For the Empires of Faith project, I am investigating the place of art in our understanding of religions in the Sasanian Persian Empire (AD 224-651). Prior to working on this project, I came to Oxford as an undergraduate in 2004 to read Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Lincoln College and stayed for an M.St. in Classical Archaeology. After that, I studied for a doctorate on art and cultural interaction in Babylonia, Iran, and Bactria in the Hellenistic period, under the supervision of Prof R.R.R. Smith. It was this research aspect of cross-cultural connections in ancient art, and the possibilities of reinterpretations, appropriations, and exchanges, that attracted me to the Empires of Faith project. As well as preparing my DPhil thesis as a monograph, I have been working on publications with the project members, including Images of Mithras (OUP 2017) and a historiographical volume, and also other articles pertaining to the art of pre-Islamic Iran.

rachel.wood@classics.ox.ac.uk
https://oxford.academia.edu/RachelWood