Death in the province: mortuary practices and Roman imperialism in Syria and Lebanon

Mortuary practices represent a rich collection of material and epigraphic evidence about Roman Syria and Lebanon. Between the late 1st c BCE and the 3rd c CE, tombs not only became larger and more conspicuous, but also reveal great stylistic variation and illustrate the adoption and adaptation of architectural and sculptural trends from Greece and Rome. The cemeteries, and in particular the walls of the tombs, emitted new messages about status, kinship, and ethnic (local) identity. At the same time, other aspects of funerary ritual, for instance the treatment of the body and the placement of grave goods, remained firmly based on older, pre-Roman traditions.

I am a Visiting Research Scholar at ISAW and Assistant Professor in archaeology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My research focuses on the Near East in the first millennia BCE and CE (Hellenistic, Roman/Parthian, Byzantine, and Early Islamic). I am also interested in the history of the archaeological discipline, ancient imperialism, heritage issues, and mortuary archaeology.

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