The Ancient History Documentary Research Centre was established in 1981 within the School of History, Philosophy and Politics (now within the Department of Ancient History in the Division of Humanities) to provide for the concentration upon documentary evidence within the research and development activities of the discipline.

Published examples of the work done in the Centre may be seen in the series New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, which reviews the newly published inscriptions and papyri of a particular year.  The periodical Ancient History: Resources for Teachers, published by the Macquarie Ancient History Association, caters for professional development of secondary teachers.

Since 1996 professional research fellows have been engaged in the Centre in contributing to an international corpus of Manichaean texts from Egypt and Central Asia, in compiling a dictionary of Roman biography, and in researching Greek inscriptions and papyri illustrating the New Testament, and the chronological ordering of Greek and Christian papyri.  Another project being undertaken with ARC funding is entitled "Pontic Queens, Roman Rulers and Females as Leader in the Graeco-Roman Cities".

Other examples of the Centre's completed projects may be seen in the following publications:  T.W. Hillard et al. (eds), Ancient History in a Modern University (Eerdmans, 1998); D. Christian and C. Benjamin (eds), Silk Road Studies, II and IV (Brepols, 1998 and 2000); and R. Kearsley (ed), with T.V. Evans, Greeks and Romans in Imperial Asia: Mixed Language Inscriptions and Linguistic Evidence for Cultural Interaction until the End of AD III (IGSK 59, Habelt, Bonn, 2001).

The Centre helps to apply to its programs the financial support contributed to the University through the Macquarie Ancient History Association, the Sir Asher Joel Foundation, the Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology, the Society for the Study of Early Christianity and the Australian Institute of Archaeology.  These organisations are represented on a committee which advises the Directors of the Centre.

The Centre also sponsors the Macquarie Ancient Languages Schools (formerly the Greek Summer School) which teaches both classical and koine Greek and a range of other ancient languages (Co-Ordinator: Dr Bruce Marshall), and various other seminars and colloquia.
 

Directors:

Professor Samuel N.C. Lieu, MA Camb., DPhil Oxf., FRAS, FRHistS, FSA, FAHA
     e-mail: slieu@hmn.mq.edu.au

Professor Alanna Nobbs, BA PhD Syd.
     e-mail: anobbs@hmn.mq.edu.au

Secretary:

    Ms Margaret Smith
    Ancient History Documentary Research Centre
    Department of Ancient History
    Macquarie University   NSW   2109

    telephone: (02) 9850 7512                        fax: (02) 9850 9001

    e-mail: AHDRC@humn.mq.edu.au

Desk Top Publishing:

    Mrs Beth Lewis
    Ancient History Documentary Research Centre
    Department of Ancient History
    Macquarie University   NSW   2109

    telephone: (02) 9850 7560                        fax: (02) 9850 9001

    e-mail: blewis@hmn.mq.edu.au
 

For further information on some of the AHDRC's activities visit the following sites:

Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum

Zayton (Quanzhou) Project

Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt

Language, Script, and Acculturation Research Program

Dictionary of Roman Political Biography

Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius

Late Antiquity Research Seminars

Macquarie Ancient History Association

Macquarie Ancient Languages Schools

New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity

Society for the Study of Early Christianity

The Macquarie Papyri

Related sites:

Ancient History

Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (ACANS)

Australian Centre for Egyptology (ACE)

Museum of Ancient Cultures (MAC)