Lectures and Seminars

A selection of upcoming and past lectures and seminars given by members of the Empires of Faith project.

Upcoming Events

3rd December 2017, 11-16:30
Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, Oxford

Open Day: Religion, Art and Community in Oxford
To celebrate both Imagining the Divine and Those Who Follow, we are running Open Days on four days through the Autumn to open up the exhibitions, and talk about the religious material culture of the past and present.

Booking is essential and places are limited! To sign-up, and read more about the Open Days, click here.

8th December 2017, 11–12:00
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘In the Beginning: Jewish Life in the Ancient World‘
Rebecca Abrams, author of The Jewish Journey
What was Jewish life like in ancient times and where did Judaism come from? Drawing on little-known objects from the Ashmolean, this talk traces the first 2000 years of Jewish history, from its earliest roots in Ancient Mesopotamia to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

11-13th January 2018
Ioannou Centre for Byzantine and Classical Studies, Oxford

Conference: Imagining the Divine: art in religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia

Registration free but essential.

17th January 2018, 18-19:00
Exhibition Event: Sheldonian Lecture Theatre, Oxford

‘Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions‘
Professor Mary Beard (University of Cambridge), and Dr Neil MacGregor (Humboldt Forum and previously British Museum Director)
In this special event co-hosted by TORCH, the Ashmolean, and Empires of Faith, two of the UK;s most distinguished historians will be in conversation discussing how contemporary religions developed during the transition between the ancient and medieval worlds across Eurasia and Africa, and what relevance this has today.

SOLD OUT. Details to follow on how to watch the event online.

18th January 2018, 13-14:00pm
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘Between Confrontation and Collaboration: looking at the history of Muslim-Christian relations through material culture‘
Professor James Allan, Oxford University
Although the architecture of conquest might stress religious dominance, there was a constant flow of goods between Christian and Muslim communities in medieval times. The lecture explores, for example, objects made for Christian patrons within the Islamic world, objects associated with pilgrimage, and most importantly objects of international trade.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

21st January 2018, 14-15:00pm
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘One God, One People?’: Jews and Judaism in the Diaspora’
Rebecca Abrams, author of The Jewish Journey
With images of the divine prohibited in Judaism, how did Jews find ways to forge a cohesive religious and social identity whilst living as minority groups in non-Jewish countries? This talk explores the challenges of immigration, assimilation and persecution for Jewish life in the diaspora from the 1st century AD to the 20th century.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

24th January 2018, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

‘Word as Image, Image as God’
Andy Doll & Ilenia Scerra
What do pages of the Quran, an ivory plaque from the court of Charlemagne, and a map tell us about God? Andy and Ilenia look at how God was manifested in word and image across diverse cultures.

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

27th January 2018, 14-15:00pm
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘The Invention of Faith’
Professor Teresa Morgan, Oxford University
Our use of ‘faith’ to mean a religion or set of religious beliefs derives from the central place of faith in Christianity. But what did the first Christians mean by ‘faith’? Why was it so important to them, and how did they practise it? Professor Morgan traces the history of faith in its early centuries, and shows how the meaning and practice of Christian faith evolved in some surprising and significant ways.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

27th January 2018, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

‘Wandering Images: Envisioning the Buddha and Christ’
Sylvia Alvares-Correa & Hugo Shakeshaft
The image of Christ and the image of Buddha emerged around the same time, but are they connected? Sylvia and Hugo trace the extraordinary story of these developments through two sculptures of these most important of figures.

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

27th January 2018, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

‘Hallowed Ground: Marking Sacred Spaces in Early Christian Britain’
Penny Coombe & Kristýna Syrova
What do we think of as sacred space? From the image of Christ on a Roman floor, to a standing stone in the Welsh valleys, Penny and Kristýna look at how images and objects make space sacred.

