- University of Groningen
Dep. of History
PO Box 716
9700 AS Groningen
The Netherlands - 050-3636968
Onno van Nijf
University of Groningen, Faculty of Arts, Faculty Member
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Religieuses, Department Memberadd
- Urban History, Sociology of Sport, Sports History, Classics, Greek History, Literacy, and 51 moreClassical Archaeology, Comparative History, Greco-Roman Science, Preindustrial Urbanism, Political Culture, Mediterranean Studies, Classical rhetoric, History of Sociablity, Greek Epigraphy, Ancient Networks, Historical Anthropology, Roman Religion, Latin Epigraphy, Anthropology of Sport, Acculturation and 'Romanisation', Cultural Transfer Studies, Ancient Emotions, Religion, Social Networks, Social Networking, Ancient Greek and Roman Necropoleis, Ancient Lycia, Funerary Archaeology, Actor Network Theory, Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, Medieval Tournaments, Asia Minor, Pisidia, Plutarch, Greek Literature, Ancient History, Pamphylia, Ancient Greek and Roman Art, Léopold Migeotte, Hellenistic Ruler Cult, History of Technology, History of Science and Technology, Ancient Technology (Archaeology), Ancient technology, Sagalassos, Identity construction and cultural production, Numismatics, Roman Epigraphy, Epigraphy, Ancient Greek Epigraphy, Epigraphy (Archaeology), Ionia, Asia Minor, Anatolian Epigraphy, Papyrology & Epigraphy, Mycenaean Epigraphy, epigraphy of the Cayster valley in Lydia, Emperor Nero, and Roman Historyedit
- My academic interests focus on the political culture of the Greek city, and Greek festivals and athletics in the Rom... moreMy academic interests focus on the political culture of the Greek city, and Greek festivals and athletics in the Roman period. On this page you will find a list of publications (under books) and some 'working papers' (under papers)
You will find more information on my research projects, a CV and links to many of my publications on my Faculty website:
http://www.rug.nl/staff/o.m.van.nijf/index
Many of my articles are directly available via SCRIBD:
http://www.scribd.com/vannijf
I maintain a site with heuristic tools on Greek and Latin epigraphy: http://www.saxa-loquuntur.nl (new URL)edit
An international tribute to Jan Willem Drijvers to mark his retirement from the University of Groningen.
Research Interests:
This edited volume studies the public honours that Greek cities bestowed upon their own citizens and foreign dignitaries and benefactors. These included civic praise, crowns, proedria, public funerals, honorific statues and monuments. The... more
This edited volume studies the public honours that Greek cities bestowed upon their own citizens and foreign dignitaries and benefactors. These included civic praise, crowns, proedria, public funerals, honorific statues and monuments. The authors discuss the development of this honorific system, and in particular the epigraphic texts and the monuments through which it is accessible. The focus is on the Imperial period (1st-3rd centuries AD). The papers investigate the forms of honour, the procedures and formulae of local practices, as well as the changes in local honorific habits that resulted from the integration of the Greek cities in the Roman Empire. All interested in the epigraphy and political history of the Greek city in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Research Interests:
2nd edition
Research Interests:
This special issue of Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis contains the papers of a workshop held at Groningen University by the Research Group Sustainable Societies Past and Present in 2012. The workshop was dedicated to processes of civic... more
This special issue of Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis contains the papers of a workshop held at Groningen University by the Research Group Sustainable Societies Past and Present in 2012. The workshop was dedicated to processes of civic education in the cities of pre-modern Europe -ranging from classical antiquity to the early modern era. We suggest that civic education often relied on what we might call 'civic mirrors' , i.e. texts, images, monuments, and rituals that offered instruction to citizens about acceptable and expected styles of citizenship and civic leadership, by presenting them with a positive or negative ideal type. The contributions to this special issue demonstrate the broad variety of mirroring mechanisms , and introduce a new research agenda
Research Interests:
This volume investigates the complex and diverse developments in the religious cultures of Greek cities after the classical age. An international team of scholars considers the continuities of traditional Greek religious practices, and... more
This volume investigates the complex and diverse developments in the religious cultures of Greek cities after the classical age. An international team of scholars considers the continuities of traditional Greek religious practices, and seeks to understand the impact of new influences on those practices, notably the deeper engagement with Judaism and how the emergence of Christianity redefined polis religion. The essays illustrate the inadequacy of 'decline' as a model for understanding Greek religion, exploring how dynamic change in religious life corresponded to the transformations in the Greek city.
The volume explores how the citizens of the Greek city after the classical age used religion to construct their cultural identities and political experiences and how many of the features of traditional polis religion survived into and shaped the religious mentalities of the Christian era.
The volume explores how the citizens of the Greek city after the classical age used religion to construct their cultural identities and political experiences and how many of the features of traditional polis religion survived into and shaped the religious mentalities of the Christian era.
Research Interests: Ancient History, Near Eastern Archaeology, Greek History, Early Christianity, Greek Epigraphy, and 9 moreAncient Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient Greek History, Ancient magic, Greek and Roman Epigraphy, Archaeology, Classical archaeology, Greek and Roman history, Greek Colonization (Magna Graecia and Sicily), Material Culture Studies, Funerary Archaeology, GRAECO-ROMAN RELIGIONS AND CULTS, Greek and Roman Social History, and Graeco-Roman Religion
Proceedings of a one day colloquium held at Fransum 23rd July 2007 abstract: Recent years have seen a renewed interest among scholars of the ancient world in the subject of public space. Squares, streets, gymnasia and bathhouses were... more
Proceedings of a one day colloquium held at Fransum 23rd July 2007
abstract:
Recent years have seen a renewed interest among scholars of the ancient world in the subject of public space. Squares, streets, gymnasia and bathhouses were central to the urban experience of the Greeks and Romans and it is increasingly being recognised that investigating such spaces offers great potential for furthering our understanding of these ancient cultures. By combining archaeological and historical evidence research into subjects such as the design and layout of public spaces, day-to-day behaviour and the erection of public monuments is leading to valuable new insights into the nature of ancient society. This volume brings together contributions by scholars working on such topics for different periods and different parts of the Greek and Roman world. These papers range chronologically from the Hellenistic to the Roman Imperial period and geographically from Asia Minor to Italy.
