Eivind Heldaas Seland

Professor, ancient history and premodern global history

Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion

E-maileivind.seland@uib.no
Phone+47 55 58 31 11
Visitor Address
Dokkevein 2b

Bergen

Room
508
Postal Address
Postboks 7805

5020 Bergen

Most of my research addresses how economy, environment, political power, and ideology/religion interacted in early states/complex societies in the the ancient world. In particular I work with the Indian Ocean/Red Sea region and the Near East, but I am also interested in the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Currently I am investigating how the physical environment influenced travel and communication along both sea and land routes. I also study how historians, archaeologists and paleoclimatologists have cast climate as an agent of historical change, in order to identify good models of climate-society interrelation. Over the next years (2024–2027), I'll be taking part in the project SILKROMO: Like Islands in a Sea of Sand. Understanding the Silk Roads of Late Antiquity as a layered network model, funded by the Research Council of Norway.

I'm also interested in the use and reception of ancient history in later periods. Together with my colleague Ingvar Mæhle I coordinate a research group on that topic.

2020-2022 I had the pleasure of supervising the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie-IF-projects of Francesca Mazzilli, Regional Religious Networks in the Roman Empire (RENE)and Tomas Glomb, Favorable Conditions of the Spread of the Cult of Asclepius across the Transportation Network of the Roman Mediterranean: A Quantitative Evaluation (ASCNET).

With colleagues I have been co-organizing the exploratory workshop series: Globalization, Urbanization and Urban Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Islamic periods, funded by The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2018-2019).

2013 to 2017 I was principal investigtor of the project "Mechanisms of cross-cultural interaction: Networks in the Roman Near East", funded by the Research council of Norway. The project investigated networks of commercial, religious and political nature within and across fluctuating imperial borders in the Near East in the Roman period. My postdoc was on the trade of Palmyra, Syria and how it related to the different overland and maritime networks of the ancient world. I have also worked with Indian Ocean trade and global history, and continue to engage with all these topics.

My research is also featured in this piece on the UiB web-pages.

My Norwegian-language blog, globalhistorie.blogspot.com, is only updated occasionally, but I post much of my popular-history writing there.

Selected publications

Seland, Eivind Heldaas; Kleiven, Helga Flesche. 2023. En kort introduksjon til klimahistorie - menneskene og klimaet etter siste istid. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 210 pages. ISBN: 9788202775155.
Campmany Jiménez, Joan; Romanowska, Iza; Raja, Rubina; Seland, Eivind Heldaas. 2022. Food security in Roman Palmyra (Syria) in light of paleoclimatological evidence and its historical implications. PLOS ONE. 17. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273241
Seland, Eivind Heldaas. 2021. A global history of the ancient world. Asia, Europe and Africa before Islam. Routledge. ISBN: 9781003142263.
Lichtenberger, Achim; Raja, Rubina; Seland, Eivind Heldaas; Simpson, Ian. 2021. Scaling up and zooming in: global history and high-definition archaeology perspectives on the longue durée of urban–environmental relations in Gerasa (Jerash, Jordan). Journal of Global History. 16: 395-414. doi: 10.1017/S1740022821000012
Seland, Eivind Heldaas. 2016. Ships of the Desert and Ships of the Sea: Palmyra in the World Trade of the First Three Centuries CE. Harrassowitz Verlag. 128 pages. ISBN: 9783447107044.

Show author(s) (2024). Maritime trade. Thematic Dictionary of Ancient Arabia.

