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Rubina Raja
Aarhus University
Ways of Seeing the Past: The Archaeological Archive(s) of Palmyra
Designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980 and listed as endangered since 2013, Palmyra is renowned for its unique architectural heritage, dating mainly to the first three centuries CE. The oasis city was also the production site of the largest surviving group of locally made representations of individuals from any of the regions under Roman rule: the almost 4,000 limestone funerary portrait busts and sculptures. These have been studied since the 18th century and became prized artworks among excavators, dealers and collectors. But only recently have the collection histories and archaeological archives surrounding the early exploration of these Palmyrene ancestor images come to the attention of scholars and a broader public thanks to the Palmyra Portrait Project. This presentation explores documents from archaeological archives and photographs of the site and asks in a much broader sense: what new insights can we gain by approaching the past through archival material? And why is this important today?
Rubina Raja is professor of classical archaeology and art at Aarhus University, Denmark. She specializes in the archaeology and art of the Greek east and wider eastern Mediterranean with a focus on cities, societies, and self-representational aspects between 300 BCE and 300 CE, including artistic and architectural traditions. Raja is also director of the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions and heads collaborative research projects focusing on the archaeology and history of the wider Eastern Mediterranean, including the Palmyra Portrait Project and the Semper Ardens Advanced Grant project, Locally Crafted Empires. Raja has headed several fieldwork projects in the Mediterranean and Middle East. She has published widely on topics concerning the Greek East and wider Eastern Mediterranean from the Hellenistic to early Medieval periods. Her books include Pearl of the Desert: A History of Palmyra (Oxford University Press 2022), Urban Development and Regional Identity in the Eastern Roman Provinces, 50 BC – AD 250: Aphrodisias, Athens, Ephesos, Gerasa (Museum Tusculanum 2012), and Palmyrene Sarcophagi (with O. Bobou, Brepols 2023
Tuesday, December 9, 12:15 pm
38 West 86th Street, Lecture Hall
Tea, coffee, and snacks will be served starting at noon.
No registration required.
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COPY AND PASTE CODE BELOW TO MAILCHIMP
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