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

3rd February 2018, 11-12:00
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘Faith and Cooperation Along the Silk Roads’
Dr Peter Frankopan, Oxford University
Author of the best-selling ‘The Silk Roads: A New History of the World’, Dr. Peter Frankopan takes us from the Mediterranean deep into central Asia, looking at the role of faith and religion in this most connected part of the ancient and late antique worlds.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

3rd February 2018, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk

‘Deities and Daemons’
Hugh Jeffery & Sajda van der Leeuw
Incantation bowls and amulets of all shapes and sizes sit on the fringes of religion and the magical world. Hugh and Sajda draw together remarkable pieces from the Mediterranean to India, to think about what they share.

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry

Past Events

11th October 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Crucible of the Copts: Empire and faith in seventh-century Egypt’
Phil Booth (Oxford University)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

12th October 2017, 14:00
KRC Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, St John’s Street, Oxford.

‘Acculturated natives who rebel: Revivalist, Ottomanist, and pan-Arabist engagements with early Islamic art (1876–1930s)’
Nadia Ali (Empires of Faith)

Part of the KRC Research Seminar.

18th October 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Representing belief on silver plate in late Antiquity’
Richard Hobbs (British Museum)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

19th October 2017 – 18th February 2018
Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
10am – 5pm, Tuesdays to Sundays. Closed on Mondays.

Exploring Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, this major exhibition will be the first to look at the art of the five world religions as they spread across continents in the first millennium AD.

This exhibition is the highlight of the Empires of Faith project’s events program for 2017-18. See below for more of the events running over the next few months, and follow the links to sign up!

25th October 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Man with a mission: Charles Wilshere, a Victorian collector of early Christian and Jewish antiquities’
Susan Walker (Oxford)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

26th October 2017, 14:00
KRC Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, St John’s Street, Oxford.

‘Late medieval pottery from Ephesus’
Georgi Parpulov, Empires of Faith

Part of the KRC Research Seminar.

27th October 2017, 13–14:00
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘Imagining the Divine: The Curator’s View’
Stefanie Lenk, Lead Curator of Imagining the Divine
How did iconic images of the world religions, like that of the Buddha or of Christ, came into being? An introduction to this autumn’s exhibition, this talk gives an overview over the prolific phase of religious change and artistic invention in the first millennium across Eurasia.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

28th October 2017, 11-16:30
Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, Oxford

Booking is essential and places are limited! To sign-up, and read more about the Open Days, click here.

31st October 2017, 16:00–18:45
Special Slade Lecture

‘The Materiality of the Divine: Aniconism, Iconoclasm, Iconography’
Professor Salvatore Settis
World renowned archaeologist, art historian, and curator, Salvatore Settis will give this one-off special Slade lecture to coincide with the Imagining the Divine exhibition, discussing some of the most important terms we use to think about religion and material culture in combination.

The event is free to attend, but booking is essential before 19th October.

1st November 2017, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

‘The Walking Dead: Death and Pilgrimage in Religious Art’
Helena Guzik & Fuchsia Hart
From a Christian pilgrim’s token, to the grave of a young Muslim girl, Helena and Fuchsia trace the important role that objects can play in journeys through life between these two religions.

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

1st November 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Qusayr ‘Amra and the continuity of post-classical art in early Islam: Towards an iconology of forms’
Nadia Ali (The British Museum/Oxford)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

4th November 2017, 11–12:00
Exhibition Event: Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum

‘Smashing Images in Tudor England: A Very Reformation Problem’
Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch
To coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Professor MacCulloch explores the origins and motivations of iconoclasm (smashing images) in the Christian tradition, outlines the way in which iconophobia (hatred of images) became fundamental to the English Reformation, and traces the gradual decline of the iconoclastic impulse in England during the seventeenth century.

Ticketed event (£6/£5), booking required.

4th November 2017, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

8th November 2017, 12:30-14:00
Imagining the Divine: TORCH book at lunchtime
Seminar Room, Radcliffe Humanities Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG

Join the editor of the exhibition book ‘Imagining the Divine’, the exhibition’s lead curator, and a panel of experts in the field for lunch and a lively discussion of the book and the exhibition.