Show author(s) (2023). Å studere historie. Fagbokforlaget.
Show author(s) (2023). Water, Communication, Sight, and the Location of Fortifications on the Strata Diocletiana (Syria) in Late Antiquity. Open Archaeology. 1-14.
Show author(s) (2023). Trust networks in ancient cross-cultural and long-distance trade. 12 pages.
Show author(s) (2023). Resilience and vulnerability in the Syrian Desert in the first millennium CE: The case of the oasis city Tadmor (Palmyra). Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia (ACTA). 63-78.
Show author(s) (2023). Palmyra and the Indian Ocean.
Show author(s) (2023). Modelling an Urban Hinterland The Case of Roman Palmyra. 18 pages.
Show author(s) (2023). Introduction. ix-xiii. In:
- Show author(s) (2023). City, Hinterland and Environment: Urban Resilience during the First Millennium Transition. Scienze e Lettere.
Show author(s) (2023). History in Arbeidernes Leksikon. Representation, use, and counterculture. Arbeiderhistorie. 45-61.
Show author(s) (2023). En kort introduksjon til klimahistorie - menneskene og klimaet etter siste istid.
Show author(s) (2023). City, Hinterland and Environment: Urban Resilience during the First Millennium Transition. Scienze e Lettere.

Show author(s) (2022). The Paradox of Palmyra: An Ancient anomalopolis in the Desert. Journal of Urban Archaeology (JUA). 177-189.
Show author(s) (2022). The Classical World in a Norwegian Workers' Encyclopedia: Arbeidernes Leksikon (1931–1936). Clotho. 29-45.
Show author(s) (2022). Spaces, Places and Things. The Spatial Dimension of Early Indian Ocean Exchange . 16 pages.
Show author(s) (2022). Markets in the Erythra Thalassa. 10 pages.
Show author(s) (2022). Food security in Roman Palmyra (Syria) in light of paleoclimatological evidence and its historical implications. PLOS ONE.
Show author(s) (2022). Firmus of Alexandria and the trade of Palmyra. 8 pages.
Show author(s) (2022). Caravans in Palmyrene tesserae? How to tell a pack camel from a steed of war? 6 pages.

Show author(s) (2021). Urbanization and Riverine Hinterlands: A Proposal for an Integrative High-Definition and Multi-Scalar Approach to Understanding Ancient Cities and their Dynamic Natural Resources. Journal of Urban Archaeology (JUA). 33-59.
Show author(s) (2021). Trade, Traders, and Religion in Gateway-Cities of the Roman East. Religion in the Roman Empire. 297-312.
Show author(s) (2021). Scaling up and zooming in: global history and high-definition archaeology perspectives on the longue durée of urban–environmental relations in Gerasa (Jerash, Jordan). Journal of Global History. 395-414.
Show author(s) (2021). Local Dynamics of Globalization in the Roman Near East: The case of Palmyra. 18 pages.
Show author(s) (2021). Hva er globalhistorie.
Show author(s) (2021). Horses and Camels in Palmyrene Art: Iconography, Contexts and Meanings. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie. 300-344.
Show author(s) (2021). Associations and Interactions in Urban Networks of the Roman Near East. Journal of Urban Archaeology (JUA). 131-136.
Show author(s) (2021). A kinship network analysis of Palmyrene genealogies. Journal of Historical Network Research (JHNR). 41-84.
Show author(s) (2021). A global history of the ancient world. Asia, Europe and Africa before Islam. Routledge.

Show author(s) (2020). The rise of the merchant princes? Scale, status, and wealth in Palmyrene trade. 10 pages.
Show author(s) (2020). Red Sea Studies: A historiographical sketch. 1234-5415.
Show author(s) (2020). Methods and models in ancient history. Essays in honor of Jørgen Christian Meyer. Norwegian Institute at Athens.
Show author(s) (2020). Coastal and high-sea passages in ancient Red Sea navigation: combining GIS with common-sense geography. 10 pages.
Show author(s) (2020). Climate Change in Urban Biographies: Stage, Event, Agent. Journal of Urban Archaeology (JUA). 187-196.
Show author(s) (2020). A raft, a ship and a lighthouse in the desert. Fluvial and maritime graffiti from ancient Palmyra. Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire. 305-314.

