Riccardo D'Ascenzi

• Late Antiquity to Early Medieval Period (400 to 700 CE)
• Barbarians and Romans in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
• Völkerwanderung
• Identity Constructions of Germanic Peoples in Western Europe
• Socio-Cultural History of Vandals in Late Antique North Africa

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mischa Meier
Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner
Project’s Title: The Anthologia Latina as a Source for Sociocultural Developments in Late Antique North Africa
 

Abstract:
This project reassesses the Anthologia Latina as a key source for understanding sociocultural dynamics in Vandal North Africa (439–534). Beyond the hostile narratives of Catholic chroniclers and Procopius, the poems reveal significant cultural continuity between Roman, Vandal, and early Byzantine Africa. Through philological and historical analysis of selected Vandal-era texts, the research examines how classical literary forms articulated a shared secular and urban culture embraced by both the Vandal elite and the Roman-African aristocracy. Integrating literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence, the project offers a more nuanced and integrated view of Vandal North Africa.
 

• “La produzione poetica dell’Anthologia Latina. Per una lettura della storia socio-culturale dell’Africa tardoantica”, in Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya, n. 25-26, n.s. V-VI, 2024, pp. 139-152.

• New Perspectives on Failaka Island’s Archaeological Landscape: The Case of Al-Qurainiyah, invited talk at the Hauskolloquium of the Institute of Classical Archaeology (Winter Semester 2025/2026), Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 12 December 2025.
• Vandal Rule and Latin Verse: Shaping Identity in Late Antique North Africa, invited talk within the lecture series Italian–Chinese Dialogues 2.0: Looking Sideways. Medieval and Early Modern History in Italian and Chinese Perspectives, University of Naples “Federico II”, 19 December 2025.