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.

 

2024

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2024). Maritime trade [Arabian]. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2024). Maritime trade. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2024). Palmyrene Trading Networks. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2024). Climate and Environment of Palmyra and the Syrian Desert. (external link)

2023

• Campmany Jiménez, Joan; Romanowska, Iza; Raja, Rubina et al. (2023). Modelling an Urban Hinterland The Case of Roman Palmyra. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). History in Arbeidernes Leksikon. Representation, use, and counterculture. (external link)
• Melve, Leidulf; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). Å studere historie. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). Palmyra and the Indian Ocean. (external link)
• Raja, Rubina; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). Resilience and vulnerability in the Syrian Desert in the first millennium CE: The case of the oasis city Tadmor (Palmyra). (external link)
• Malmberg, Lars Simon Tobias; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). City, Hinterland and Environment: Urban Resilience during the First Millennium Transition. (external link)
• Malmberg, Lars Simon Tobias; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). Introduction. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas; Kleiven, Helga Flesche (2023). En kort introduksjon til klimahistorie - menneskene og klimaet etter siste istid. (external link)
• Meyer, Jørgen Christian; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). Water, Communication, Sight, and the Location of Fortifications on the Strata Diocletiana (Syria) in Late Antiquity.. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2023). Trust networks in ancient cross-cultural and long-distance trade. (external link)

2022

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2022). Spaces, Places and Things. The Spatial Dimension of Early Indian Ocean Exchange . (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2022). The Classical World in a Norwegian Workers' Encyclopedia: Arbeidernes Leksikon (1931–1936). (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2022). Markets in the Erythra Thalassa. (external link)
• Campmany Jiménez, Joan; Romanowska, Iza; Raja, Rubina et al. (2022). Food security in Roman Palmyra (Syria) in light of paleoclimatological evidence and its historical implications. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2022). Caravans in Palmyrene tesserae? How to tell a pack camel from a steed of war?. (external link)
• Raja, Rubina; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2022). The Paradox of Palmyra: An Ancient anomalopolis in the Desert. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2022). Firmus of Alexandria and the trade of Palmyra. (external link)

2021

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2021). Associations and Interactions in Urban Networks of the Roman Near East. (external link)
• Lichtenberger, Achim; Raja, Rubina; Seland, Eivind Heldaas et al. (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). (external link)
• Melve, Leidulf; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2021). Hva er globalhistorie. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2021). Trade, Traders, and Religion in Gateway-Cities of the Roman East. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2021). A global history of the ancient world. Asia, Europe and Africa before Islam. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2021). Local Dynamics of Globalization in the Roman Near East: The case of Palmyra. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas; Raja, Rubina (2021). Horses and Camels in Palmyrene Art: Iconography, Contexts and Meanings. (external link)
• Brughmans, Tom; Bobou, Olympia; Kristensen, Nathalia B. et al. (2021). A kinship network analysis of Palmyrene genealogies. (external link)
• Brughmans, Tom; Kinnaird, Tim; Kristiansen, Søren M. et al. (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. (external link)

2020

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2020). Climate Change in Urban Biographies: Stage, Event, Agent. (external link)
• Meyer, Jørgen Christian; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2020). قارب وسفينة ومنارة في الصحراء. نقوش نهرية وبحرية في تدمر القديمة. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2020). The rise of the merchant princes? Scale, status, and wealth in Palmyrene trade.. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2020). Coastal and high-sea passages in ancient Red Sea navigation: combining GIS with common-sense geography. (external link)
• Mæhle, Ingvar B.; Ravnå, Per Bjarne; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2020). Methods and models in ancient history. Essays in honor of Jørgen Christian Meyer. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2020). Red Sea Studies: A historiographical sketch. (external link)

2019

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2019). Religion and Early Trade in the Western Indian Ocean: Ideology and Knowledge Exchanges Across the Indian Ocean World. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2019). Portable Religion and the Palmyrene Diaspora. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2019). Travelling the treacherous seas: pirates, storms and sirens. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2019). The Trade of Palmyra. (external link)
• Lichtenberger, Achim; Raja, Rubina; Seland, Eivind Heldaas et al. (2019). Urban-Riverine Hinterland Synergies in Semi-Arid Environments: Millennial-Scale Change, Adaptations, and Environmental Responses at Gerasa/Jerash. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2019). Als Indien das Römische Reich entdeckte. Exploration und Handel im Indischen Ozean vom Osten aus gesehen. (external link)

2018

• Steiner, Pål; Tsakos, Alexandros; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2018). From the Fjords to the Nile: Essays in Honor of Richard Holton Pierce on his 80th Birthday. (external link)
• Teigen, Håkon Fiane; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2018). Limbs of the Light Mind. The social world of a Manichaean community in fourth-century Egypt. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2018). Nomads and caravan trade in the Syrian Desert". . (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2018). Å arbeidet med materielle kilder. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2018). Hundre års undergang. (external link)

2017

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). Gemstones and Mineral Products in the Red Sea / Indian Ocean Trade of the First Millennium. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). Tøffe valg med store konsekvenser: Historiske fortellinger i norsk klimapolitikk. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). The iconography of caravan trade in Palmyra and the Roman Near East. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). Approaching trade in pre-state and early state societies. (external link)
• Teigen, Håkon Fiane; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). Sinews of empire and the relational turn in classical scholarship. (external link)
• Teigen, Håkon Fiane; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). Sinews of Empire: Networks in the Roman Near East and beyond. (external link)
• Van der Lans, Birgit; Teigen, Håkon Fiane; Seland, Eivind Heldaas et al. (2017). Reiser til Tadmor: Historie og kulturarv i Palmyra og Midtøsten/Journeys to Tadmor: History and heritage in Palmyra and the Middle East. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2017). The Archaeological Record of Indian Ocean Engagements in the Red Sea. (external link)