Show author(s) (2019). Urban-Riverine Hinterland Synergies in Semi-Arid Environments: Millennial-Scale Change, Adaptations, and Environmental Responses at Gerasa/Jerash. Journal of Field Archaeology. 333-351.
Show author(s) (2019). Travelling the treacherous seas: pirates, storms and sirens. 376-392. In:
- Show author(s) (2019). Silk Roads. Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes. Thames & Hudson.
Show author(s) (2019). The Trade of Palmyra. 127-136. In:
- Show author(s) (2019). The Road to Palmyra.
Show author(s) (2019). Religion and Early Trade in the Western Indian Ocean: Ideology and Knowledge Exchanges Across the Indian Ocean World. 15 pages.
Show author(s) (2019). Portable Religion and the Palmyrene Diaspora. 8 pages.
Show author(s) (2019). Als Indien das Römische Reich entdeckte. Exploration und Handel im Indischen Ozean vom Osten aus gesehen. 12 pages.

Show author(s) (2018). Å arbeidet med materielle kilder. 21 pages.
Show author(s) (2018). Nomads and caravan trade in the Syrian Desert". . 21 pages.
Show author(s) (2018). Limbs of the Light Mind. The social world of a Manichaean community in fourth-century Egypt.
Show author(s) (2018). From the Fjords to the Nile: Essays in Honor of Richard Holton Pierce on his 80th Birthday. Archaeopress.

Show author(s) (2017). Tøffe valg med store konsekvenser: Historiske fortellinger i norsk klimapolitikk. 11 pages.
Show author(s) (2017). The iconography of caravan trade in Palmyra and the Roman Near East. Scientia Danica Series H. Humanistica. 4. 106-114.
Show author(s) (2017). The Archaeological Record of Indian Ocean Engagements in the Red Sea. 45 pages.
Show author(s) (2017). Sinews of empire and the relational turn in classical scholarship. 1 pages.
Show author(s) (2017). Sinews of Empire: Networks in the Roman Near East and beyond. Oxbow Books.
Show author(s) (2017). Reiser til Tadmor: Historie og kulturarv i Palmyra og Midtøsten/Journeys to Tadmor: History and heritage in Palmyra and the Middle East.
Show author(s) (2017). Gemstones and Mineral Products in the Red Sea / Indian Ocean Trade of the First Millennium. RGZM - Tagungen. 45-58.
Show author(s) (2017). Approaching trade in pre-state and early state societies. 11 pages.

Show author(s) (2016). Trade diasporas and merchant social cohesion in early trade in the western Indian Ocean. 13 pages.
Show author(s) (2016). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: A Network Approach. Asian Review of World Histories. 191-205.
Show author(s) (2016). Ships of the Desert and Ships of the Sea: Palmyra in the World Trade of the First Three Centuries CE.
Show author(s) (2016). Palmyrena: City, Hinterland and Caravan Trade Between Orient and Occident: Proceedings of the Conference Held in Athens, December 1-3, 2012. Archaeopress.
Show author(s) (2016). Palmyra and the trade-route to the Euphrates. ARAM. 497-523.
Show author(s) (2016). Here, there and Everywhere: A Network Approach to Textile Trade in the Periplus Maris Erythraei. 10 pages.
Show author(s) (2016). Ancient trading networks and new institutional economics: the case of Palmyra. 12 pages.

Show author(s) (2015). Writ in water, lines in sand: Ancient trade routes, models and comparative evidence. Cogent Arts & Humanities. 1-11.
Show author(s) (2015). Preconditions of Palmyrene Long-distance trade: Land, River, and Maritime routes in the first three centuries CE.
Show author(s) (2015). Camels, Camel Nomadism and the Practicalities of Palmyrene Caravan Trade. ARAM. 45-53.
Show author(s) (2015). Antikkens Globale Verden.

Show author(s) (2014). The organisation of the Palmyrene caravan trade. Ancient West and East. 197-211.
Show author(s) (2014). Early Christianity in East Africa and Red Sea/Indian Ocean Commerce [Les débuts du Christianisme en Afrique de l’est et le commerce de la mer Rouge et de l’Océan Indien]. African Archaeological Review. 637-647.
Show author(s) (2014). Caravans, Smugglers and Trading Fairs: Organizing Textile Trade on the Syrian Frontier. 9 pages.
Show author(s) (2014). Archaeology of Trade in the Western Indian Ocean, 300 BC-AD 700. Journal of Archaeological Research. 367-402.

