Immersive City Scripts
2019–2024
RFB02
In the cities of Roman Asia Minor, inscriptions were omnipresent. They are a comparatively complex medium whose perception was influenced by the particular text as much as by its formal design, its material or its location. The spectrum ranged from the hastily engraved graffiti on the wall of a room to the extensive imperial epistle carved in careful letters on the outside wall of a temple. Since persons from different social status commissioned the inscriptions in various situations, it can be assumed that these contributed to an agent-based structuring of public space. For example, inscriptions with large letters embedded in metal could have generated a surplus of meaning that made a square appear 'central' regardless of its position in the city map, thus requiring certain patterns of behaviour. So called topos-inscriptions, with which dealers marked their public stands, structured a street and permanently represented a group of people that was otherwise only temporarily present in the cityscape. Hence, the distribution of the inscriptions and their design can reveal spatial constructions resulting from competing agents. Apart from providing an elaborate case study of the Greco-Roman period, the project serves as an example for transcultural and diachronic comparison of inscribed spaces, involving perspectives and methods from classical archaeology, ancient history and human-computer interaction.
People
Project lead: Christof Berns, Kaja Harter-Uibopuu, Frank Steinicke
Research Associates: Ann Lauren Osthof, Jenny Gabel
Project Overview: The Theatre of Miletus in Virtual Reality
360° Preview of Miletus VR
This is a simple online preview with 360° images of the virtual theatre of Miletus. Hold and drag the
image with your mouse to look around. Click on the arrow- and info-icons to navigate to a different
view and get a first impression of the ancient theatre. The truly immersive and interactive version of
the theatre if Miletus is integrated in our Virtual Reality application which is created as part of this
project.
Events and Public Outreach
- 11/2021 (zusammen mit C. Berns) „Streets as contested spaces in ancient Miletus”, Internationale Konferenz „The Street in the Urban Structure”, Porto 11.–13. November 2021
- 12/2021 Evening Event „The Virtual Theatre of Miletus“ View Blog Entry
- 12/2021 „The Theatre of Miletus”, Workshop „The Greco-Roman Theatre as Inscribed Space”, CSMC Universität Hamburg
- 6/2022 Public Demo at Cluster Open Day
- 07/2022 Miletus VR at MKG (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg) View News Entry
- 08/2022 „The theatre of Miletus. Newly analysed as an inscribed space, visualized in virtual reality”, CIEGL 2022, Bordeaux
10/2022 Rechtschutztagung “Vorsorge, Verbote und Sanktionen – Grabschutz in der griechisch-römischen Antike im Spiegel der epigraphischen Quellen” Demo Milet VR: https://www.geschichte.uni-hamburg.de/arbeitsbereiche/alte-geschichte/arbeitsbereich/aktuelles/2022-10-12-14-grabschutz-tagung.html - 11/2022 Article in „Doing the Research“ series, NewsRoom UHH Read Full Article
- 6/2023 Miletus VR at „Long Night of Science/Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften“, at our cooperation partner the university of applied sciences „Berliner Hochschule für Technik“ (BHT) in Berlin
Collaboration
Photogrammetry, 3D scanning and digitisation: Berliner Hochschule für Technik (BHT)
Prof. Ing. Michael Breuer, Felix Neupert, Johannes Neis
Lab for Photogrammetry