Since the dawn of humanity, people have developed concepts about themselves and the natural world in which they live. This volume aims at investigating the construction and transfer of such concepts between and within various ancient and medieval cultures. The single contributions try to answer questions concerning the sources of knowledge, the strategies of transfer and legitimation as well as the conceptual changes over time and space. After a comprehensive introduction, the volume is divided into three parts: The contributions of the first section treat various theoretical and methodological aspects. Two additional thematic sections deal with a special field of knowledge, i.e. concepts of the moon and of the end of the world in fire.

Jochen Althoff (Prof. Dr.) is a professor of ancient Greek at the University of Mainz. He has published on ancient science and philosophy, especially Aristotle, and organizes the yearly meeting of the research unit Ancient Science and its Reception and co-edits a publication series of the same name. Since 2013, he has been vice-speaker of the research training group Early Concepts of Humans and Nature. Universal, Specific, Interchanged. Dominik Berrens (Dr.) is a postdoctoral researcher in the project 'NOSCEMUS - Nova Scientia: Early Modern Scientific Literature and Latin' at the University of Innsbruck. His research interests lie in pre-modern scientific texts and ancient drama. Tanja Pommerening (Prof. Dr.) holds degrees in Egyptology, pharmacy and history of sciences. She has been a professor of Egyptology at the University of Mainz since 2010. Since 2013, she has been spokeswoman of the research training group Early Concepts of Humans and Nature. Universal, Specific, Interchanged. In addition to the overarching questions of universals, cultural specificities and knowledge transfer, her research focuses on the language and culture of Ancient Egypt, ancient Egyptian medicine and science, and the histoory of knowledge.