Ancient councils have been of utmost importance for the development of ecclesiastical structures and institutions. In order to facilitate their study, the Clauis conciliorum occidentalium contains the vaste number of Western synodal documents belonging to the first seven centuries in the form of an index: Each council has been listed with an entry of its own which comprises the most important scholarly literature, the history of the tradition of its records including a short summary or synopsis of their contents as well as ancient and modern translations. In addition, there are also listed those councils whose records are lost. In this case, the sources are presented from which the gathering of a synod can be concluded. Whenever possible, the issues discussed by the bishops are outlined. Andreas Weckwerth studied Catholic Theology, Classics, and History; he obtained doctorates in Theology (2003) and Classics (2006). He is currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Bonn and as an associate lecturer at the University of Cologne. Antiken Synoden kommt eine groae Bedeutung fur die Herausbildung kirchlicher Strukturen und Institutionen zu. Um die Beschaftigung mit ihnen zu erleichtern, ist in der Clauis conciliorum occidentalium die groae Zahl von westlichen Synodaldokumenten der ersten sieben Jahrhunderte in Form eines Index zusammengestellt. Jedes Konzil besitzt einen eigenen Eintrag, der die wichtigste Forschungsliteratur, Bemerkungen zur Uberlieferungsgeschichte der Synodalakten mitsamt einer kurzen Inhaltsangabe oder Synopse sowie antike und moderne Ubersetzungen enthalt. Daruber hinaus sind auch solche Konzilien verzeichnet, deren Akten verloren sind. In diesem Fall werden die Quellen angefuhrt, aus denen die Zusammenkunft einer Synode erschlossen werden kann. Sofern moglich, werden auch die Verhandlungsgegenstande skizziert.