abstract:
Recent years have seen a renewed interest among scholars of the ancient world in the subject of public space. Squares, streets, gymnasia and bathhouses were central to the urban experience of the Greeks and Romans and it is increasingly being recognised that investigating such spaces offers great potential for furthering our understanding of these ancient cultures. By combining archaeological and historical evidence research into subjects such as the design and layout of public spaces, day-to-day behaviour and the erection of public monuments is leading to valuable new insights into the nature of ancient society. This volume brings together contributions by scholars working on such topics for different periods and different parts of the Greek and Roman world. These papers range chronologically from the Hellenistic to the Roman Imperial period and geographically from Asia Minor to Italy.
Research Interests:
CONTENTS List of Illustrations .................................................................................... vii Preface ....................................................................................................... ix... more
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations .................................................................................... vii Preface ....................................................................................................... ix Contributors .............................................................................................. xi
Political culture in the Greek city after the classical age: intro- duction and preview.......................................................................... 1
Onno M. van Nijf and Richard Alston
Chapter 1. ‘Ils étaient dans la ville, mais tout à fait en dehors de la cité.’ Status and identity in private religious associations in Hellenistic Athens............................................................................. 27
Ilias Arnaoutoglou
Chapter2. WheretheNon-DeliansmetinDelos.Themeeting-places of foreign associations and ethnic communities in Late Hellenistic Delos ................................................................................................. 49
Monika Trümper
Chapter 3. Ethnic minorities in Hellenistic Egypt ........................... 101 Dorothy J. Thompson
Chapter 4. Money for the polis. Public administration of private donations in Hellenistic Greece ........................................................ 119
Kaja Harter-Uibopuu
Chapter 5. Kings and cities in the Hellenistic Age .......................... 141 Rolf Strootman
Chapter 6. Pride and participation. Political practice, euergetism, and oligarchisation in the Hellenistic polis....................................... 155
Edward Ch. L. van der Vliet
Chapter 7. Oligarchs and benefactors. Elite demography and euergetism in the Greek east of the Roman Empire ......................... 185
Arjan Zuiderhoek
Chapter 8. Reconstructing the political life and culture of the Greek cities of the Roman Empire.................................................... 197
Giovanni Salmeri
VI contents
Chapter 9. Public space and the political culture of Roman Ter- messos ............................................................................................... 215
Onno M. van Nijf
Chapter 10. The councillor’s dilemma. Political culture in third- century Roman Egypt ....................................................................... 243
Laurens E. Tacoma
Chapter 11. Households as communities? Oikoi and poleis in Late Antique and Byzantine Egypt ........................................................... 263
Roberta Mazza
Chapter 12. The oikoi and civic government in Egypt in the fifth and sixth centuries............................................................................. 287
James Tuck
Epilogue: Post-politics and the ancient Greek City.......................... 307 Richard Alston
Index Locorum .................................................................................. 337 Index.................................................................................................. 344
List of Illustrations .................................................................................... vii Preface ....................................................................................................... ix Contributors .............................................................................................. xi
Political culture in the Greek city after the classical age: intro- duction and preview.......................................................................... 1
Onno M. van Nijf and Richard Alston
Chapter 1. ‘Ils étaient dans la ville, mais tout à fait en dehors de la cité.’ Status and identity in private religious associations in Hellenistic Athens............................................................................. 27
Ilias Arnaoutoglou
Chapter2. WheretheNon-DeliansmetinDelos.Themeeting-places of foreign associations and ethnic communities in Late Hellenistic Delos ................................................................................................. 49
Monika Trümper
Chapter 3. Ethnic minorities in Hellenistic Egypt ........................... 101 Dorothy J. Thompson
Chapter 4. Money for the polis. Public administration of private donations in Hellenistic Greece ........................................................ 119
Kaja Harter-Uibopuu
Chapter 5. Kings and cities in the Hellenistic Age .......................... 141 Rolf Strootman
Chapter 6. Pride and participation. Political practice, euergetism, and oligarchisation in the Hellenistic polis....................................... 155
Edward Ch. L. van der Vliet
Chapter 7. Oligarchs and benefactors. Elite demography and euergetism in the Greek east of the Roman Empire ......................... 185
Arjan Zuiderhoek
Chapter 8. Reconstructing the political life and culture of the Greek cities of the Roman Empire.................................................... 197
Giovanni Salmeri
VI contents
Chapter 9. Public space and the political culture of Roman Ter- messos ............................................................................................... 215
Onno M. van Nijf
Chapter 10. The councillor’s dilemma. Political culture in third- century Roman Egypt ....................................................................... 243
Laurens E. Tacoma
Chapter 11. Households as communities? Oikoi and poleis in Late Antique and Byzantine Egypt ........................................................... 263
Roberta Mazza
Chapter 12. The oikoi and civic government in Egypt in the fifth and sixth centuries............................................................................. 287
James Tuck
Epilogue: Post-politics and the ancient Greek City.......................... 307 Richard Alston
Index Locorum .................................................................................. 337 Index.................................................................................................. 344
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
van Vliet, R. and O. van Nijf (2023). Agents of Change around the Valley of the Muses. in: S. Castelli and I. Sluiter, Agents of Change in the Greco-Roman and Early Modern Periods: Ten Case Studies in Agency in Innovation. Leiden :... more
van Vliet, R. and O. van Nijf (2023). Agents of Change around the Valley of the Muses. in: S. Castelli and I. Sluiter, Agents of Change in the Greco-Roman and Early Modern Periods: Ten Case Studies in Agency in Innovation. Leiden : 70-90.