Chair: Dr Mallica Kumbera-Landrus
Panel: Prof Kate Cooper, Royal Holloway, University of London & Prof Gervase Rosser, University of Oxford
Respondents: Dr Georgi Parpulov & Stefanie Lenk

Watch a video of this even on the TORCH website.

8th November 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘The temple, church and first mosque at Damascus: New perspectives’
Alain George (Oxford)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

11th November 2017, 11-16:30
Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, Oxford

Booking is essential and places are limited! To sign-up, and read more about the Open Days, click here.

11th November 2017, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

15th November 2017, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

15th November 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Chorasmian gods. Images of Zoroastrian deities throughout antiquity’
Michele Minardi (Bordeaux-Montaigne University)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

18-19th November 2017, 11-16:00
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

One World Festival
A big weekend exploring how light, music and food connects communities and faiths. Come and join us for a dazzling weekend of activities, talks and craft for all ages. Find out more about how Oxford’s religious communities celebrate the festival of light. Listen to local choirs and live music, make a lantern, join a tour, have a go at chanting or meditation, or sample some delicious food from Oxford’s community stalls. With thanks to the Oxford Council of Faiths, the Oxford Civic Society and our other supporters.

Free, but booking will be required for some events. For more details, see here.

22nd November 2017, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

22nd November 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Re-approaching the late antique and medieval art of Ravenna: visuality and artistic culture of a Mediterranean city’
Maria Cristina Carile (Bologna University)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

25th November 2017, 11-16:30
Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies, Oxford

Booking is essential and places are limited! To sign-up, and read more about the Open Days, click here.

25th November 2017, 12:15–13:00
Talking Religion Gallery Talk: Ashmolean Museum, Gallery 58

In conjunction with Imagining the Divine. Free with exhibition entry.

29th November 2017, 17:00
Corpus Christi College, Oxford

‘Churches and mosques in early medieval Syria’
Mattia Guidetti (Vienna University)

Part of the Empires of Faith seminar series/Corpus Christi Classical Seminar

4th October 2017, 17:00
World Art Research Seminar. Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia
‘Under the Protection of the Mother of God: The Oratory of John VII (705–707) in the Old St Peter’s in Rome’
Maria Lidova
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Lecture Theatre (01.10)

6th July 2017
Members of Empires of Faith will be speaking at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, Session 1715, 14:15-15:45:

Byzantines and the Others: Art and Religion at a Crossroads in Late Antiquity

Armen Kazaryan, ‘Creating Transitions Under the Dome: Byzantine and Iranian Shapes in the Work of 7th-Century Armenian Architects’
Maria Lidova, ‘Crossing the Boundaries of Religious Identity: An Early Byzantine Amulet from Egypt in the British Museum’
Nadia Ali, ‘New Perspectives on Qusayr ‘Amra’s Decoration: Art and Religion in Early Islamic Syria’

8th June 2017
Jaś Elsner and Stefanie Lenk, ‘From Empires of Faith to Imagining the Divine’ 1-2pm, Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Jaś Elsner, the Empires of Faith project lead, and Stefanie Lenk, Lead Curator of the upcoming exhibition, Imagining the Divine, will speak about the project’s growth from a research group to curating an exhibition.

Free entry. Visit the Ashmolean site for more details.

7th June 2017
‘Talking Religion: discussing religious materiality’, 12:30-6pm, Radcliffe Humanities Building & the Ioannou Centre of Classical & Byzantine Studies, Oxford.

A half-day program of discussions on material culture and the study of religion in the ancient and late antique worlds run by TORCH, Empires of Faith, and the student-run Talking Religion group.

For details see the full programme and visit the TORCH website to confirm your attendance at the first part of the day.

6th June 2017
Rachel Wood, ‘The Khosro Cup Replication Project‘, Ancient World Research Cluster lunchtime talk, Wolfson College, Oxford.