Show author(s) (2013). Networks and social cohesion in ancient Indian Ocean trade: geography, ethnicity, religion. Journal of Global History. 373-390.
Show author(s) (2013). Ancient Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean: Maritime Links of the Kushan Empire ca 50-200 CE. Journal of Indian Ocean Archeology. 61-69.
Show author(s) (2013). : Antikkforskning som faghistorie. 19 pages.

Show author(s) (2012). Trade and Christianity in the Indian Ocean during Late Antiquity. Journal of Late Antiquity. 72-86.
Show author(s) (2012). The Liber Pontificalis and Red Sea Trade of the Early to Mid 4th Century AD. 10 pages.
Show author(s) (2012). Globalhistorisk atlas.
Show author(s) (2012). Death or taxes? Choosing itineraries between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean in the mid-18th century. Akademisk Kvarter. 97-108.

Show author(s) (2011). Ørkenens skip: Kamelen og den første transportrevolusjonen. REPLIKK – Tidsskrift for samfunnsvitskap og humaniora. 65-72.
Show author(s) (2011). The Persian Gulf or the Red Sea? Two axes in ancient Indian Ocean trade, where to go and why. World archaeology. 398-409.
Show author(s) (2011). Kameler og kamelkaravaner i romersk kunst. Klassisk Forum. 45-53.
Show author(s) (2011). Antikken Globale Verden: Asia, Europa og Afrika før islam.

Show author(s) (2010). Ports and political power in the periplus: complex societies and maritime trade on the Indian Ocean in the first century AD.
Show author(s) (2010). Palmyra : karavanehandel og geopolitikk i romersk Syria. Klassisk Forum. 54-69.

Show author(s) (2009). Shipwreck, Maroons and Monsters: The Hazards of Ancient Red Sea Navigation. 7 pages.
Show author(s) (2009). Ptolemaiere på elefantjakt. Klassisk Forum. 95-106.
Show author(s) (2009). Antikk økonomi og moderne historie. Fortid. 19-25.

Show author(s) (2008). Trade routes of Palmyra, with special notes on western routes in Palmyrene trade. 10 pages.
Show author(s) (2008). The Indian Ships at Moscha and the Indo-Arabian trading circuit. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 283-288.
Show author(s) (2008). The Indian Ocean and the Globalisation of the Ancient World. Ancient West & East. 65-77.
Show author(s) (2008). Taxation of ancient Indian Ocean trade. Journal of Indian Ocean Archeology. 18-30.
Show author(s) (2008). Antikkens globale verden: Asia, Europa og Afrika før Islam. Portal forlag.

Show author(s) (2007). The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period: Definite Places, translocal exchange. Archaeopress.
Show author(s) (2007). Red Sea and Indian Ocean: Ports and their hinterland. 8 pages.
Show author(s) (2007). Ports, Ptolemy, Periplus and Poetry - Romans in Tamil South India and on the Bay of Bengal. 14 pages.
Show author(s) (2007). Definite places, translocal exchange - an introduction. 6 pages.
Show author(s) (2007). Definite places, translocal exchange. 5 pages.

Show author(s) (2006). The Roman Attack on Aden: an unintended result of successful propaganda. Symbolae Osloenses - Norwegian Journal of Greek and Latin Studies. 60-67.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

2024-2027: Like Islands in a Sea of Sand. Understanding the Silk Roads of Late Antiquity as a layered network model (SILKROMO), Research Council of Norway, partner.

2020-2022 I supervise the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie-IF-projects of Francesca Mazzilli, Regional Religious Networks in the Roman Empire and Tomas Glomb, Favorable Conditions of the Spread of the Cult of Asclepius across the Transportation Network of the Roman Mediterranean: A Quantitative Evaluation.

Globalization, Urbanization and Urban Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Islamic periods. Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) exploratory workshops grant (partner 2018-2019)

Mechanisms of cross-cultural interaction: Networks in the Roman Near East (Project manager 2013-2016)

Local dynamics of globalization in the pre-modern Levant (core group member 2014-15)

Palmyrena: City, Hinterland and Caravan Trade between Orient and Occident (Postdoc 2009-2012)

Fields of competence

Ancient history

Environmental Humanities