Representation of the legendary Knossian labyrinth on an ancient silver coin. Knossos, stater, reverse, ca. 420-380 BC (Münzkabinett, SMB, 18218282).

The Ancient Greek notion topos (plural: topoi), originally means ‘place’, ‘landscape’, ‘area’, or ‘region’. But even in antiquity, the notion topoi included much more: It also referred to imagined places, at which something can be mentally deposited, patterns of reasoning for the verification of disputed theses, or parts of scientific disciplines.

The Excellence Cluster “Topoi – The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations” takes up this wide range of meanings. The interdisciplinary research association investigates ancient civilizations from the 6th millennium BC to Late Antiquity. Issues in focus are: How have spatial orders and knowledge developed? How are space and knowledge related?

More than 200 scientists from diverse disciplines, such as archaeology, geography, history, cultural studies, linguistics, philology, philosophy, theology, and history of science, investigate the formation and transformation of space and science in about 50 research groups, which are pooled in five research areas.

In 2007 the cluster has emerged victorious from the so-called “Excellence Initiative” of the German federal and state governments, and is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

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