall source situation for this area, and one of the core theses of the work: i.e. that it was precisely the retreat to Constantinople that made a sophisticated ceremonial not only possible but necessary. However, where appropriate, fundamental developments in the field of ceremonial and imperial political ideology will be treated synoptically with developments in the Western Empire, where a similar retreat of imperial persons took place. The basic approach of the work is to understand late antique ceremonial as a collection of rituals constituting meaning and power, in which the essential aspects of late antique ruler ideology are reflected. Following current research on court and ceremonial culture, imperial ceremonial is understood not only as monarchical representation, but also as a performative expression of a form of rule based on acceptance and consensus.

Smaller research projects

Twisted Transfers. Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Greece and Rome

International DFG/AHRC project located at the Universities of Potsdam (D) and Roehampton (UK), 2020-2022. 

Investigator in Project 3: "Diplomatic Gifts in the Principate and in Late Antiquity"

Gifts exchanged between ambassadors and rulers of polities were a staple of ancient diplomacy. They could serve to open and support negotiations, but also to celebrate the successful conclusion of a treaty, and, particularly in Late Antiquity, were firmly embedded in an elaborate ceremonial of diplomatic exchanges. However, no gift is innocent. In ancient sources, interpretations and judgements of gifts vary wildly and depending on who gave what to whom and on which occasion. Gifts to the Roman Empire were likely to be seen or represented as tribute owed. Conversely, similar transfers of wealth by Romans to external polities may have been presented as voluntary gifts by the imperial court, but our sources often see in them little less than tributes. A contemporary discourse about the purpose, appropriateness and adequacy of diplomatic ‘gifts’ interpreted them either as economically preferable alternatives to war, as subsidies given to loyal allies or as humiliating tributes paid from a position of weakness, depending on the circumstances. This project aims to investigate these discourses, with a particular focus on Late Antiquity, but always taking into account the evolution of such discursive elements from the time of Augustus onwards.

For more information see the project homepage. 

Maritime Risks (MARIS)

Joint project  with Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gehring (Art History) and PD Dr. Simon Karstens (Early Modern History). Funded by the Research Fund of the University of Trier 2017/18.

The subject of the project are pictorial and written representations of maritime risks and strategies for their control in antiquity and the early modern period. The aim of the interdisciplinary study is, on the one hand, to trace interactions between ideas of risk and strategies for risk control across epochs and, on the other hand, to work out their continuities or changes in a historical perspective. In contrast to previous research, not only empirically verifiable, supposedly objective risks such as storms are dealt with, but also subjectively imagined risks rooted in contemporary cultural and religious ideas. Accordingly, the focus of the project goes beyond the investigation of nautical or economic measures of risk management and lies on cultural strategies that serve to describe, categorise and avoid potential risks.

International conference from 3-5 May 2018: "Dangerous Elements. Strategies of Mastering Maritime Risks in Antiquity and the Early Modern Period". See the conference report by J. Eikmeier (H-Soz-u-Kult).