Ricerc@Sapienza

As the concept of refugee is a relatively recent idea, elaborated as a consequence of the Second World War, each investigation about refugees in antiquity cannot ignore comparison with the modern notion of refugee. Nevertheless, some reconsiderations on the specific features of Greek politics and society are called for in relation to the ancient concept of refugee. We are chiefly interested in the protagonists and the contexts of the migration process, that is those who left their native land, those who received them, and the city-states involved as a starting point and final destination of migrants. We want to question the ancient sources about both the relations between refugees in the Greek world and the social, political and military contexts in which this phenomenon arose and the reception process of the host countries. Besides that, archaeological evidence will be considered. The proposal focuses on comparative analyses between ancient and modern refugees, from a political and social viewpoint. For the Roman Empire, overthrown leaders could often expect a sympathetic ear from the Romans. The expected payback would be pro-Roman policies if they did manage a return to power.
New discoveries at Hadrian's Wall beg the question of quite what Roman attitudes towards refugees actually were, and how far they correspond with modern sentiments towards displaced persons. Another interesting example is how Romans dealt with Goths massed on the far bank of the River Danube in 376 AD after their own kingdoms had been overrun by the fearsome Huns. In light of the recent upsurge in work on ancient Mediterranean migration and exile, this project raises the following questions: what value does the term 'refugee' have for our understanding of the ancient equivalent? How do we define refuge and refugees? Where do we look for the voices of refugees among the ancient evidence? What and where are the sites of 'refuge' attested across the ancient Mediterranean world?