31st May 2017

Maria Lidova, ‘Christ, Fire, Gospels: Images of Theophany in the Chapel of Galla Placidia in Ravenna’, Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar, 5pm, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.

23rd May 2017
Rachel Wood, ‘Digital imaging for an exhibition: the Khosro Cup Replication Project’ as part of Artefact imaging: aims, methods, and access, a workshop at Wolfson College, Oxford.

A collaborative event between the Seals and their Impressions in the Ancient Near East research project (Oxford) and the Empires of Faith research project (British Museum/Oxford).

The programme can be found here. Please note that this event is fully booked.

11th May 2017

Maria Lidova, ‘The Earliest Icons of the Virgin in Rome: East or West?’ as part of ‘The Virgin as Bridge: Cultural Exchange and Connection through Images of the Virgin Mary’ session, 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University.

4th May 2017
Georgi Parpulov, ‘Epigraphic Gleanings from the British Museum’, Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Archaeology Seminar, Oxford University

2nd May 2017
‘Empires of Faith: Imagining the Divine’, a one-day workshop at the University of Edinburgh – Hunter Lecture Theatre, History of Art, ECA:

Yuthika Sharma, ‘Situating Vishnu: Displaying an Enigmatic Deity from Medieval India’ (Respondent: Paul Dundas, Sanskrit Studies, Edinburgh)
Maria Lidova, ‘Old Ways, New Faith: Shaping the Image of Christ in the Late Roman World’ (Respondent: Niels Gaul, HCA/Byzantine Studies, Director CMRS, Edinburgh)
Nadia Ali, ‘Qusayr ‘Amra and the Continuity of Post-classical Art in Early Islam’ (Respondent: Alain George, Islamic Art, History of Art, Edinburgh)
Robert Bracey, ‘The First Buddha Images and European Imperialism’ (Respondent: Halle O’Neal, Buddhist Art, History of Art, Edinburgh)
Rachel Wood, ‘Afterlives of Sasanian Sacred Iconographies’ (Respondent: Jaakko Hameen-Antilla, Iraq Chair, Arabic and Islamic Studies, IMES, Edinburgh)

26th April 2017
Rachel Wood, ‘Saints and senmurws: Sasanian sacred iconography in a globalized Late Antiquity’, London Classical Archaeology seminar ‘Global antiquities and Classical Archaeology’, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London

20th April 2017
Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Rachel Wood, ‘Images of Mithra: a comparative and collaborative study of ancient art’, Staff talk, British Museum.

31st March 2017
Rachel Wood, ‘Sasanian sacred iconography in a late antique visual koiné’ in A Globalised Visual Culture? Towards a Geography of Late Antique Art panel at the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC), Durham University.

8th March 2017
Nadia Ali, ‘Qusayr ‘Amra and the Continuity of Post-classical Art in Early Islam: Towards an Iconology of Forms’, Classical Archaeology seminar ‘Global antiquities and Classical Archaeology’, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London

23rd February 2017
Nadia Ali, ‘Umayyad Figural Art and the Bilderverbot Reconsidered’, Pembroke College, Cambridge

16th February 2017
Maria Lidova, ‘Under the Protection of the Mother of God: The Oratory of John VII (705-707) in the Old St Peter’s in Rome’, Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Archaeology Seminar, Oxford University.

7th February 2017
Stefanie Lenk,’Material Religion and “Monumental Theology”– Since When do Theologians Care for Art?’, Research colloquium, ‘The objects of Art and Architecture’, University of Groningen.

20th November 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘Roman art in a Eurasian Context’, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London

5th November 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘Reflections on the Garima Gospels’, Early Ethiopian and Other Eastern Illuminated Gospel Books, Colloquium, Oxford University.

1st November 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘The Muse Casket in the British Museum’, Late Roman Seminar, Oxford University.

