The department's teaching focuses on antiquity in all its breadth. True to the universal historical mission statement of Oldenburg's Ancient History, the so-called marginalised cultures from the West (Celts, Germanic tribes) to the East (Persians, Parthians, Sasanians, Armenians) as well as the Ancient Orient (Mesopotamia, Egypt) are expressly included in antiquity. Professor Sommer specialises in the Roman imperial period, the intercultural networking of ancient societies and political and economic institutions.