Antiquity Network

Chairs:

  • Bart Danon | University of Groningen, Department of History, NL

  • David Lewis | University of Edinburgh, Greek History and Culture

     

The Antiquity Network covers the economic and social history of all societies before the medieval era, but with a particular focus on the Mediterranean region in classical antiquity.

We are particularly interested in proposals for inter-disciplinary and comparative panels, as well as different formats like round tables or book discussion events, but we will be happy to discuss any ideas you wish to put forward.

Antiquity Network: Call for Sessions and Papers

The ESSHC has had an Antiquity network since its inception; this has become the main regular international forum for discussions of ancient economic and social history, an opportunity to meet scholars from other countries as well as to see what’s happening in other periods and other fields. The network is currently co-chaired by Bart Danon (b.danon@rug.nl) and David Lewis (David.Lewis@ed.ac.uk).

We now invite proposals for panel sessions and individual papers for the next meeting of the ESSHC, in Lyon in 2027. Panel sessions last two hours, and generally involve three to four papers on a specific theme, with or without a discussant, and with a chair. Ideally, panel contributors should not all be of the same country, university, career stage and gender. We are particularly interested in proposals for inter-disciplinary and comparative panels (e.g. on a specific theme, method or approach applied across societies), as well as different formats like round tables or book discussion events, but we will be happy to discuss any ideas you wish to put forward. The earlier you contact us, the more advice we’ll be able to offer. There is no expectation that panel organisers should be established academics; indeed, the ESSHC can be an excellent opportunity for graduate students to put together a small research event on their area of interest, inviting relevant scholars to contribute (and the ESSHC offers a substantial reduction on the conference fee for current students). However, there is also scope for proposing an individual paper, of roughly 20 minutes, if you do not wish to organise a whole panel; if your proposal is accepted, we may put you in touch with the organiser of a relevant session, to see if your paper could be accommodated there, or we may seek to put together a composite panel of individual submissions. Again, the sooner you contact us to discuss your ideas or submit your proposal, the better. Please note that proposals need to be submitted via the ESSHC website using their online pre-registration form by April 15, 2026 in order to be considered, even if you have been discussing the idea with us Panel organisers need to submit a panel proposal, including a list of individual papers, and ensure that all panel participants pre-register individually and submit their own title and abstract, with an indication of the name of the session to which their paper belongs. Once again, please do contact one or both of us if you would like to discuss your ideas for a paper, a panel, or another sort of session.

Bart(b.danon@rug.nl) and David (David.Lewis@ed.ac.uk)