To consolidate the MASt’s growth and set the foundation for future expansion, the MASt project established the following goals for the biennium 2023/2024:
— expand the meaning of “classics” by examining the societies inhabiting both sides of the Aegean area during the Bronze Age;
— keep propelling community-building by implementing the MASt network and fostering collegial interaction in the debate session of the seminars;
— compare the Bronze Age Aegean cultures in an interdisciplinary fashion: linguistically, archaeologically, philologically, palaeographically, iconographically;
— foster multilingualism and multiculturalism by examining languages like (1) the language(s) that Linear A encodes, (1) Hittite, (2) Akkadian, (3) Ugaritic, (4) Sumerian, (5) Egyptian, and (6) the language(s) of the Aegean and mainland Greece substrate; by analyzing Greek historical morphophonology, Indo-European linguistics, and the relationship of Mycenaean Greek with the earliest reconstructible stages of Indo-European and the other Indo-European language branches; and by exploring the interface between languages, cultures and archaeological finds in these societies;
— gain a better understanding of our shared traditions and cultures by identifying key elements of Bronze Age Aegean societies and mutatis mutandis their legacy now into the 3rd millennium CE and reevaluating the development of theories as they have developed through time;
— maintain a strong focus on primary sources: written sources, archaeological sources, iconographic sources, anthropological and historical comparanda, linguistics, and history of scholarship;
— strengthen the connectedness between the MASt project and today’s society by sharing MASt pages and selected passages from the published MASt papers and discussions on social media, which will also enhance dissemination, grow the audience, boost intergenerational participation, and further access to the open-access contents;
— exploit the intergenerational collaboration that the MASt project has displayed since its 2019 foundation by circulating a call for papers among early career researchers, which will accomplish a twofold goal, that is (i) guarantee equal opportunities and accessibility regardless of geographical provenance, given the many national and international differences with regard to conditions and obligations for early career scholars; and (ii) strengthen the circle of research/teaching/learning/mentoring/disseminating, given that senior members of the MASt board are deeply committed to intergenerational mentorships and public engagement initiatives.