Dear all,
With this, we are happy to announce the next Ancient World Seminar. On
Monday 5 February
2018
Prof. Rubina Raja (Aarhus University) will give a lecture on:
*The Palmyra Portrait Project. Visual representations from the funerary
sphere in Palmyra, Syria*
*Abstract*
In 2012 the Palmyra Portrait Project was initiated by Rubina Raja, Aarhus
University. The project set out to collect all known Palmyrene funerary
portraiture and synthesise these in a corpus. The corpus at present holds
more than 3,400 portraits of deceased Palmyrenes. This collection of
portraits make up the largest group of individual stemming from the Roman
period and from one place in the ancient world. The tight chronology of the
portraits, which only were produced over the course of three centuries,
make this group of material significant to scholars of the ancient world.
The portraits allow us to study questions of stylistic developments, trends
and fashions as well as identity within Palmyrene society over hundreds of
years. This lecture will give insight into the project and highlight case
studies, which have proven useful for our understanding of Palmyra and its
role in the Roman world.
Rubina Raja is professor of Classical Archaeology at Aarhus University,
Denmark. She studies in Copenhagen, Rome and Oxford. Since February 2015,
she has also been centre director of the Danish National Research
Foundation's Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet).
Rubina Raja’s research focuses on urban development, visual representations
and religious identities in the eastern Roman provinces and the Levant. She
initiated and heads the Palmyra Portrait Project, which has collected the
largest corpus of Roman funerary portraits outside Rome, found in Palmyra,
Syria. Rubina Raja directs an extensive excavation project in Jerash,
Jordan, together with Achim Lichtenberger, Westfälische
Wilhelms-Universität Münster, focusing on the so far unexplored Northwest
Quarter of the ancient city of Gerasa and she also co-directs the new
Italian-Danish excavations on Caesar’s Forum in Rome together with Jan
Kindberg.
The session takes place in the Courtroom of the Faculty of Theology and
Religious Studies, Groningen, 16.15 – 17.30.
Join us for drinks afterwards!
--
Eelco Glas
PhD candidate in Theology and Religious Studies
on behalf of the CRASIS team
University of Groningen
CRASIS is the Groningen institute for Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture,
Religion and Society of the Ancient World. Follow CRASIS on Facebook or
find out more about us on www.rug.nl/crasis.
Attachment:
1802 Raja.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
