Nirajan Kafle defended his thesis on 15 October 2015

Fieldwork is an essential part of this research and of course this part of the project is also a joint effort by citizen scientists and professional archaeologists. Discover when fieldwork will take place and how you can participate.

My work is motivated by the necessity to extend Standard Model of Particle Physics in order to explain three observed phenomena that this great theory fails to accommodate

This study documents and translates the Saa (Zapotec) cultural heritage of the Bene’ Ya’a/En’ne I’ya peoples, the Zapotec inhabitants of the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca.

This book argues that the combined literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence supports the theory that early-imperial Italy had about six million inhabitants.

Doctoral Thesis

How to interpret the concept of truth is a much debated topic in the history of philosophy. The issues related to truth involve language, reality and their correspondence relations.

The present study explores the role of water in the ancient Roman city of Ostia.In antiquity, Ostia was situated at the intersection of the Tiber River and the Mediterranean Sea, and acted as one of the harbour cities of Rome for several centuries.This study investigates how water was acquired, used,…

Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts Volume 87 in the series Religion and Society

This thesis attempts to establish a dialogue between the modern and the medieval traditions in logic, by means of ‘translations’ of the medieval logical theories into the modern framework of symbolic logic, i.e. formalizations.

Louis Verreth and Jeroen De Keyser recently published a critical edition of Francesco Filelfo’s Latin translation of the Rhetorica ad Alexandrum (Edizioni dell'Orso).

Hoye proposes that concerns about virtues of the sovereign are essential for understanding Hobbes's both his political thinking and his political critique.

It is integral to many cluster members’ research to use Medieval and Early Modern Arts as a lens for studying the medieval and early modern periods at large:

Overview of the most important papyrological websites

This work focuses on the interpretation of the archaeological remains of the Mixtec culture in Southern Mexico on the basis of the knowledge, perceptions, economy and worldview of contemporary descendant communities.

Just published:

The Near East, situated at the nexus of Europe, Africa, and Asia, was central to the development of ancient societies in all three continents.

New perspectives from archaeology and ancient history

While many European universities, Leiden included, have a proud tradition of research into Islamic studies, a topical and thematic focus on Shiʿi Islam in all its dispensation remains a desideratum.

The Altai region has yielded a cluster of Middle and Upper Paleolithic stratified sites that have been recently excavated using a multidisciplinary approach.

This study endeavors to reconstruct Plato's theory of change and motion. The diverse perspectives of pre-Socratic philosophers regarding change and motion provide the context for Plato’s exploration of his theory.

This dissertation explores Aristotle’s use of teleology as a principle of explanation, especially as it is used in the natural treatises.

In this thesis the most dominant academic perspectives pertaining to the relationship between myth and philosophy are questioned and repositioned and Plato’s use of myth is analyzed to demonstrate this reevaluation.

The Department of Archaeological Sciences seeks to achieve the highest standards of excellence in science-driven education and archaeological research across the globe and across all periods.

Nietzsche's famous notion 'amor fati' is often associated with the Stoic maxim to 'live in accordance with nature'; we have to fully accept our fates in order to attain happiness. But is happiness really what Nietzsche's 'amor fati' is about? And how to account for all the fiercely critical remarks…

Bandura Witharana defended his thesis on 27 September 2018

A Diachronic Perspective on the Aegean

Presents a novel philosophical account of psychedelic experiences, arguing that they can be induced by means other than psychedelics — such as meditation and yoga.

An investigation into how racial stereotypes were created and used in the European Middle Ages.

Bioarchaeology covers the study of all biological remains from archaeological sites.

Leiden is a lively university city, brimming with history and boasting a student life that’s tangible just about everywhere.

Vol. V, Sections 1-2

My research addresses the function of the much-debated particle -nā in Biblical Hebrew, often translated with “please”, from the point of view of the most important ancient Bible translations (Greek, Syriac, Latin). It combines textual criticism, translation technique, discourse pragmatics, and the…

The multiple connections between emblematics and Natural History in the broader perspective of their underlying artistic, literary, political and religious ideologies.

Iconografía, epigrafía e historia en los monumentos arqueológicos

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'How do you write a slogan to win an election?' Steven Ooms answers this question in his PhD research into ideas about good prose in the time of Caesar and Emperor Augustus. This period is considered a high point for the development of literature. The Roman Cicero and the Greek Dionysius of Halicarnassus…

Egyptologist Lara Weiss is curator at The National Museum of Antiquities and has been leading the VIDI research project 'Walking Dead' since 2017. The exhibition 'Saqqara: Living in a necropolis', which will be on display at the museum starting March 10 next year, is part of the project.

On March 21 2018, a study was published in Nature, co-authored by Professor M. Soressi from the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University, announcing the sequencing of five new Neandertals, raising the number of high-coverage sequenced Neandertals from two to seven. A tooth lost by a Neandertal woman…

PhD defence

Our research regularly receives attention in the (Dutch) popular media. Here is an overview.

Tuesday 7 September sees the release of the book ‘Plots stond het Leidse leven stil’ by Charlotte Boin, a freelance writer from Leiden. This book of interviews gives an impression of the turbulent effect of coronavirus on the lives of students, researchers and partners of Leiden University.

TruLife applies lessons from the study of long-term urban traditions, exemplified by pre-Columbian Maya tropical cities, to present-day sustainable urban design.

As an artist Clevis is fascinated by the phenomenon of place in relation to beginnings and final destinations.

World history, connectivity and material culture, edited by Martin Pitts and Miguel John Versluys. From Cambridge University Press.