Space and knowledge

In this Cluster, experts from archaeology, history, philology, theology and philosophy, among other disciplines, are investigating the systematic contexts of space and knowledge in the civilisations of the Near and Middle East, and the Mediterranean and Black Sea region over a time span ranging from 6000 BC to 500 AD. Topoi is divided into five core research areas that interpret the term “space” very broadly indeed. It extends from internal spaces in people to politicalsocial and imaginary spaces in epics to the consideration of cosmic spaces. Antiquity is of particular interest because this is when the fundamental techniques were developed as an answer to changes of space. Examples include the invention of the wheel and the development of new settlement areas in response to natural disasters. The participating institutions include: * Freie Universität Berlin (host institution) * Humboldt University Berlin (host institution) * Berlin Institute of Technologie * FHTW Berlin - University of Applied Sciences * Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities * German Archaeological Institute, Berlin * Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences, Hannover * Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin * The State Museums of Berlin – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation * State Library, Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin