Antiquity, stretching from the end of Prehistory up to and including the appearance of religions with universal aspirations – such as, for instance, Christianity – was the first period in world history to witness the development of inter-local and later inter-regional networks of interaction. This occurred in the first instance in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and later also on the Indian subcontinent and in China. Later still, this phenomenon became visible in the Mediterranean Region. The Leiden section specializing in Ancient History concentrates on the study of Graeco-Roman cultures within the latter region, which culminated in the great empires of Alexander the Great and his successors. The appearance of these empires led to the development of an interaction network that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in the West to Afghanistan in the East. Shortly afterwards, these Greek empires were incorporated into the Roman empire, the first (and last) pan-Mediterranean empire in world history.

These processes of interaction and expansion brought along with them numerous transformations at local and regional level. As a result, all parties involved, including the conquerors, were forced to find a new equilibrium in the political, social, economic, ideological and religious domains. Many of these developments have parallels in the modern world. The results of modern globalisation may well be new and unique, but the process as such can easily be compared with the integration and homogenisation processes taking place in the Greek and Roman world. Themes such as local particularism versus
uniformity, the economic effects of the appearance of ‘world empires’ and the tensions between cultural imperialism and the resistance to it have direct counterparts in the modern era.

This does not mean that we can simply project our modern relations, concepts and problems onto the antique world. Rather, a detailed study of the Greek monarchies and the Roman empire reveals a number of differences compared to later periods that are at least as interesting as the similarities. It is undeniably true that the empires to be studied displayed a number of ‘modern’ features, such as a close network of cities, a complex social structure, a lively inter-regional trade, an advanced legal system and, particularly in Late Antiquity, a developing bureaucracy. In contrast to this, other features are less recognizably modern, for instance the great importance accorded to the accumulation of money and goods using political means, patronage networks and the high degree of freedom for local elites to appropriate for themselves primarily agrarian surpluses.

If we consider the administrative aspects of the great Mediterranean empires, we find an intriguing mix of ambitious ideological claims and limited practical objectives. On the one hand, the rulers of ancient empires revered the ideal of an unlimited, universal dominion. On the other hand, in these empires, the exercise of power was based to a large extent on collaboration with local elites, who were granted a high degree of administrative freedom. Partially due to this fact, these empires provided room for a multitude of local laws, cultures and religions. From a modern perspective, the Roman exercise of power can thus be termed ‘extensive’. The economic, social and cultural transformation set in motion as a result of the interaction and integration processes mentioned earlier cannot be understood adequately unless we take into consideration these and other essential characteristics of ancient empires. Incidentally, the lack of a central administrative style in the great Graeco-Roman empires was also ‘abnormal’ from the perspective of some other pre-industrial empires. For instance, the Chinese empire of the Han dynasty, a contemporary of the Roman empire, has a much larger, centralised bureaucratic system which left much less opportunity for any form of local or regional self-government. Curiously, almost no research has so far been carried out into the origins and historical implications of these types of contrasts.

The choice in favour of the research profile sketched above takes into consideration a number of methodological and technical assumptions which have contributed to the recent success of the Leiden Ancient History section. One of these assumptions is that the study of ancient societies must to a large extent be based on the comparative method. Secondly, the Ancient History section aims to study the ‘unification of the Mediterranean Region’ by making extensive use of inscriptions, papyruses and legal texts. The Leiden expertise in this area is unique from a national perspective, and very rare, to say the least, worldwide. A third assumption is that in the study of the Graeco-Roman world, unilateral approaches, either solely from the social-economic perspective, or from the perspective of the history of mentality must be avoided.

In order to make the research programme outlined above more concrete, a number of research areas have been defined which will play a central role in future research. First of all, research will focus on the transformation of economic life in the Mediterranean Region – including motherland Italy – as a result of the development and continued existence of a pan-Mediterranean Roman Empire. A clear example of this research area is the VICI project on Peasants, citizens and soldiers: the effects of demographic growth in Roman Republican Italy (201-88 BC) begun in 2004. A second important area for research focuses on the transformation of urban life and urban culture in the great Mediterranean empires. In line with the previously mentioned assumptions, research in this area will focus primarily on those areas for which a large number of documentary sources are available. A good example is the research on the cities of Asian Minor from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the ‘Third Century Crisis’. Finally, attention will be given to the transformation of religion, mentality and cultural identity. Research in this field will focus on unifying tendencies within religion. A concrete example is the emergence of so-called ‘universalist cults’ from the 4th century BC onwards. In addition, attention will clearly be paid to the expansion of Christianity, a process which led to an unprecedented religious homogenisation of the Mediterranean Region in the course of the 4th century AD.

Although the Ancient History section aims to include a broad spectrum of social phenomena in its research, the focus on the political unification of the Mediterranean Region and the attendant processes of change guarantees a high degree of coherence. In addition, this ensures the creation of a research profile that is attractive on a national and international level, as well as being specifically recognizable as a Leiden product. Finally, this choice of research focus creates a solid basis for collaboration between the Ancient History section and fellow historians in the Leiden History Department since much research carried out in other sections focuses on closely related problems, such as political, economic and cultural expansion, migration and globalisation.