Miguel John Versluys
Biographic Data
| ID | 145663 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Miguel John Versluys |
| GIVEN NAMES | Miguel John |
| FAMILY NAME | Versluys |
| SIGNATURE | VERSLUYS M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2290-4169 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 135 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 38 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Embedding Global Diversity in the Hellenistic and Roman Near East
This chapter situates Hellenistic and Roman Syria and the Near East as part of the global ancient Afro-Eurasian world and proposes a methodology for investigating this quintessentially cosmopolitan sphere. Shifting the perspective from inter-cultural connectivity to intra-cultural connectivity produces a fresh take on questions of cultural character and identity that dominate the discipline. Three case studies (the necropolis of Emesa/Tell Abū Sā…
Glocalization, Embedding, Anchoring
This essay discusses globalization and glocalization as crucially important concepts for the Social Sciences and Humanities, thereby distinguishing between globalization/ glocalization as research methodology (hermeneutics) and as historical process unfolding through time. For many SSH scholars the term globalization evokes historical processes that likewise spanned the globe and were (apparently) directed from above, such as imperialism, Western…
Reading Greek and Hellenistic-Roman Spolia
Rooted Cosmopolitanism, Heritage and the Question of Belonging
This book explores the analytical and practical value of the notion of "rooted cosmopolitanism" for the field of cultural heritage. Many concepts of present-day heritage discourses - such as World Heritage, local heritage practices, or indigenous heritage - tend to elide the complex interplay between the local and the global - entanglements that are investigated as "glocalisation" in Globalisation Studies. However, no human group ever creates mor…
Canonisation as Innovation
to Preserve until Far-off Days": An Overview on the Creation and Evolution of Canons in Babylonia and Assyria from the Middle Babylonian Period until the End of
Mémoire volontaire? Canonisation as Cultural Innovation in Antiquity
Introduction: Canonisation as Cultural
Objectscapes
Religion in the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was home to a fascinating variety of different cults and religions. Its enormous extent, the absence of a precisely definable state religion and constant exchanges with the religions and cults of conquered peoples and of neighbouring cultures resulted in a multifaceted diversity of religious convictions and practices. This volume provides a compelling view of central aspects of cult and religion in the Roman Empire, among them th…
Objectscapes
World history is often framed in terms of flows of people: humans coming 'out of Africa', the spread of farmers in the Holocene, the disruptions of the 'Sea Peoples', or 'colonisation' by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In this article, the authors argue that world history is also about the flows of objects. To illuminate the impacts of objects on past societies, they introduce the concept of 'objectscapes' as a means of writing new kinds of hist…
Haunted by Egypt
Beyond Egyptomania
Nothing else to think
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Nemrud Dağ, Archaeology of
Egyptian sculptures from Imperial Rome. Non-destructive characterization of granitoid statues through macroscopic methodologies and in situ XRF analysis
Visual Style and Constructing Identity in the Hellenistic World
Located in the small kingdom of Commagene at the upper Euphrates, the late Hellenistic monument of Nemrud Dağ (c.50 BC) has been undeservedly neglected by scholars. Qualified as a Greco-Persian hybrid instigated by a lunatic king, this fascinating project of bricolage has been written out of history. This volume redresses that imbalance, interpreting Nemrud Dağ as an attempt at canon building by Antiochos I in order to construct a dynastic ideolo…
The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Globalization
Because so much of how we read the past is conditioned by ideas and descriptions that grew out of that past, globalization thinking potentially provides us with fresh opportunities to re-examine history through new lenses and discover detail and trends previously obscured. However, globalization has itself succumbed to similar tendencies. Indeed, part of the diculty in understanding globalization lies in the way the term has been captured by vest…
Reinventing ‘The Invention of Tradition’?
