About the Author:
Mario Ranzinger is a Doctoral Researcher from the University of Luxembourg’s Institute of History. He had the opportunity to present his research during our Classics Colloquium in Leiden University, 28-29 August 2025.
Day 1: An itinerary through the BeNeLux
Wednesday: Start of the Journey to the Classics Colloquium
I started my journey in the morning from the Luxembourg train station. My destination was Leiden, where I was about to participate in the Colloquium with fellow doctoral researchers and graduate students. With excitement, I chose to work onboard the train so I could fully focus on the interesting papers and discussions over the next few days.
Fortunately, I arrived smoothly after a 6½-hour ride in Leiden. After checking in at the hotel, it was almost time for the Welcome Drinks – at least that’s what I thought. By accident, I got there one hour too early – in the shadow of the historical motte from the 11th century, the Burcht van Leiden. The icebreaker was already a great success, and we quickly noticed that we had established a perfect group dynamic – a promising start for the upcoming days!
Day 2: The ambitious recap of the World History
Thursday: How did historical narratives polarise morale failures and politic? What is Freedom from Athens? Where do the women in Greek-Sicily come from, what was Virgil’s and Ovid’s viewpoint on Anna Perenna and Dido, and how did the identity building process in Anatolia take place?
With less sleep than anticipated, we already gathered in the morning at the extensive breakfast of the hotel. Afterwards, arriving at the university, the organisers, Casper de Jonge (Uni Leiden) and Miles Pattenden (Europaeum), welcomed us officially to the event and introduced the purpose and the initial idea behind the topic of the Colloquium “Multipolar Antiquity”. This was emphasised by the first keynote lecture with “Notes towards a Global Past” and set the framework for the upcoming presentations by the doctoral researchers. Each of them was followed by a fruitful, respectful and interesting debate where ideas, questions, and specific approaches of the various present disciplines were offered.
The local doctoral researchers even offered a small tour through the campus and showed us important places in the university’s history with some specific peculiarities.
After a productive first day, we had the possibility to continue our discussions over some drinks at a local bar and then enjoy a nice meal together. There, the discussions and the exchange between the participants continued. Even after dinner, some of us proceeded to enjoy the company and the picturesque setting of Leiden in a regularly frequented pub of the Classics department – I might have been one of them. The peer pressure was more motivating than getting more sleep for the upcoming responsibility of opening the next day with the first presentation. But it is all about creating networks, right?
Day 3: Global Connections through large scale network analysis
Friday: How and where did Romans acquire their wooden resources, which aspects have to be respected in the Formation process of Archaic Macedonia, and why was Juba II not only content with being king of Mauretania?
The day started off again with a great breakfast and the excitement to present my initial research of my PhD project right away in the morning. Back at university, we directly began where we left off the other day. The last three doctoral papers were, again, discussed in a great environment. For myself, I got a lot of interesting input and possible sources which could help me with my topic in the upcoming years of research.
As an interim program, the hosts of Leiden University organized a guided tour through the “Rijksmuseum van Oudheden”. There we were able to see the local archaeological history of the Netherlands as well as specific objects throughout world history. Our guide took us through the different time periods and showed us impressive bronze daggers, artfully decorated jewellery from medieval times, Greek pottery, Etruscan urns, and even a cuneiform tablet with parts of the Gilgamesh story. The interesting tour ended in an Egyptian temple which was erected in the middle of the entrance hall of the museum.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a long lunch with two upcoming keynote lectures. Especially the second one caught my interest because it demonstrated the recent challenges and future chances for network research in archaeological projects and that big data can produce unexpected results leading to a change in whole narratives.
This presentation summarised, in my opinion, perfectly the last two days and made it even more obvious that we have to think and work interdisciplinarily to create a comprehensible narrative that leads us closer to a reconstruction of the past.
Ending the official program of the Colloquium, we again spent a nice evening with a great dinner at an Italian restaurant to discuss the last two days, exchange contact details and enjoy the exuberant atmosphere of our group. Following the initial words from Casper de Jonge, we even strengthened not only our network but also created friendly ties – which was achieved, once more, in the diverse and welcoming nightlife of the oldest university city of the Netherlands. Our great hosts from the university acted again as our guides.
Day 4: Farewell to Leiden – Welcome new ideas!
Saturday: Reflections of the last days, outlook for future research, and joy about an unforgettable exchange opportunity
Fortunately, I had the chance to see a few of the attendees again at breakfast. Already reminiscing in nostalgia, we enjoyed these last moments and made our farewells – for now! Everyone was certain that the contact should be maintained and possibilities to meet up again planned. Personally, I thought a lot about the input, the discussions, the new opportunities, contacts, and friendships that I’ve acquired throughout the last days on my train ride back. I will take many of these insights into my research and pursue my investigation with even more enthusiasm and ideas.
In closing, the only thing left to write is that I am very grateful for the opportunity the Europaeum Classics Colloquium offered to all of us. It was a unique experience, and our hosts, Casper de Jonge (including the local researchers and students) and Miles Pattenden, put in so much effort into this event that it created a great environment for professional exchange and also for building a promising network. From my side – and I think I can speak for everyone else who attended: “Hartelijk dank! Tot ziens hopelijk!”
