Formulaic texts constitute a core interest of researchers working at UGent. Within the Greek section, there are two major ongoing research projects about such genres, an ERC-project about ‘everyday’ texts ...read more
This project aims at analyzing for the first time (im)purity language and discourses in Syriac sources written in the 4th-9th c., to highlight the specificities of Syriac Christianity vis-à-vis other ancient strands. ...read more
In the last several years, fantastic manuscript finds have surfaced opening new windows into the scholarly study of the development of Buddhist literature. Gandhara Corpora represents a multifaceted, holistic approach ...read more
Buddhist Sūtra Literature represents the diverse, discursive genre of scripture held to be canonical by various Buddhist traditions because it was considered to be buddhavacana (words spoken by the Buddha). ...read more
This project aims to improve our understanding of the use of courtesans (high-class Greek sex workers) as a literary focus in the Second Sophistic (50-250 CE), a literary and cultural ...read more
In modern languages, polite formulaic phrases often trace back to performative verbs (e.g. performative verbs of asking such as parakaló in Modern Greek, bitte in German or prego in Italian). ...read more
Stone domestic architecture is first encountered in north-western Gaul in the Roman period. The shift from indigenous houses in perishable materials to residences in stone is a major turning point ...read more
This project is to be situated in the field of late Latin literature and focuses on the poet Maximian (6th c.AD). His corpus consists of six elegies (686 verses in total) ...read more
The aim of the research is to trace the history of the concept of the “Second Sophistic”. This label is broadly assigned to an intellectual movement involving Greek-speaking intellectuals in ...read more
Over the course of the 4th to the 6th centuries, the ancient world was coming to its end in the midst of massive change: the establishment of Christianity, alterations in ...read more