A fruitful workshop on daily life in Late Antiquity

On Friday October 21st 2022 Dr. Sofie Remijsen organised, together with Dr. DaniĆ«lle Slootjes, the workshop titled “Daily Life in Changing Times. The Agency of Ordinary People in Late Antiquity”. It was a fruitful day with lively discussions about how to trace the agency and practices of non-elite groups and their role in Late Antique transformations. Dr. Lucinda Dirven (Radboud University) spoke about her research into lived religion in Late Antique Syria and Egypt. She was followed by Patricia Kret (Leiden University) who is currently investigating the daily practice of amulet use. After Dr. Sofie Remijsen’s talk on the Lived Time-project, Kay Boers (Utrecht University) told about his search for agency of ordinary people in Visigothic legal sources, and the challenge of well-defining ‘agency’ and ‘ordinary’. Dr. Miko Flohr (Leiden University) afterwards discussed the fate of tabernae in Late Anitquity. Did they blossom or dissappear? What does this teach us about economic acitivity on the Italian peninsula in this period? The day was concluded by Dr. Stijn Heeren (VU Amsterdam), who showed how archaeology helps gain a better understanding of the lives of the Germanic peoples in Northwestern Europe and their relationship with the Roman Empire.