This project aims at tracing longue durée transformations from the Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages in the period of Late Antiquity (AD 250-800). It focuses on four aspects. First, changes in religion, covering not only changes in institutions, but also changes in metaphysical assumptions about what God is.  Second, changes in political culture and thought. How do political ideas change in this period (kingship, economic thought, political virtues, etc.). A third area is changes in contemporary representation of the period, mostly with a focus on historiography, but also other types of sources. A final, and fourth, focus is on changes in scientific culture: do attitudes towards science and the natural world change in this period, and how does this happen? The geographical scope is the Mediterranean world and the Middle East. Collaboration in the context of the Ghent Centre for Late Antiquity will allow to bring in additional methodological and linguistic expertise..