This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This survey offers a brief introduction to the main bibliographic and heuristic tools for the study of Greek epigraphy with links to epigraphic websites.
Research Interests:
This article offers a brief introduction to the most frequent type of inscription: funerary inscriptions or epitaphs. The article offers a chronological overview from the Archaic period to late Antiquity, with an emphasis on Athens. It... more
This article offers a brief introduction to the most frequent type of inscription: funerary inscriptions or epitaphs. The article offers a chronological overview from the Archaic period to late Antiquity, with an emphasis on Athens. It opens with a brief discussion of the archaeological and ritual contexts in which funerary inscriptions were set up, followed by a discussion of archaic epigrams and the social strategies that lay behind them. This is followed by a discussion of public and private graves that shows how epigraphic habits changed over time. The article continues with a discussion of funerary epigraphic habits outside Athens and closes with a few examples of Christian epitaphs.
Research Interests:
Athenian authors and orators, and the imperial city in which they worked. Perhaps both key parts of this short chapter could be developed further: certainly, one would have liked more depth to D’A.’s thoughts on the importance of writing... more
Athenian authors and orators, and the imperial city in which they worked. Perhaps both key parts of this short chapter could be developed further: certainly, one would have liked more depth to D’A.’s thoughts on the importance of writing in the development of new tekhnai, while the quick review of Athens’ distinctive ‘orientation to innovation’ aims at a number of targets and is a little less satisfying as a result. Of course, some unevenness is inevitable in an ambitious volume that aspires to represent the ‘elusive and many-sided aspect’ of the Greek understanding of the new. None the less, this rich and challenging book succeeds in offering a suitably bright assessment of ancient innovation and novelty. D’A.’s outstanding study is one that all with an interest in ancient Greek culture need to read.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper explores how the Roman empire was perceived and experienced in the Greek world from c. 200 BCE to the early Principate, with a special focus on the Romaia, a festival with athletic and other contests in honour of the goddess... more
This paper explores how the Roman empire was perceived and experienced in the Greek world from c. 200 BCE to the early Principate, with a special focus on the Romaia, a festival with athletic and other contests in honour of the goddess Thea Romē. The Romaia were a driving force that played a crucial and active role in the cultural and political transformations that connected the loosely integrated Greek world to the new global empire. They were collective rituals that captured audience attention through spectacle. At the Romaia the power of Rome was experienced en masse, making them exceptional coordinating mechanisms for the rapid transfer of ideas and information at a local level. Moreover, network theory helps us to understand how festivals contributed to the spread of Roman influence. The Romaia linked Rome to the Panhellenic festival network, which played a major role in the constitution of an imagined community of Greeks.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Ceremonial life (contests and festivals) was a major preoccupation of the inhabitants of the cities of the Roman East in general and of Roman Asia Minor in particular. Processions meandered through the streets every week, and perhaps even... more
Ceremonial life (contests and festivals) was a major preoccupation of the inhabitants of the cities of the Roman East in general and of Roman Asia Minor in particular. Processions meandered through the streets every week, and perhaps even every day, carrying processional statues and driving along sacrificial animals. The air was frequently filled with the smells and sounds of sacrificial banquets. In public places benches were set up, on which people sat to drink and eat together. On some days flocks of people could be seen rushing towards the theatre or the stadium, eager to take up their places in the auditorium, from where they could watch traditional Greek athletic or artistic contests. It must have seemed as though at any given time some part or other of the population was involved in some public ritual. The Greek city in the Roman period was – to borrow a phrase of Walter Burkert – a Festgemeinschaft, a festive community. Greek festive life was not the last resort of tradition...
Research Interests:
Self-sufficiency was a Greek virtue, but in an economic sense it was not always a practicable ideal. Ancient man was (according to Aristotle EE 1242", 20) not merely a homo politicus, but also a homo economicus. Forms of exchange had... more
Self-sufficiency was a Greek virtue, but in an economic sense it was not always a practicable ideal. Ancient man was (according to Aristotle EE 1242", 20) not merely a homo politicus, but also a homo economicus. Forms of exchange had their place in the polis, and for foreign ...
Research Interests:
8 Local heroes: athletics, festivals and elite self-fashioning in the Roman East* Onno van Nijf Introduction A rather unremarkable statue base was set up some time under the reign of Gordian HI in the entrance-passage of the agora of the... more
8 Local heroes: athletics, festivals and elite self-fashioning in the Roman East* Onno van Nijf Introduction A rather unremarkable statue base was set up some time under the reign of Gordian HI in the entrance-passage of the agora of the Lycian city of Oinoanda. 1 (a)(on ...
In God on Earth: Emperor Domitian. The Re-Invention of Rome T the End of the 1st Century Ad, edited by Aurora Raimondi Cominesi, Nathalie de Haan, Eric. M. Moormann and Claire Stocks, 125-30. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2021.
