The papyruscollection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute is a modest collection, housed in the University Library of Leiden University. It was built up as a study collection and used in the first place for teaching and reaching a larger public.

Religion, Philosophy, and the Pre-modern World

The project concerns the nature, the usages and functions of pictographic systems in relation to writing in societies with (restricted) literacy.

The Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) master's at Leiden University covers the entire range of present-day research on the civilisations of Greece and Rome, Egypt and the Ancient Near East.

Leiden’s expertise on the Middle East spans from ancient history to contemporary tensions in the region. By studying languages, cultures, religions, literature, art, and philosophy in in conjunction, we create an indispensable, in-depth understanding.

The Iseum Campense, the impressive sanctuary for Isis and the Egyptian gods on the Campus Martius and arguably one of ancient Rome’s most notable absent presences, is a monument central to various debates.

The Laboratory for Human Osteoarchaeology specialises in the macroscopic and microscopic analysis of human remains. We use cutting edge scientific approaches to address archaeological, historical, and anthropological research questions. In addition to paleopathological, histological, and 3D scanning…

This beautifully illustrated volume investigates the social life of objects moving between the Middle East and the West, revealing the range of agencies and subjectivities involved in their trade and reuse.

Just published:

From the rise and fall of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, to Islamic State’s attempts to create its own currency, to the dramatic return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, this edited volume from two leading scholars of contemporary terrorism assembles an enviable array of international experts to explore these…

Proceedings of the Vth International Conference of Isis Studies, Boulogne-sur-Mer, October 13-15, 2011

Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 21, 2005

The World of a Mid-Eighth-Century Egyptian Official

Bioarchaeology covers the study of all biological remains from archaeological sites.

On October 31st, Paul Noorlander succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Paul on this great result.

Special Issue in: Visual Anthropology, Volume 29, Issue 3, 2016

PhD defence

How did the Arabs manage to maintain an empire based on Islamic principles for three hundred years? Arab expert Petra Sijpesteijn and her team will be examining this question over the coming five years, focusing on the correspondence of ordinary people. The research is being funded by an ERC Consolidator…

Caspar Reuvens, the world’s first Professor of Archaeology, was a prominent classical scholar and from his appointment in 1818 onwards Classical & Mediterranean Archaeology has been an important field of research in Leiden.

The Leiden Papyrological Institute offers several courses in papyrology, from beginners' to advanced level, BA as well as MA. The courses are taught by Dr. Koen Donker van Heel (Demotic and Abnormal Hieratic papyrology) and Dr. Cisca Hoogendijk (Greek papyrology).

Mr. S. Al Daghistani defended his thesis on 30 November 2017

Abdessamad El Amraoui defended his thesis on 6 Mai 2015.

Haunting the future through poetry

Keynote lecture

Leiden researchers have made an important contribution to the successful ‘Beyond the Nile’ exhibition in the American J. Paul Getty Museum. They also contributed to the exhibition volume that will be presented to Rector Magnificus Carel stolker on 5 September.

At LUCIS we offer a varied programme of scholarly meetings (conferences, workshops) which reflect our multidisciplinary and comparative view on Islam and Muslim societies in past and present.

Bones contain information about people’s lives such as where they came from, their age at death and which diseases they suffered from. Researchers can deduce a lot from them about a person’s life and about human evolution. This generates leads that could help solve present-day problems, such as how…

The 'Leids Papyrologisch Instituut' is one of the few institutes worldwide that studies both Greek (and Latin) and Demotic and Abnormal-Hieratic papyri.

To be eligible for Egyptology at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Classics and Ancient Civilizations (Research) covers two years and can be studied in four programmes, one of them is the Assyriology (Research) programme. When you choose to study Assyriology, you will both be guided through the broadness of Assyriological sub-disciplines, as well as gradually led to…

World history, connectivity and material culture, edited by Martin Pitts and Miguel John Versluys. From Cambridge University Press.

Humanities are needed to make sense of social issues. Watch or listen to the stories of our experts who tell about their research and the impact on society. Get to know the world at Humanities!

Our library contains around 23,000 books, journals and historical documents under the care of a specialized librarian.

Over the past decades the role of writing in the development of human civilizations has been the subject of much discussion. The adoption and development of literate skills has been linked to many developments in human history, be they cultural, social or even cognitive.