Research area E was concerned with the processing of ancient ideas of space, spatial orders and spatial thinking in later cultures until the present day. It was interested in the tradition and history of the respective ideas, but also tries to assess their applicability to concerns and discussions of our time. Area E was directly interrelated with all other areas, insofar as it dealt with the later tradition of such topics that the other areas discussed with respect to ancient cultures. The area was also the place where various cross-sectional groups were situated and where the more general results from the individual projects of the cluster were discussed. The area included four main branches.