»The invention of tradition« was introduced as a concept to explain the creation and rise of certain traditions in times of profound cultural change. Taking stock of the concepts of current theoretical understandings and focusing on the Roman world the volume explores invented traditions as a means to understand processes of cultural innovation. Whereas the concept is highly influential in Roman Studies concerned with the Greek eastern Mediterran…
The biography of cultures
Il est évident que les objets possèdent de l'agentivité, mais comment l'acquièrent-ils, et quel rôle jouent leur matériau et leur style ? Est-ce qu'une partie de l'agentivité des objets est liée à leur passage d'un contexte culturel à un autre ? Et si c'est le cas, quel rôle ce changement de contexte culturel joue-t-il dans la capacité de l'objet à accumuler de l'agentivité ? Enfin, pour envisager cette question du côté de l'objet : quel rôle jou…
Globalisation and the Roman world
Roman visual material culture as globalisingkoine
Isis and Empires
International audience
Globalisation and the Roman World
This book explores a new perspective for understanding the Roman world, using connectivity as a major point of departure. Globalisation is apparent in increased flows of objects, people and ideas and in the creation of translocal consciousness in everyday life. Based on these criteria, there is a case for globalisation in the ancient Roman world. Essential for anyone interested in Romanisation, this volume provides the first sustained critical ex…
Power, Politics and the Cults of Isis
In the Hellenistic and Roman world intimate relations existed between those holding power and the cults of Isis. This book is the first to chart these various appropriations over time within a comparative perspective. Ten carefully selected case studies show that “the Egyptian gods” were no exotic outsiders to the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean, but constituted a well institutionalised and frequently used religious option. Ranging from the e…
Nemrud Dagi
This richly illustrated book presents in detail the sanctuaries built during the reign of Antiochus I of Commagene (ca. 75-36 BCE), including the three large tombs and ten cult places, and discusses Antiochus' rule in the context of his religious program and cult of the divine ruler. This book is the final publication of the results of the International Nemrud Daği Project 2001–2003
Getting out of the comfort zone. Reply to responses
My essay is intended as an archaeological dialogue on Romanization in the sense that it tries ‘to creatively discuss what we mean when we say “Rome”, across boundaries set by disciplines or scholarly traditions, fuelled by new developments in other fields, and especially in terms of material culture’ (p. 6). Therefore it is looking ahead on purpose, with the historiography of the field (only) serving as a means to an end and not so much as a poin…
The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Globalization
Because so much of how we read the past is conditioned by ideas and descriptions that grew out of that past, globalization thinking potentially provides us with fresh opportunities to re-examine history through new lenses and discover detail and trends previously obscured. However, globalization has itself succumbed to similar tendencies. Indeed, part of the diculty in understanding globalization lies in the way the term has been captured by vest…
Aegyptiaca Romana
This archaeological study investigates the meaning of the Egyptian and egyptianising artefacts that have been preserved from the Roman world in different ways. Its point of departure is a detailed study on the so-called Nilotic scenes or Nilotic landscapes. The book presents a comprehensive and illustrated catalogue of the genre that was popular all around the Mediterranean from the Hellenistic period to the Christian era as well as a contextuali…
Understanding objects in motion. Anarchaeologicaldialogue on Romanization
This essay argues that Romanization revolves around understanding objects in motion and that Roman archaeologists should therefore focus on (1) globalization theory and (2) material-culture studies as important theoretical directions for the (near) future. The present state and scope of the Romanization debate, however, seem to prevent a fruitful development in that direction. The first part of this paper therefore briefly analyses the Romanizati…
Objectscapes
World history is often framed in terms of flows of people: humans coming 'out of Africa', the spread of farmers in the Holocene, the disruptions of the 'Sea Peoples', or 'colonisation' by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In this article, the authors argue that world history is also about the flows of objects. To illuminate the impacts of objects on past societies, they introduce the concept of 'objectscapes' as a means of writing new kinds of hist…
