Centre for Greek and Latin Documents

The VUB Centre for the Study of Greek and Latin documents is active in the fields of papyrology, epigraphy and numismatics. It aims at promoting the study of Greek and Latin papyri and ostraca (pot-shards with text written on them), Greek and Latin inscriptions and ancient coins. Its expertise in these matters is widely recognised. Thus the Centre has been and is still involved in major national and international archaeological projects, mainly dealing with the written documents found during the excavations. Since 1968, its members have joined the Belgian excavations at Apamea in Syria, from 1987 to 1993 they participated in the international Mons Claudianus project and from 1994 to 1998 in the British Mons Porphyrites project, two Roman quarry sites in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, where thousands of Greek and Latin documents have been found. Since 1999 the Centre is involved in the British excavations of Myos Hormos, one of the great ports of the ancient world on the Red Sea coast in Upper Egypt. The centre is associated with the KUL in the research group FWO-Vlaanderen: Society and Administration in the Hellenistic and Roman World. The ongoing research activities of GRLD are situated in the areas of: Papyrology, Greek epigraphy, Latin epigraphy, Ancient numismatics, Greek and Latin palaeography.