21st October 2016
Nadia Ali, ‘Early Islamic Art, Local Micro-Identities and Everyday Religiosity in the Pre-Modern Syrian Countryside’, Historians of Islamic Art Association 5th biennial symposium, The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

6th July 2016
Katherine Cross, ‘Religious identity and supernatural efficacy in early Anglo-Saxon warfare’, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds.

17th June 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘The Embodied Object: Roman Sarcophagi’, Classical Seminar, University of Warwick.

10th June 2016
Rachel Wood, ‘Religion in Sasanian Iran’, gallery talk, Gallery 52, The British Museum.

2nd June 2016
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Late Antique Baptismal Imagery at Milreu and Mértola – Religious Ambivalence as a Strategy?’, Congresso Internacional Arte e Religião na Lusitânia, Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Lisbon

26th May 2016
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Pre-Christian Imagery in Late Antique Baptisteries in North Africa – a Paradox?’, Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Archaeology Seminar, St John’s College, University of Oxford.

23th April 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘Refugee Classics in the 1930s and 1940s’, Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop, Classics Department, University of Chicago

10th April 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘Empires of Faith: Research Projects and Exhibitions’, Stevanovich Institute for the Formation of Knowledge, Chicago

1st April 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘Archaism and Naturalism in the European Visual Tradition’, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri

20th March 2016
Maria Lidova, ‘Word of Image: Textual Frames of Early Byzantine Icons’, Inscribing Texts in Byzantium: Continuities and Transformations, The 49th Spring Symposium of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies , University of Oxford

17th March 2016
Jaś Elsner, ‘Before Byzantine Iconoclasm: The Case of Armenia’, Late Antique and Byzantine Workshop, University of Chicago

19th February 2016
Maria Lidova, ‘Art as Evidence for the Joint Cult of Saints: John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in Early Medieval Rome and Byzantium’, The Cult of Saints in the First Millennium research seminar, University of Oxford.

1st February 2016
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Pagan roots – Reconstructing Christian tradition from late antique baptisteries’, President’s Seminar, Wolfson College, University of Oxford.

20th January 2016
Robert Bracey, Katherine Cross and Dominic Dalglish, ‘Images, relics and altars: comparing material religion in late antiquity and the early middle ages’, Earlier Middle Ages seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London.

2nd-3rd October 2015
Empires of Faith: Comparativism, Art and Religion in Late Antiquity – India to England, AD 200-800, University of Chicago
Jaś Elsner, ‘The Birth of Late Antique Art: Vienna’
Maria Lidova, ‘The Invention of Byzantium: Russia’
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Art History and Theology in Germany’
Katherine Cross, ‘Creating Anglo-Saxon Art’
Philippa Adrych and Dominic Dalglish, ‘Pre-Christian Roman Religion: Public Cults and Mysteries’
Robert Bracey, ‘The Rise of the Buddha Image in Mathura and Gandhara’
Rachel Wood, ‘Legacies and investments in Sasanian art and Zoroastrianism’
Nadia Ali, ‘The Beginnings of Islamic Art’
Jaś Elsner, ‘Late Ancient Jewish Art’
Robert Bracey, ‘The Problems of Hindu Art in Modern India’
Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Stefanie Lenk, Rachel Wood, ‘Images of Mithras’

4th August – 5th September 2015
Interrogating the Antique Visual Tradition and Its Legacy seminar, KOSMOS ‘Globalized Classics’ conference, Humboldt Universität, Berlin
Rachel Wood, ‘Approaches to Sasanian Art and Religion’
Maria Lidova, ‘Russia and Byzantium: Creating Byzantine Art’
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Ferdinand Piper’s Monumental Theology – A Forgotten Alternative’
Katherine Cross, ‘Barbarian Art in the Early Middle Ages’

12th June 2015
The Saints Envisioned: Visual Representations of Saints in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries A collaborative colloquium between two Oxford-based research projects – ‘Empires of Faith’ and ‘Cult of Saints’, Ertegun House, Oxford.
EoF speakers:
Jaś Elsner, ‘Saints and Their Icons’
Maria Lidova, ‘Papal Agency and Mosaic Images of Saints in 7th-Century Rome’

11th June 2015
Robert Bracey, Katherine Cross and Georgi Parpulov, ‘The Material Culture of Shared Sacred Space’ British Museum tour, Sharing the Holy Land conference, Warburg Institute.