Nile into Tiber
Interest in all kinds of interactions between Egypt and Rome has grown considerably over the last decade. This debate has not only altered our views on the impact of Rome on Alexandria and Egypt but also strongly put to the fore the reverse direction of this cultural interaction: Egyptian influences on the Roman world. It is this topic, Egypt in the Roman World, that was central to the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies, held in Leide…
Egyptian sculptures from Imperial Rome. Non-destructive characterization of granitoid statues through macroscopic methodologies and in situ XRF analysis
Power, Politics and the Cults of Isis
In the Hellenistic and Roman world intimate relations existed between those holding power and the cults of Isis. This book is the first to chart these various appropriations over time within a comparative perspective. Ten carefully selected case studies show that “the Egyptian gods” were no exotic outsiders to the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean, but constituted a well institutionalised and frequently used religious option. Ranging from the e…
Religion in the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was home to a fascinating variety of different cults and religions. Its enormous extent, the absence of a precisely definable state religion and constant exchanges with the religions and cults of conquered peoples and of neighbouring cultures resulted in a multifaceted diversity of religious convictions and practices. This volume provides a compelling view of central aspects of cult and religion in the Roman Empire, among them th…
Nothing else to think
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The biography of cultures
Il est évident que les objets possèdent de l'agentivité, mais comment l'acquièrent-ils, et quel rôle jouent leur matériau et leur style ? Est-ce qu'une partie de l'agentivité des objets est liée à leur passage d'un contexte culturel à un autre ? Et si c'est le cas, quel rôle ce changement de contexte culturel joue-t-il dans la capacité de l'objet à accumuler de l'agentivité ? Enfin, pour envisager cette question du côté de l'objet : quel rôle jou…
Nemrud Dagi
This richly illustrated book presents in detail the sanctuaries built during the reign of Antiochus I of Commagene (ca. 75-36 BCE), including the three large tombs and ten cult places, and discusses Antiochus' rule in the context of his religious program and cult of the divine ruler. This book is the final publication of the results of the International Nemrud Daği Project 2001–2003
Getting out of the comfort zone. Reply to responses
My essay is intended as an archaeological dialogue on Romanization in the sense that it tries ‘to creatively discuss what we mean when we say “Rome”, across boundaries set by disciplines or scholarly traditions, fuelled by new developments in other fields, and especially in terms of material culture’ (p. 6). Therefore it is looking ahead on purpose, with the historiography of the field (only) serving as a means to an end and not so much as a poin…
Splendid Isolation? A Glimpse into Contemporary British Archaeology
Ray Laurence's contribution on the state and future of Roman archaeology as practised in Britain can be summarised as follows: he thinks the discipline to be dominated by a narrative of invasion that is based on literary texts and which has made the concepts of Romanisation and resistance key points in the theoretical discussion. Laurence values this situation as negative. He looks at the discussion on the (im)possibility of representing the Holo…
The Roman Discourse on Egypt Reconstructed
Preliminary material
Roman Aegyptiaca
Tables
Appendix
Religions in the Gareco-Roman World
Corpus Figurarum Niloticarum
Nilotic Scenes in the Roman World. Interpretation and Contextualisation
Aegyptiaca Romana
This archaeological study investigates the meaning of the Egyptian and egyptianising artefacts that have been preserved from the Roman world in different ways. Its point of departure is a detailed study on the so-called Nilotic scenes or Nilotic landscapes. The book presents a comprehensive and illustrated catalogue of the genre that was popular all around the Mediterranean from the Hellenistic period to the Christian era as well as a contextuali…
Nile into Tiber
Aegyptiaca Romana
This chapter provides a short overview of the debate as it has developed in recent years. It explains the content of these proceedings and the stand it takes in the discussion by presenting an overview of the topics discussed and their interpretations, and indicates some future lines of inquiry that might be worthwhile. Studies into the cults of Isis have been deconstructed in the past decade or so in two important, albeit related, respects. Firs…