Research Interests:
This article publishes seven inscriptions that were found during excavations in New Halos by the University of Groningen and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Magnesia. They include a metrical genealogical inscription, a dedication to... more
This article publishes seven inscriptions that were found during excavations in New Halos by the University of Groningen and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Magnesia. They include a metrical genealogical inscription, a dedication to Artemis Soteira, a dedication to Demeter, and four inscriptions with the word epidosis.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Introduction to a 'special' on sports history for the popular historical journal Geschiedenis Magazine.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
"Political Games In this paper I offer a political perspective on ancient athletic festivals in the Greek cities under Roman rule. I argue that athletic festivals were an integral part of the political culture in the Greek cities under... more
"Political Games
In this paper I offer a political perspective on ancient athletic festivals in the Greek cities under Roman rule. I argue that athletic festivals were an integral part of the political culture in the Greek cities under Rome, that experienced a representational turn in which local oligarchs were able to play the part of the successful athlete in an attempt to gain social and political capital. Local festivals, spectacles and contests were getting increasingly entangled with politics at a local level, and were even politicized. Festivals and spectacles became scripted events. I draw on a model of the game theorist Michael Chwe to argue that festivals may be understood as 'rational rituals' which had a political function through the production of 'common knowledge' which was the basis of political legitimacy. Athletic activity in individual cities can best be seen from the perspective of a developing agonistic network, that spanned the entire oikoumene, i.e. the world governed by Rome. In the Hellenistic period we see the rise of new panhellenic festivals that served as the nodes in regional agonistic networks. In the Roman period these were joined into one oikoumenical agonistic network that centred on Rome. Crucial in the ensuing process or regulation and formalisation were 'network specialist' like theoroi, specialist observers, as well as athletes, who organised themselves in associations operating on a global- oikoumenical scale. Their activities were instrumental in establishing and maintaining an empire-wide agonistic network, under the close watch of the Roman Emperor."
In this paper I offer a political perspective on ancient athletic festivals in the Greek cities under Roman rule. I argue that athletic festivals were an integral part of the political culture in the Greek cities under Rome, that experienced a representational turn in which local oligarchs were able to play the part of the successful athlete in an attempt to gain social and political capital. Local festivals, spectacles and contests were getting increasingly entangled with politics at a local level, and were even politicized. Festivals and spectacles became scripted events. I draw on a model of the game theorist Michael Chwe to argue that festivals may be understood as 'rational rituals' which had a political function through the production of 'common knowledge' which was the basis of political legitimacy. Athletic activity in individual cities can best be seen from the perspective of a developing agonistic network, that spanned the entire oikoumene, i.e. the world governed by Rome. In the Hellenistic period we see the rise of new panhellenic festivals that served as the nodes in regional agonistic networks. In the Roman period these were joined into one oikoumenical agonistic network that centred on Rome. Crucial in the ensuing process or regulation and formalisation were 'network specialist' like theoroi, specialist observers, as well as athletes, who organised themselves in associations operating on a global- oikoumenical scale. Their activities were instrumental in establishing and maintaining an empire-wide agonistic network, under the close watch of the Roman Emperor."
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This is the final draft version. The publisher has asked us not to put the PDF off-print on-line. If you want a PDF copy, please get in touch
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A short popularizing piece on a short inscription from the Groningen excavations at Halos, which I am about to publish. The text mentions an apparition of Artemis.
Research Interests:
The first report of the Entretiens Hardt 2011, where I presented my paper Political Games
Research Interests:
This paper is a draft of an article on the role of Roman settlers in the Greek cities of the Roman empire. It is an attempt to understand how Roman settlers were integrated into the social and political structures of the Greek cities,... more
This paper is a draft of an article on the role of Roman settlers in the Greek cities of the Roman empire. It is an attempt to understand how Roman settlers were integrated into the social and political structures of the Greek cities, while retaining an essential Roman identity. I have presented versions of this paper in Brussels, London, Vienna and Athens. I shall present a new version with a different subtitle in Goettingen on 25 Jan.and I shall post that shortly
Comments are welcome
Comments are welcome
Research Interests:
This is the English version of a programmatic paper that was published as: van Nijf, O. M. (2006). Politiek in de polis. Kossmann Instituut. Benaderingen van de geschiedenis van politiek. G. Voerman and D. J. Wolffram. Groningen, Kossmann... more
This is the English version of a programmatic paper that was published as: van Nijf, O. M. (2006). Politiek in de polis. Kossmann Instituut. Benaderingen van de geschiedenis van politiek. G. Voerman and D. J. Wolffram. Groningen, Kossmann Instituut. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen: 16-22.
This volume contains a selection of articles by members of the Kossmann Institute, a centre for the history of politics, of which I am a board member, here in Groningen.
This volume contains a selection of articles by members of the Kossmann Institute, a centre for the history of politics, of which I am a board member, here in Groningen.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article attempts to locate the philosophical inscription of Diogenes of Oenoanda in its local -urban, epigraphical and cultural- context. It offer a brief description of the architectural remain s and of the social and political... more
This article attempts to locate the philosophical inscription of Diogenes of Oenoanda in its local -urban, epigraphical and cultural- context. It offer a brief description of the architectural remain s and of the social and political organization of the city, before arguing that Diogenes offered his philosophical inscriptions as a benefaction to his compatriots. In doing so Diogenes took his place alongside the other men -and occasional woman- of his class, who asserted their elite status by engaging in acts of euergetism which monumental inscriptions served to commemorate.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Mark Depauw of Leuven University invited me to give another airing of the paper that I prepared for the München conference last November. "One of the most striking characteristics of the urban landscape of the imperial Greek city was... more
Mark Depauw of Leuven University invited me to give another airing of the paper that I prepared for the München conference last November.
"One of the most striking characteristics of the urban landscape of the imperial Greek city was the proliferation of statues and inscriptions. Aligning the streets, framing the agora’s, and adorning public buildings, was a chorus of monuments commemporating the deeds, names and faces of local priests, magistrates and benefactors, and those of their families - vying for the attention of citiznes and other passers-by. This monumentalization has been recognised as a manifestation of the transformation of Greek political culture under Roman rule, but its importance has not been fully explored. I propose to look at public honour as a discursive practice, and I want to investigate how honorific ceremonies and monuments were experienced by both parties (mass and elite) and in particular I want to find out how such honorific exchanges were used to control and frame elite power from below."
