Old statues, new meanings. Literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence for Christian reidentification of statuary
Dr Ine Jacobs
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Associate Professor of Byzantine Archaeology and Visual Culture
University College
01865 (2)88398
I am a late antique archaeologist researching the development of the Mediterranean between the fourth and the seventh centuries. I am particularly interested in Late Roman and Byzantine architecture and settlements, the reception of classical antiquity in later centuries, the archaeology of Christianity, and Dark Age Asia Minor.
Research
- Late Antique archaeology and architecture
- Archaeology of religion
- Popular culture
- Dark Age Asia Minor
My research focusses on late antique and Byzantine architecture and settlements, the reception of classical antiquity in later centuries and the archaeology of religion. I am particularly interested in how material and visual evidence can or cannot be combined with contemporary literary sources. I wrote my doctoral dissertation (2008) on the aesthetic maintenance of urban sites in the late antique Eastern Mediterranean, using archaeology to nuance and eventually overhaul the idea that they were slowly declining. In a similar vein, I looked into the reciprocal relations between the drastic political and religious changes taking place in the Theodosian period on the one hand and the economic developments and general prosperity in the eastern Mediterranean on the other. I am currently working on a monograph entitled Christian Leaders, Classical Habits, in which I examine how bishops and the clergy carefully curated the classical city, its institutions and its ornaments.
I was a member of the Sagalassos team (Turkey) between 2003 and 2014, director of the British Archaeological Project at Grumentum (Italy) between 2012 and 2015 and co-director of the Kostoperska Karpa Regional Archaeological Project (Republic of North Macedonia) between 2013 and 2016. Currently, I am Field Director of the New York University excavations at Aphrodisias in Turkey, where I am working on the publication of the excavations in the so-called ‘Tetrapylon Street'.
Publications
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Village churches and donors at the end of Antiquity
2020|Chapter|Inscribing Texts in Byzantium. Continuities and Transformations -
Asia Minor in the Long Sixth Century:
2019|c-bookThis volume brings together historians and archaeologists working on diverse aspects of Asia Minor in the long sixth century. They discuss topics as varied as rural prosperity, urbanism in cities large and small, frontier management, and the imperial capital of Constantinople. Many of the papers focus on the fabric of cities during this period, showing that there was much greater vitality than has often been assumed. Together, they produce a comprehensive impression of the quality of life in both city and countryside in the period shortly before the transformation of Asia Minor in the face of the Arab attacks of the seventh century.Late Antiquity, Asia Minor -
Chapter 1. Introduction
2019|Chapter|Asia Minor in the Long Sixth Century Current Research and Future DirectionsPresents a comprehensive impression of the quality of life across Asia Minor during the last century or so before the end of Antiquity.History, late antique archaeology, Late Antiquity, Asia Minor -
Chapter 3. Pagan-mythological statuary in sixth-century Asia Minor
2019|Chapter|Asia Minor in the Long Sixth Century Current Research and Future DirectionsPresents a comprehensive impression of the quality of life across Asia Minor during the last century or so before the end of Antiquity.History, late antiquity, late antique archaeology -
The sixth-century city in the Roman East: survival or demise of the traditional urban context?
2018|Chapter|Learning Cities in Late Antiquity The Local Dimension of EducationWith its interdisciplinary and comparatist approach, the volume aims to contextualise ancient education, in order to stimulate further research on ancient learning cities.History, Late antiquity -
Archaeology as an alternative source for late antique Christianity. The example of ritual deposits
2018|Conference paper -
Cross Graffiti as Physical Means to Christianize the Classical City: An Exploration of Their Function, Meaning, Topographical, and Socio-Historical Contexts
2017|Chapter|Graphic Signs of Identity, Faith, and Power in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle AgesIn this volume, twelve specialists examine the role of graphic signs such as cross signs, christograms, and monograms in the late Roman and post-Roman worlds and the contexts that facilitated their dissemination in diverse media.History -
Re-using the gods. A 6th-c. statuary display at Sagalassos and a re-evaluation of pagan-mythological statuary in Early Byzantine civic space
2017|Journal article|Journal of Roman Archaeology -
Old Habits Die Hard. A group of mythological statuettes from Sagalassos and the afterlife of sculpture in Asia Minor
2016|Chapter|The Afterlife of Classical Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and PracticesStatuary, Late Antiquity, Sagalassos
More
Teaching
Current DPhil Students
- Miranda Gronow - Living in the ruins: Geyre and the archaeology of memory
- Jelena Jaric - Warfare and Urban Transformation in the Late Antique Central Balkans (late 3rd - early 7th c. AD)
- Shandra Laumate - The Kelsey Pendant. Amuletic Traditions in Early Byzantium
- Lily Liu - Brick Tombs in the Sichuan Basin during the Eastern Han Period (25-220AD): Regional Identity and Cultural Fusion
- Kelly McClinton - Elite Identity in Domestic Space in Rome. Architectural Change and Redecoration in Late Antique Houses
- Grace Stafford - Artistic representations of women in late antiquity, 4th - 7th centuries AD
- Katerina Vavaliou - The network of fortified settlements of eastern Central Greece from the late 6th c to the 13th c AD
I would be willing to hear from potential DPhil students regarding:
- Late Antique archaeology and architecture
- Archaeology of Religion
- Popular culture
- Dark Age Asia Minor
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