Many congratulations to our Barbara Craig Fellow & Tutor in Ancient History, Professor Beate Dignas, on her appointment to an Einstein Visiting Fellowship in Berlin.
Under the terms of the fellowship, Professor Dignas will teach and conduct research at the Humboldt University in Berlin each summer for the next four years. The project ‘(Re)Negotiating Social Cohesion – Religion and Community in Antiquity (800 BC – 400 AD)’ will shine a light on the complex role played by religion in Greco-Roman antiquity with regard to social cohesion. Professor Dignas hopes to establish how, on the one hand, religion could foster social cohesion by creating shared values and convictions, while on the other hand, it was often responsible for the emergence of conflicts. As a work of comparative analysis, the project will employ historical, sociological and theological approaches to determine how political crises and religious diversity posed particular challenges to the integration of individuals and social groups across various ancient epochs – and still do today.
Associate Professor Beate Dignas, Somerville’s Barbara Craig Fellow & Tutor in Ancient History