Research Christopher Decker

My research focuses on analyzing the representation of the Roman emperors - especially in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD - and their communication and interaction with the Senate. I see this as part of a so-called political cultural history of the Roman imperial period, which initially cannot be understood without a comparison with the Republican period of Rome, and generally pursues a structuralist approach to explaining the socio-political interdependencies of the time. In addition, I examine the relationship between Judaism and ancient societies - primarily the Seleucid Empire and the Roman Empire. In doing so, I try to work out processes of cohabitation, but also to analyze the constant conflicts that can be explained in particular by the fundamentally different social and religious systems. Although the boundaries between Judaism and other ancient societies were sometimes blurred, there were constant borders. I am also particularly interested in critically questioning anti-Judaism as a concept for antiquity.