"One of the most striking characteristics of the urban landscape of the imperial Greek city was the proliferation of statues and inscriptions. Aligning the streets, framing the agora’s, and adorning public buildings, was a chorus of monuments commemporating the deeds, names and faces of local priests, magistrates and benefactors, and those of their families - vying for the attention of citiznes and other passers-by. This monumentalization has been recognised as a manifestation of the transformation of Greek political culture under Roman rule, but its importance has not been fully explored. I propose to look at public honour as a discursive practice, and I want to investigate how honorific ceremonies and monuments were experienced by both parties (mass and elite) and in particular I want to find out how such honorific exchanges were used to control and frame elite power from below."
Research Interests:
This paper is based on an article that I am preparing with Christina Williamson. In this paper we analyze the role of ancient athletic contests and festivals in the Hellenistic and Roman period from a social network perspective. We argue... more
This paper is based on an article that I am preparing with Christina Williamson. In this paper we analyze the role of ancient athletic contests and festivals in the Hellenistic and Roman period from a social network perspective. We argue that these events should be seen as an integral part of a process of ancient globalization.
Research Interests:
Ancient historians have more than 1200 years of athletic experience to offer to current debates on the place of sports history in Dutch academia ...
Research Interests:
I presented another version of my paper on athletic nudity at Amsterdam University
Research Interests:
A version of the article that will be published in: Florence Gherchanoc, Valérie Huet (éds.), S'habiller, se déshabiller dans les mondes anciens, Paris, Errance, 2012.
Research Interests:
Connected contests: the project Connected contests is a joint project directed by Prof. Dr. O.M. van Nijf and Dr. C.G. Williamson (University of Groningen) in collaboration with Prof. C. Mann and Dr.S Remijsen (Mannheim) Prof. M dePauw... more
Connected contests: the project
Connected contests is a joint project directed by Prof. Dr. O.M. van Nijf and Dr. C.G. Williamson (University of Groningen) in collaboration with Prof. C. Mann and Dr.S Remijsen (Mannheim) Prof. M dePauw (Leuven) and Dr. A. Farringon (Komotini). The main aim of this project is to study Greek agonistic (festival) culture as a major ingredient of the wider political and cultural transformations of the Greek world under Roman rule (200 BC-300AD). This project is part of the Anchoring Innovation Research Initiative of OIKOS the National Research School in Classical Studies, The Netherlands. http://www.ru.nl/oikos/anchoring-innovation/anchoring-innovation/
The main objective of this project is to study the development of a shared festival culture in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods that was firmly anchored in Greek festival traditions. Increasing connectivity via panhellenic festivals contributed to an heightened sense of shared identity among Greek cities. When Rome became the dominant power in the East its hegemony found an anchor in these festival practices as well. We suggest that this connectivitity can best be conceptualized in network terms, and secondly that these agonistic networks gradually became dominated and unified as one globalizing (small-world) network under Roman dominance.
Outcomes
One outcome of the project will be a complete prosopographical database of all athletes and other competitors as well as organisers and officials who were responsible for the ancient festival culture that will be made available online via a website
Publications
Onno van Nijf & Christina Williamson ‘Netwerken, Panhelleense festivals, en de globalisering van de Hellenistische wereld’ in Groniek 200 (2014):
O.M van Nijf and C. G. Williamson (2015). ‘Re-inventing traditions: connecting contests in the Hellenistic and Roman world’. in: D.Boschuyn, A.W. Busch and M.J. Versluys eds. Reinventing the invention of tradition? Indigenous pasts and the Roman present. Conference Cologne 14-15 November 2013. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 95-111. (Morphomata vol 32).
O.M. van Nijf and C.G. Williamson with S. van Dijk, E. van der Berg and C. van Toor (in press) ‘Connecting the Greeks: festival networks in the Hellenistic world’ in C. Mann and S. Remijsen (eds) Proceedings Tagung Mannheim 25-27 June 2015
Connected contests is a joint project directed by Prof. Dr. O.M. van Nijf and Dr. C.G. Williamson (University of Groningen) in collaboration with Prof. C. Mann and Dr.S Remijsen (Mannheim) Prof. M dePauw (Leuven) and Dr. A. Farringon (Komotini). The main aim of this project is to study Greek agonistic (festival) culture as a major ingredient of the wider political and cultural transformations of the Greek world under Roman rule (200 BC-300AD). This project is part of the Anchoring Innovation Research Initiative of OIKOS the National Research School in Classical Studies, The Netherlands. http://www.ru.nl/oikos/anchoring-innovation/anchoring-innovation/
The main objective of this project is to study the development of a shared festival culture in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods that was firmly anchored in Greek festival traditions. Increasing connectivity via panhellenic festivals contributed to an heightened sense of shared identity among Greek cities. When Rome became the dominant power in the East its hegemony found an anchor in these festival practices as well. We suggest that this connectivitity can best be conceptualized in network terms, and secondly that these agonistic networks gradually became dominated and unified as one globalizing (small-world) network under Roman dominance.
Outcomes
One outcome of the project will be a complete prosopographical database of all athletes and other competitors as well as organisers and officials who were responsible for the ancient festival culture that will be made available online via a website
Publications
Onno van Nijf & Christina Williamson ‘Netwerken, Panhelleense festivals, en de globalisering van de Hellenistische wereld’ in Groniek 200 (2014):
O.M van Nijf and C. G. Williamson (2015). ‘Re-inventing traditions: connecting contests in the Hellenistic and Roman world’. in: D.Boschuyn, A.W. Busch and M.J. Versluys eds. Reinventing the invention of tradition? Indigenous pasts and the Roman present. Conference Cologne 14-15 November 2013. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 95-111. (Morphomata vol 32).