2016

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2016). Trade diasporas and merchant social cohesion in early trade in the western Indian Ocean. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2016). Ancient trading networks and new institutional economics: the case of Palmyra. (external link)
• Meyer, Jørgen Christian; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2016). Palmyra and the trade-route to the Euphrates. (external link)
• Meyer, Jørgen Christian; Seland, Eivind Heldaas; Anfinset, Nils (2016). Palmyrena: City, Hinterland and Caravan Trade Between Orient and Occident: Proceedings of the Conference Held in Athens, December 1-3, 2012. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2016). Ships of the Desert and Ships of the Sea: Palmyra in the World Trade of the First Three Centuries CE. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2016). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: A Network Approach. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2016). Here, there and Everywhere: A Network Approach to Textile Trade in the Periplus Maris Erythraei. (external link)

2015

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Preconditions of Palmyrene Long-distance trade: Land, River, and Maritime routes in the first three centuries CE. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Antikkens Globale Verden. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Writ in water, lines in sand: Ancient trade routes, models and comparative evidence. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Dette er den virkelige verdenshistorien som har inspirert Game of Thrones. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Derfor frykter de bilder. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Hva skal vi med historie?. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Det "rettferdige" verdenskartet. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Kampen om Den syriske ørken. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Hva skal vi med historie?. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Google Earth – tiåringen som forandret verden. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2015). Camels, Camel Nomadism and the Practicalities of Palmyrene Caravan Trade. (external link)

2014

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2014). Archaeology of Trade in the Western Indian Ocean, 300 BC-AD 700. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2014). The organisation of the Palmyrene caravan trade. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (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]. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2014). Caravans, Smugglers and Trading Fairs: Organizing Textile Trade on the Syrian Frontier. (external link)

2013

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2013). : Antikkforskning som faghistorie. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2013). Networks and social cohesion in ancient Indian Ocean trade: geography, ethnicity, religion. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2013). Ancient Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean: Maritime Links of the Kushan Empire ca 50-200 CE. (external link)

2012

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2012). The Liber Pontificalis and Red Sea Trade of the Early to Mid 4th Century AD. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2012). Globalhistorisk atlas. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2012). Trade and Christianity in the Indian Ocean during Late Antiquity. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2012). Death or taxes? Choosing itineraries between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean in the mid-18th century. (external link)

2011

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2011). Ørkenens skip: Kamelen og den første transportrevolusjonen. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2011). Antikken Globale Verden: Asia, Europa og Afrika før islam. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2011). The Persian Gulf or the Red Sea? Two axes in ancient Indian Ocean trade, where to go and why. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2011). Kameler og kamelkaravaner i romersk kunst. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2011). Romerne og Rødehavet. (external link)

2010

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2010). Ports and political power in the periplus: complex societies and maritime trade on the Indian Ocean in the first century AD. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2010). Palmyra : karavanehandel og geopolitikk i romersk Syria. (external link)

2009

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2009). Piratvirksomhet med historiske røtter. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2009). Shipwreck, Maroons and Monsters: The Hazards of Ancient Red Sea Navigation. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2009). Antikk økonomi og moderne historie. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2009). Ptolemaiere på elefantjakt. (external link)

2008

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2008). Taxation of ancient Indian Ocean trade. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2008). Kyrenaika: Grekerne på det grønne fjellet. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2008). Trade routes of Palmyra, with special notes on western routes in Palmyrene trade. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2008). Antikkens globale verden: Asia, Europa og Afrika før Islam. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2008). The Indian Ships at Moscha and the Indo-Arabian trading circuit. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2008). The Indian Ocean and the Globalisation of the Ancient World. (external link)

2007

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2007). The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period: Definite Places, translocal exchange. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2007). Red Sea and Indian Ocean: Ports and their hinterland. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas; Bjørkelo, Anders; Meyer, Jørgen Christian (2007). Definite places, translocal exchange - an introduction. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2007). Ports, Ptolemy, Periplus and Poetry - Romans in Tamil South India and on the Bay of Bengal. (external link)
• Bjørkelo, Anders; Meyer, Jørgen Christian; Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2007). Definite places, translocal exchange. (external link)

2006

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2006). Eritrea: Nasjonsbygging, kolonihistorie og arkitektur. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2006). The Roman Attack on Aden: an unintended result of successful propaganda. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2006). Indian Ocean in Antiquity: trade and the emerging state. (external link)

2005

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2005). Fra Hav til Hafrsfjord - Utstein før Harald Hårfagre. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2005). The Periplus' report of a Roman attack on Aden an unintended result of successful propaganda?. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2005). Ancient South Arabia: trade and strategies of state control as seen in the Periplus Maris Erythraei. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2005). Langs Romerrikets grense i øst. (external link)

2004

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2004). Et handelsperspektiv på arabisk ekspansjon rundt Det indiske hav i antikken. (external link)
• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2004). På reisefot i antikken. (external link)

2003

• Seland, Eivind Heldaas (2003). Aksum - Antikkens glemte sivilisasjon. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in 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)