Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities

Liesbeth Claes

University Lecturer History Department

Interests

GIS, SQL, data management, relational databases, cartography and spatial analysis

Current projects

The use of digital tools is both incorporated in Claes’s research project “Dialogues of Power” and in the MA course "Numismatics: a practical guide". The research project aims to analyse the legitimising dialogue between Roman emperors and their Germanic legions during the so-called “crisis of the third century” by analysing coin hoards and votive inscriptions. By doing so, this project will shed new light on how the loyalty of soldiers towards their emperors was established and which communication strategies emperors used to (re-)gain the political and military stability that ultimately helped to reunify the Roman Empire after the crisis. The MA course focus on Roman coin hoards found in the Netherlands. After some introduction courses, students will learn to work with relational databases and plot their coin hoard data in QGIS. In doing so, students could not only interpreted coin hoards individually, but also explore spatial patterns between the Roman hoards in the Netherlands.

Biography

Liesbeth Claes is a university lecturer at Leiden University. Her research focuses on the mechanics of power during the later Roman Empire, with a particular focus on the northern Rhine frontier. In her research, database management, relational databases and spatial analysis plays a pivotal role.