O.M. van Nijf and C.G. Williamson with S. van Dijk, E. van der Berg and C. van Toor (in press) ‘Connecting the Greeks: festival networks in the Hellenistic world’ in C. Mann and S. Remijsen (eds) Proceedings Tagung Mannheim 25-27 June 2015
Research Interests:
"just presented in Lille - at an interesting conference « Une mémoire en actes : Espaces, figures et discours » organised by Stéphane Benoîst, Valérie Huet et al. : Une des caractéristiques les plus saisissantes du paysage urbain de la... more
"just presented in Lille - at an interesting conference « Une mémoire en actes : Espaces, figures et discours » organised by Stéphane Benoîst, Valérie Huet et al. :
Une des caractéristiques les plus saisissantes du paysage urbain de la cité grecque impériale était la prolifération des statues et des inscriptions honorifiques. Leur grand nombre présente un contraste fort avec la cité classique, où la circulation d’honneurs était contrôlée par une culture civique qui avait empêché la "monumentalisation" des notables locaux. L’attribution d’honneurs publics a bien sûr connu une longue tradition dans la cité grecque, mais la monumentalisation des honneurs était autre chose. Celle-ci a commencé à l’époque hellénistique, et cette tendance a continué sous l’empire, qui connaît l'apogée d’un système complexe d’honneurs allant de simples éloges jusqu’aux grandes inscriptions avec des décrets civiques pour les grands bienfaiteurs et les magistrats des cités grecques. Je soutiens comme argument que ces inscriptions honorifiques ne sont pas simplement un reflet passif d’une activité politique ayant lieu ailleurs, mais qu’elles jouent un rôle actif qui les met au cœur du politique de la cité grecque impériale. Je suggère que les inscriptions peuvent être vues comme des miroirs civiques (civic mirrors, Bürgerspiegel) qui ont joué un rôle fondamental dans l’éducation civique des élites et de leurs concitoyens."
Une des caractéristiques les plus saisissantes du paysage urbain de la cité grecque impériale était la prolifération des statues et des inscriptions honorifiques. Leur grand nombre présente un contraste fort avec la cité classique, où la circulation d’honneurs était contrôlée par une culture civique qui avait empêché la "monumentalisation" des notables locaux. L’attribution d’honneurs publics a bien sûr connu une longue tradition dans la cité grecque, mais la monumentalisation des honneurs était autre chose. Celle-ci a commencé à l’époque hellénistique, et cette tendance a continué sous l’empire, qui connaît l'apogée d’un système complexe d’honneurs allant de simples éloges jusqu’aux grandes inscriptions avec des décrets civiques pour les grands bienfaiteurs et les magistrats des cités grecques. Je soutiens comme argument que ces inscriptions honorifiques ne sont pas simplement un reflet passif d’une activité politique ayant lieu ailleurs, mais qu’elles jouent un rôle actif qui les met au cœur du politique de la cité grecque impériale. Je suggère que les inscriptions peuvent être vues comme des miroirs civiques (civic mirrors, Bürgerspiegel) qui ont joué un rôle fondamental dans l’éducation civique des élites et de leurs concitoyens."
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
One of the most striking characteristics of the urban landscape of the imperial Greek city was the proliferation of honorific statues and inscriptions. Often seen as a reflection of oligarchization, I argue that such monuments play an... more
One of the most striking characteristics of the urban landscape of the imperial Greek city was the proliferation of honorific statues and inscriptions. Often seen as a reflection of oligarchization, I argue that such monuments play an active part in the construction of elite authority. I look at public honour as a discursive practice, and investigate how it was experienced by by both parties (mass and elite) , and in particular how honorific exchanges were used to control and frame power from below.
Research Interests:
In this paper I’ll present a rough sketch of the changing nature of Roman presence in the Greek city in a period of a crucial transformation of the Imperium Romanum in the East. I shall argue that we conceive of this contact zone best in... more
In this paper I’ll present a rough sketch of the changing nature of Roman presence in the Greek city in a period of a crucial transformation of the Imperium Romanum in the East. I shall argue that we conceive of this contact zone best in terms of a Middle Ground - a space of negotiation and improvisation between Greek elites and city authorities, and associations of Romans.
There are various way in which these Romaioi engaged with the cities in which they settled. At the early stages Roman negotiatores settled in Greek cities in the slipstream of Roman diplomatic moves and of the arm y. Initially they seem to have settled as individual expats, who showed considerable sign of adaptation and acculturation to their new environments. Greek cities responded by granting these newcomers a kind of collective status, that found expression i.a. in their collective participation in growing numbers of community rituals, and in particular public banquets, with which the cities celebrated their collective identity. In the imperial period these Romans started to organise themselves more formally. Roman identity was the basis of increasingly formally structured associations that seem to have acquired a fixed place in the social and political hierarchies of the cities. In this context it turned out that the association of Romans began to play the role as a kind of symbolic or ideological intermediaries. They had a key role in the spread of the imperial cult and in the representation of Roman imperial power in the city.
There are various way in which these Romaioi engaged with the cities in which they settled. At the early stages Roman negotiatores settled in Greek cities in the slipstream of Roman diplomatic moves and of the arm y. Initially they seem to have settled as individual expats, who showed considerable sign of adaptation and acculturation to their new environments. Greek cities responded by granting these newcomers a kind of collective status, that found expression i.a. in their collective participation in growing numbers of community rituals, and in particular public banquets, with which the cities celebrated their collective identity. In the imperial period these Romans started to organise themselves more formally. Roman identity was the basis of increasingly formally structured associations that seem to have acquired a fixed place in the social and political hierarchies of the cities. In this context it turned out that the association of Romans began to play the role as a kind of symbolic or ideological intermediaries. They had a key role in the spread of the imperial cult and in the representation of Roman imperial power in the city.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Hellenistic period witnessed a second rise of the Greek city, when Greek style urbanism spread from the western Mediterranean to the depths of present day Afghanistan. New poleis were founded by Alexander and his successors, and later... more
The Hellenistic period witnessed a second rise of the Greek city, when Greek style urbanism spread from the western Mediterranean to the depths of present day Afghanistan. New poleis were founded by Alexander and his successors, and later by Roman emperors - but ancient Greek cities flourished too. These cities were remarkably similar in terms of architecture, but there were also strong similarities on the level of political culture, where democratic institutions went often hand in hand with an increasing oligarchization[globalization led to a homogeneization].
