At UrbNet we are honoured that our long-standing collaborator and multiple-time guest professor, Professor Jörg Rüpke, is delivering the Future Lecture at the School for Culture and Society, Aarhus University, on 11 September 2025. The topic of the lecture reflects Rüpke’s long-standing research collaborations with UrbNet. UrbNet’s centre director Professor Rubina Raja has collaborated with Rüpke since 2007, when he was invited by Raja to lecture at Aarhus University in connection with the launch of her first research project embedded at the university. 

Professor Rüpke is a world-leading expert on ancient urban religion with a focus on the Roman period. He is vice director of the Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien at the University of Erfurt, Germany. His work has been central to reshaping how scholars think about the relationship between urban development and religious practice in antiquity. His upcoming talk will explore how religion and cities have historically co-constituted each other, drawing on his innovative research at the intersection of religious studies and urban history. 

As a valued collaborator of UrbNet, Rüpke’s participation in the Futures Lecture Series reflects the shared commitment to interdisciplinary approaches in understanding past urban networks and their development over time. We are excited to see his contributions recognized and look forward to his lecture. 

Lecture title: "Religion and Urbanity – Mutual Formations" 
Date: 11 September 2025 
Time: 15:30–18:00 
Venue: Aarhus Universitet, Nobelparken, auditorium 1482-105 

Full details of the lecture: https://cas.au.dk/futures/joerg-ruepke 

Selected co-publications: 

Raja, R. & Rüpke, J. (2024). “Urban Religion through the Lens of Urban Archaeology”, Myhtos 18, e-pub. 

Raja, R. & Rüpke, J. (eds) (2023). Urban Representatios of Religion, Religion in the Roman Empire, 9.3 (Special Issue), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 

Raja, R. & Rüpke, J. (2023). “Representing Religion as a Strategy in the Cities of the Roman Empire”, in: Raja, R. & Rüpke J. (eds), Urban Representatios of Religion, Religion in the Roman Empire, 9.3 (Special Issue), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 303-309. 

Raja R. & Rüpke, J. (2021). “Creating Memories in and of Urban Rome: The Forum Iulium”, in: Hass, T. A. & Raja, R. (eds.). Caesar’s Past and Posterity’s Caesar, Rome Studies 1, Turnhout: Brepols, 53–66.