Sagalassos - the World City
Name of applicant
Peter Fibiger Bang
Title
Professor
Institution
University of Copenhagen
Amount
DKK 12,988,912
Year
2025
Type of grant
Semper Ardens: Accomplish
What?
Greco-Roman Sagalassos was a tiny city in the Pisidian part of Anatolia, in every respect seemingly a marginal phenomenon, yet it is the hypothesis of this project that it constitutes an example of nothing less than the world historical developments that shaped not only the Roman, but all the main empires of pre-industrial Afro-Eurasia.
Why?
Europe has, in recent years, experienced a rude awakening. There is an urgent need to rethink our position in history and open our past better to understand it in relation to the rest of the world. This is the drive and concern that motivates this project. Greco-Roman history should be seen as part of a wider pre-industrial arena of empire-forming societies across Afro-Eurasia.
How?
Building on the new book by the PI, The Roman Empire and World History, a group will be set up to explore the world history aspects of Sagalassos under the headings of 1) Agricultural intensification and social caging of the peasantry 2) divine kingship and local elite formation 3) cosmopolitan elite cultures of display and learning and 4) a culture of consumption collecting the world's diversity.