It is a striking illustration of the priorities of these new cities that so much effort was put into the construction and maintenance of institutions that were concerned with Greek athletics. Every city constructed a stadium, and one or more gymnasia, that became the symbolic centers of Greek urban life (a „second agora”in the words of Louis Robert). Moreover, we also see a virtual explosion of athletic contests that functioned at local, regional and interregional levels. Cities appointed liturgists and magistrates to oversee these institutions, sent out and received festival observers, and invited or subsidized successful athletes; and athletic victors could expect to receive the highest forms of civic praise. In fact athletic training and competition provided each city with a package of values, institutions, laws, and symbols, that was crucial to the self identification of the later Greek city.
I suggest two reasons why this was the case. A rich athletic life offered all cities, even those with less than impeccable Greek credentials, a chance to partake of a Panhellenic festival culture, whose symbolic gravity point was formed by the great traditional sites of Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia and Nemea. In this way Greek cities were able to feel part of a global -imagined- community of Greeks. At an individual level these festivals offered the new polis elites a chance to acquire symbolic and political capital as generous festival organizers; but also as athletes and performers.
It is a striking illustration of the priorities of these new cities that so much effort was put into the construction and maintenance of institutions that were concerned with Greek athletics. Every city constructed a stadium, and one or more gymnasia, that became the symbolic centers of Greek urban life (a „second agora”in the words of Louis Robert). Moreover, we also see a virtual explosion of athletic contests that functioned at local, regional and interregional levels. Cities appointed liturgists and magistrates to oversee these institutions, sent out and received festival observers, and invited or subsidized successful athletes; and athletic victors could expect to receive the highest forms of civic praise. In fact athletic training and competition provided each city with a package of values, institutions, laws, and symbols, that was crucial to the self identification of the later Greek city.
I suggest two reasons why this was the case. A rich athletic life offered all cities, even those with less than impeccable Greek credentials, a chance to partake of a Panhellenic festival culture, whose symbolic gravity point was formed by the great traditional sites of Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia and Nemea. In this way Greek cities were able to feel part of a global -imagined- community of Greeks. At an individual level these festivals offered the new polis elites a chance to acquire symbolic and political capital as generous festival organizers; but also as athletes and performers.
Research Interests:
We are hiring: *Anchoring Hegemonies in Hellenistic Greece (300 BC-300AD): *Anchoring Religious Change in the Later Greek City In the framework of the Anchoring Innovation Research Agenda we are looking for candidates for 2 PhD Positions... more
We are hiring:
*Anchoring Hegemonies in Hellenistic Greece (300 BC-300AD):
*Anchoring Religious Change in the Later Greek City In the framework of the Anchoring Innovation Research Agenda we are looking for candidates for 2 PhD Positions (4 years, 1.0 fte) OR Postdoc Positions (3 years, 1.0fte) at Groningen University per September 2023. Deadline 24 April, 2023
We are looking in the first instance for PhD candidates, but suitable Postdoctoral candidates may apply as well.
Contact o.m.van.nijf@rug.nl
*Anchoring Hegemonies in Hellenistic Greece (300 BC-300AD):
*Anchoring Religious Change in the Later Greek City In the framework of the Anchoring Innovation Research Agenda we are looking for candidates for 2 PhD Positions (4 years, 1.0 fte) OR Postdoc Positions (3 years, 1.0fte) at Groningen University per September 2023. Deadline 24 April, 2023
We are looking in the first instance for PhD candidates, but suitable Postdoctoral candidates may apply as well.
Contact o.m.van.nijf@rug.nl
Research Interests:
We are hiring: 2 full-time Ph.D. positions Anchoring Empire and the Greek world and Anchoring Empire and ancient Judaism. Deadline: April 24 2022; Starting date: September 2022. Get in touch for more information with o.m.van.nijf@rug.nl
Research Interests: Ancient History, Roman History, Ancient Greek History, Roman Empire, Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), and 8 moreHellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, History of Late Classical and Hellenistic Asia Minor, Romanization, Ancient Judaism, Roman Greece, Anchoring, Greek and Roman Colonization, and History of Judaism In Antiquity
We are hiring: We are looking for a candidate in Ancient History with a broad teaching portfolio and a strong and innovative research agenda to complement our current interests. We welcome strong applications from all specialisations... more
We are hiring: We are looking for a candidate in Ancient History with a broad teaching portfolio and a strong and innovative research agenda to complement our current interests. We welcome strong applications from all specialisations within ancient history, but we are particularly looking for a candidate working on the Archaic and Classical Greek periods, or on the Roman imperial period. We are particularly interested in candidates who study Greek and Roman history from a Mediterranean-wide perspective, including interactions with cultures beyond the confines of the Greco-Roman world.
