Research programme
Ancient Worlds Network
The Ancient Worlds Network brings together staff and graduate students in LIAS working on the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world.
- Contact
- Miriam Müller
About the Network
The Ancient Worlds Network brings together faculty and graduate students at LIAS whose research focuses on the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. Our members’ expertise spans a wide range of regions and disciplines, including Ancient Arabia, Assyriology, Coptic Studies, Egyptology, Hebrew and Aramaic Studies, Ancient Iranian Studies, Papyrology, linguistics, the study of religions, and the history of philosophy and science.
The Network pursues three core aims. First, it fosters scholarly exchange and intellectual synergy among researchers working on the ancient world at LIAS. To this end, we regularly organize discussion sessions devoted to “Current Debates” in our respective fields. Second, the Network provides a forum for reflecting on the present and future challenges facing our disciplines, and for developing strategies to enhance their resilience and adaptability. Third, it supports graduate training in ancient world studies at LIAS through a dedicated “Teaching Lab,” designed to strengthen and innovate graduate teaching training.
Lecture Series: Ancient Worlds Lunch Talks
Fall semester 2026: every other Wednesday 12:00-13:00 - free pizza and everyone is welcome to bring lunch.
This will be an opportunity to exchange ideas and latest research in an informal atmosphere with a small audience of MA and PhD students, Postdocs and Faculty of the ONOS and CAC program and all interested students and colleagues of Classics, History and Archaeology.
Time: 12:00-13:00h
Location: Herta Mohr, KITLV Seminar Room 1.30 (first floor)
| 30 September 2026 |
Gaëlle Chantrain (Professor in Egyptology, University of Louvain-la-Neuve/BiOr editor) |
| 14 October 2026 | Vlad Ungureanu (NINO Student Research Assistant) The ship of the desert: Geotracking camel husbandry in the first millennium BCE Near East through modern and legacy data |
| 28 October 2026 |
Geert de Breucker (NINO Visiting Fellow) |
| 11 November 2026 |
Melanie Groß (Lecturer in Assyriology, VU) Hidden gems in the Liagre Böhl Collection: Administrative documents from the temple archive of Eanna from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II |
Forum Antiquum & Ancient Worlds Network lecture
| 12 November 2026 |
Panagiota Sarischouli (Professor of Ancient Greek and Papyrology, University of Thessaloniki/LUCAS Visiting Researcher) When words become images: Voces magicae and visual wordplay in Graeco-Egyptian magic? 15:30-17:00, Vossius room with following reception |
| 25 November 2026 |
Sigrid van Roode (NINO Visiting Fellow) 12:00-13:00, Herta Mohr, KITLV Seminar Room 1.30 (1st floor) |
| 2 December 2026 |
Elizabeth Bettles (NINO Visiting Fellow) & Kiki Freriks (PhD candidate Egyptology) Painting Book of the Dead spells in the tomb of Irynefer (TT 290) at Deir el-Medina: Discoveries from the 2026 season 12:00-13:00, Herta Mohr, KITLV Seminar Room 1.30 (1st floor) |
Previous Ancient Worlds Lunch Talks
Spring 2026
- March 13th, 2026: Iconography as a key to understanding political relations in ancient Sumer – Remco de Maaijer (PhD candidate Assyriology)
- March 27th, 2026: Modelling interaction in prehistoric archaeology - a case study from 3rd millennium BCE Anatolia – Michele Massa (NINO Visiting Fellow)
- April 10th, 2026: The myth of trade collapse at the end of the Bronze Age - Jesse Millek (NINO Visiting Fellow)
- April 24th, 2026: A ‘Königsnovelle’ of Tutankhamun and the ascension of Horemheb - Jacobus van Dijk (Emeritus Professor of Egyptology, University of Groningen)
- May 8th, 2026: Placing the dead: Infant and child burial practices in Chalcolithic Asia Minor - Burcu Yildirim (NINO Visiting Fellow)
Fall 2025
- September 22nd, 2025: Dreams without Borders? New Perspectives on Oneirocritica from Babylon to Artemidor – Elyze Zomer (Lecturer in Assyriology, University of Tübingen/BiOr Editor)
- October 6th, 2025: A Flour(ishing) Business? Milling and Flour from the New Kingdom through the Graeco-Roman Period in Egypt – Daan Smets (PhD Candidate in Ancient History, Leuven University/AGROS project)
- October 20th, 2025: The Geographical Scope of Ebla Administration – Elisabetta Cianfanelli (Postdoc in Assyriology, University of Florence/NINO Visiting Fellow)
- November 3rd, 2025: Picturing the Past: the NINO Ahnengalerie as Institutional Memory – Koen Klein (MA Candidate in Ancient History/NINO Office Assistant)
- November 17th, 2025: From Dusty to Digital Data: Digitization of the Tell Hammam al-Turkman Excavation Archive – Ruben Hartman (MA Candidate in Archaeology/NINO Student Research Assistant 2024)
Forum Antiquum & Ancient Worlds Network lecture
- November 27th, 2025: An Anthropology of the Material World: Rethinking Nature, Knowledge, and Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia – Shiyanthi Thavapalan (Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/BiOr editor)
- December 1st, 2025: (Re-)conceptualizing Dutch Collections of Ancient Egyptian Human Remains – Pansee Abou ElAtta (Postdoc Carleton University/NINO Visiting Fellow)