Dr. Floris van den Eijnde is director of Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies and lecturer and researcher of Ancient History at the department of History and Art History of Utrecht University. He is interested in social and cultural integration and interaction in the premodern Mediterranean world. In his research he employs recent anthropological insights with regard to social interaction and institutions (e.g. Feasting and Polis Institutions, 2018). In particular, his work has focused on the formation and rise of the Athenian polis (1200-500 BCE) and especially the central role played by local sanctuaries The Athenians, forthcoming).

As of 2019, Floris van den Eijnde leads the UU research group Sacrality and the Greek Polis (SAGP) as well as the HIERON, Network for the Study of Ancient Greek Sanctuaries. He is founder and co-director of the national (OIKOS) research group Cultural Interactions in the Ancient World (CIAW) and editor-in-chief of the academic book series Cultural Interactions in the Mediterranean (CIM, Brill, Leiden). For the latter series he co-edited the volumes Empires of the Sea (2019) and Late Antique Responses to the Arab Conquest (2020).

He was a fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA, 2000-2001) and has participated in the excavation of the Athenian Agora (1998-2002). As of 2011, he codirects the Thorikos Fieldwork Project near Lavrio, in Attica, Greece. This long-term excavation and survey project aims to understand the settlement history of Thorikos, its importance in the emergence and functioning of the Classical Athenian polis and the role played by the local silver industry.

Floris van den Eijnde teaches Greek history, with special attention to material culture and written sources. As of 2018 he directs the Research Master Ancient Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He was further involved in the creation and coordination of several BA programmes (Major Foundations of Europe, Minor Archaeology, Minor Ancient Culture).

He holds MA degrees in Mediterrean Archaeology (2000) and Classics (2001) from the University of Amsterdam and in Education (2004) from the Free University in Amsterdam. He has been at Utrecht University since 2004, where he successfully defended his doctoral thesis Cult and Society in Early Athens in 2010.

Areas of Interest

• Greek history and archaeology (ca. 1100-300 BCE)
• The Athenian polis
• Mediterranean history
• Greek sanctuaries and sacrality
• State formation and institutions
• Integration processes
• Cultural interaction
• Feasting theory/commensality

• Academia