History and geography

History does not unfold in a vacuum. Space—both as a physical environment and as a socially defined place—is an integral element of every historical experience. Our research focuses on the dynamic relationship between history, geography, and especially space, highlighting it not as a passive backdrop but as an active factor in the formation of political, social, and cultural structures.

The space under historical study is never neutral; it bears traces of power, memory, and social stratification. Landscape, in particular, embodies the relationship between people and their environment. One could argue that landscape is, to some extent, a human invention—a cultural construct that allows identity to be narrated through space.

Our research draws on a wide range of tools: epigraphic, literary, and archaeological approaches, as well as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), offering a multi-layered analysis and visualisation of historical space. In this way, we explore how the concept of space historically shaped phenomena such as Cleisthenic Athens, the urban strategies of Roman expansion, the layout of Cretan cities, the fortified settlements of Epirus, or the relationship between the demes of Attica and the Athenian asty.

At the same time, our research extends to the Aegean and the notion of insularity: we examine social and political structures in the Cyclades, the particular historical trajectories of Delos and Kea, and the broader impact of insular geography on forms of organisation in small islands.

Our aim is not merely to document a given space but to systematically investigate the mechanisms by which it is historically constituted—how space is produced, transformed, and becomes a carrier of collective experience. In this way, research helps shed new light on the past.