Nile into Tiber
Interest in all kinds of interactions between Egypt and Rome has grown considerably over the last decade. This debate has not only altered our views on the impact of Rome on Alexandria and Egypt but also strongly put to the fore the reverse direction of this cultural interaction: Egyptian influences on the Roman world. It is this topic, Egypt in the Roman World, that was central to the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies, held in Leide…
Exploring Identities in the Phoenician, Hellenistic and Roman East
Archéologie classique et histoire de l’art aux Pays-Bas
De la description et de l’analyse des relations qui, au cours des cinquante dernières années, ont uni l’archéologie classique et l’histoire de l’art aux Pays-Bas, il ressort que ces relations ont subi une évolution importante. À l’origine, les deux disciplines étaient étroitement associées et l’archéologie classique se considérait comme l’histoire de l’art de l’Antiquité. Aujourd’hui, l’archéologie classique se présente délibérément comme une arc…
Globalisation and the Roman world
Roman visual material culture as globalisingkoine
Isis and Empires
International audience
Globalisation and the Roman World
This book explores a new perspective for understanding the Roman world, using connectivity as a major point of departure. Globalisation is apparent in increased flows of objects, people and ideas and in the creation of translocal consciousness in everyday life. Based on these criteria, there is a case for globalisation in the ancient Roman world. Essential for anyone interested in Romanisation, this volume provides the first sustained critical ex…
Power, Politics and the Cults of Isis
In the Hellenistic and Roman world intimate relations existed between those holding power and the cults of Isis. This book is the first to chart these various appropriations over time within a comparative perspective. Ten carefully selected case studies show that “the Egyptian gods” were no exotic outsiders to the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean, but constituted a well institutionalised and frequently used religious option. Ranging from the e…
Nemrud Dagi
This richly illustrated book presents in detail the sanctuaries built during the reign of Antiochus I of Commagene (ca. 75-36 BCE), including the three large tombs and ten cult places, and discusses Antiochus' rule in the context of his religious program and cult of the divine ruler. This book is the final publication of the results of the International Nemrud Daği Project 2001–2003
Getting out of the comfort zone. Reply to responses
My essay is intended as an archaeological dialogue on Romanization in the sense that it tries ‘to creatively discuss what we mean when we say “Rome”, across boundaries set by disciplines or scholarly traditions, fuelled by new developments in other fields, and especially in terms of material culture’ (p. 6). Therefore it is looking ahead on purpose, with the historiography of the field (only) serving as a means to an end and not so much as a poin…
Understanding objects in motion. Anarchaeologicaldialogue on Romanization
This essay argues that Romanization revolves around understanding objects in motion and that Roman archaeologists should therefore focus on (1) globalization theory and (2) material-culture studies as important theoretical directions for the (near) future. The present state and scope of the Romanization debate, however, seem to prevent a fruitful development in that direction. The first part of this paper therefore briefly analyses the Romanizati…
Reinventing ‘The Invention of Tradition’?
»The invention of tradition« was introduced as a concept to explain the creation and rise of certain traditions in times of profound cultural change. Taking stock of the concepts of current theoretical understandings and focusing on the Roman world the volume explores invented traditions as a means to understand processes of cultural innovation. Whereas the concept is highly influential in Roman Studies concerned with the Greek eastern Mediterran…
The biography of cultures
Il est évident que les objets possèdent de l'agentivité, mais comment l'acquièrent-ils, et quel rôle jouent leur matériau et leur style ? Est-ce qu'une partie de l'agentivité des objets est liée à leur passage d'un contexte culturel à un autre ? Et si c'est le cas, quel rôle ce changement de contexte culturel joue-t-il dans la capacité de l'objet à accumuler de l'agentivité ? Enfin, pour envisager cette question du côté de l'objet : quel rôle jou…
History (27 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (21 works) · Art (20 works) · Ancient history (18 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Archaeology (15 works) · Geography (13 works) · Political science (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works)