https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-02S00081BP
https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-02S00081BP
The Department of Ancient History, University of Groningen is offering three PhD positions in the field of Greek athletics and festivals. Starting date 1 January 2019. A formal advertisement will be circulated later this summer.... more
The Department of Ancient History, University of Groningen is offering three PhD positions in the field of Greek athletics and festivals. Starting date 1 January 2019. A formal advertisement will be circulated later this summer. candidates are encouraged to approach me at o.m.van.nijf@rug.nl
https://tinyurl.com/connectinggreeks
http://www.contectedcontests.org
https://tinyurl.com/connectinggreeks
http://www.contectedcontests.org
Research Interests:
The first century BCE, was arguably the most momentous period of crisis in the history of the ancient world. In Italy and the West a struggle for power in the Republic led to political crises, periods of terror, and most of all to... more
The first century BCE, was arguably the most momentous period of crisis in the history of the ancient world. In Italy and the West a struggle for power in the Republic led to political crises, periods of terror, and most of all to horrible civil wars. At the same time the Greek world was plagued by internal warfare and doomed attempts to resist Roman power. Moreover, the Roman civil wars were also largely fought out in the Greek provinces. This period of crisis only came to an end with the establishment of the Principate, by Octavian-Augustus. The central question of our project is how, after a century marked by crisis and (civil) war, new beginnings were made and (re-) anchored in in the Greek provinces and in Rome itself.
two postdoctoral projects are foreseen:
The sub-project in Ancient History is entitled (Re-)Anchoring Innovation: Politics and Culture in Roman Athens (supervisors: prof. dr. Onno van Nijf, dr. Jan Willem Drijvers).
The sub-project in Greek and Latin literature is entitled After the Civil Wars: Re-Anchoring and Innovation in Greek and Latin Literature (supervisors: Prof. Ruurd Nauta and Prof. Annette Harder).
two postdoctoral projects are foreseen:
The sub-project in Ancient History is entitled (Re-)Anchoring Innovation: Politics and Culture in Roman Athens (supervisors: prof. dr. Onno van Nijf, dr. Jan Willem Drijvers).
The sub-project in Greek and Latin literature is entitled After the Civil Wars: Re-Anchoring and Innovation in Greek and Latin Literature (supervisors: Prof. Ruurd Nauta and Prof. Annette Harder).
Research Interests:
The collective research project “Civic honours” is concerned with the system of public honours that Greek cities bestowed upon their good citizens and foreign benefactors (praise, crown, statue, prohedria, public funerals, and so on). The... more
The collective research project “Civic honours” is concerned with the system of public honours that Greek cities bestowed upon their good citizens and foreign benefactors (praise, crown, statue, prohedria, public funerals, and so on). The aim of the project is to study the development of this system, and in particular the rise of honorific monuments, during the Imperial period (1st-3d c. AD), when the Greek world had become part of the Roman Empire.
Co-directed by Anna Heller and Onno van Nijf, this international project brings together scholars from France, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, who employ various approaches and methods: epigraphy, archaeology, literature, linguistic theory… After several workshops in France, Greece and the Netherlands, a final international conference, scheduled for the Spring of 2014, will gather all participants and will be followed by the publication of a collective volume.
Co-directed by Anna Heller and Onno van Nijf, this international project brings together scholars from France, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, who employ various approaches and methods: epigraphy, archaeology, literature, linguistic theory… After several workshops in France, Greece and the Netherlands, a final international conference, scheduled for the Spring of 2014, will gather all participants and will be followed by the publication of a collective volume.
Research Interests:
The last in the series of preparatory workshops in our project les honneurs civiques was a great success . Papers by Arjan Zuiderhoek, Chris Dickenson, Jelle Stoop, Annika Kuhn, Christina Kuhn, Olivier Gengler and Emily Hemelrijk.
Research Interests:
The aim of this workshop is to promote a cross-disciplinary dialogue between classicists, astronomers, archaeologists, mathematicians, and historians on the subject of science and innovation in antiquity around a common theme: the... more
The aim of this workshop is to promote a cross-disciplinary dialogue between classicists, astronomers, archaeologists, mathematicians, and historians on the subject of science and innovation in antiquity around a common theme: the Antikythera Mechanism., This astronomical computer from the second century B.C. had the ability to describe and predict celestial phenomena, as its gear trains represent the full translation of even the most sophisticated aspects of astronomical knowledge available in these centuries. Our aim is to place the mechanism, and ancient science in general, explicitly in their wider cultural, literary, and scientific context. We explicitly invite scholars working on classical literature, archaeology, and ancient history who have an interest in the role of astronomy, other sciences (and pseudo-science), or education and the transfer of knowledge in the ancient world.
Organising committee Niels Bos, Phd candidate Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, & Faculty of Arts at the University of Groningen.
Rien van de Weygaert (professor of astronomy at Groningen),
Alexander Jones (professor of the history of the exact sciences in Antiquity, at ISAW , New York), Mike Edmunds (Emeritus professor and Principal Investigator of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project)
Onno van Nijf (professor of ancient history at Groningen).
Organising committee Niels Bos, Phd candidate Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, & Faculty of Arts at the University of Groningen.
Rien van de Weygaert (professor of astronomy at Groningen),
Alexander Jones (professor of the history of the exact sciences in Antiquity, at ISAW , New York), Mike Edmunds (Emeritus professor and Principal Investigator of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project)
Onno van Nijf (professor of ancient history at Groningen).
Research Interests:
The collective research project “Civic honours” is concerned with the system of public honours that Greek cities bestowed upon their good citizens and foreign benefactors (praise, crown, statue, prohedria, public funerals, and so on). The... more
The collective research project “Civic honours” is concerned with the system of public honours that Greek cities bestowed upon their good citizens and foreign benefactors (praise, crown, statue, prohedria, public funerals, and so on). The aim of the project is to study the development of this system, and in particular the rise of honorific monuments, during the Imperial period (1st-3d c. AD), when the Greek world had become part of the Roman Empire. Co-directed by Anna Heller and Onno van Nijf, this international project brings together scholars from France, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, who employ various approaches and methods: epigraphy, archaeology, literature, linguistic theory…
Research Interests:
Find out more about 4 job opportunities in Ancient History at Groningen: 1 assistant professor, 1 postdoc, 2 PhD positions