7th May 2015
Maria Lidova, ‘Christian Rulers at the Palatine: The Earliest image of Maria Regina in S. Maria Antiqua’, Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology and Art Seminar, St. John’s Сollege, University of Oxford.

23rd March 2015
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Wie orthodox ist das Wasser? Taufikonographien in Milreu und Mértola’, 16. Symposium des Mediävistenverbandes, Berne.

5th March 2015
Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Stefanie Lenk, Rachel Wood,
interdepartmental seminar Images of Mithras, British Museum.

4th March 2015
Rachel Wood, ‘Approaching the Art of Iran in the Hellenistic Period’, Corpus Christi Classics seminar, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford.

2nd March 2015
Rachel Wood, ‘Of Anchors and Altars: The Role of Greek Art in Elymais, 2nd Century BC – 3rd century AD’, Classical Archaeology seminar series, Ioannou Centre for Byzantine and Classical Studies, University of Oxford.

24th November 2014
A Few Late Antique Objects from the British Museum, Ancient World Cluster lunch seminar (Haldane room), Wolfson College, Oxford
Georgi Parpulov, ‘A Late Antique Amulet from the British Museum’
Maria Lidova, ‘An Early Byzantine Ivory with the Adoration of the Magi’
Katherine Cross, ‘The Franks Casket’

23rd November 2014
Stefanie Lenk, ‘Pagan or Christian waters? – Spatial Rhetoric at Milreu (Algarve) in the 6th Century’, Debating Religious Space and Place from Constantine to Cnut (AD 306-1035) conference, University of Leicester.

7th November 2014
Katherine Cross, ‘Unlocking the Past: History, Theology and Devotion on the Franks Casket’, Haskins Society Conference, Carleton College, MN, USA.

28th October 2014
Katherine Cross, ‘Unlocking the Past: History, Theology and Devotion on the Franks Casket’, London Society of Medieval Studies seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London

16th October 2014
Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Stefanie Lenk, Rachel Wood, ‘Images of Mithras’, After Rome seminar series, Trinity College, University of Oxford

29th July 2014
Rachel Wood, ‘The changing faces of Iranian kingship’, gallery talk, Citi Money Gallery, British Museum

9th of July 2014
Maria Lidova, ‘Investment of Power: Sacralizing Roman Imperial Insignia in the Early Byzantine World’, International Medieval Congress (7-10 July, 2014), University of Leeds

20th May 2014
Katherine Cross, ‘Pagans and Christians in Anglo-Saxon England’, Gallery talk, Gallery 41: Sutton Hoo and Europe, British Museum

8th May 2014
Maria Lidova, ‘The Imperial Theotokos: Revealing the Concept of Early Christian Imagery in S. Maria Maggire’, After Rome seminar: Aspects of the History and Archaeology from the Fifth to Seventh Century, Trinity College, University of Oxford

29th April 2014
‘The Empires of Faith Project’, cross-departmental Late Antiquity Forum, British Museum (Asia Study Room)
Rachel Wood, ‘The Iconography of Herakles and Mithra in Iran’
Dominic Dalglish, ‘The Roman Mithras’
Maria Lidova, ‘From Adoration to Veneration: An Early Byzantine Ivory Plaque from the British Museum’
Katherine Cross, ‘The Franks Casket’
Nadia Ali, ‘Religious Images in South Arabia before Islam’

16th April 2014
Rachel Wood, ‘The Surrogate Hero: The Image of Herakles in Iran’, Wandering Myths: Transcultural Uses of Myth in the Ancient World, a conference at Somerville College, University of Oxford