Theater of Ephesos and Monumental Street to the Harbor (Arkadiane). Photo from Christine Thomas.

The Urban Landscape of the Early Christians: New Magnetometry and Georadar Surveys in the Harbor District of Roman Imperial Ephesos

ISAW/The American Turkish Society Lecture

Christine Thomas (University of California, Santa Barbara)

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More than a century of archaeological work at Ephesos on the west coast of Turkey has unearthed impressive marble buildings in its urban center, locations dominated by the monuments of the wealthy and powerful. But for the overwhelming majority of the city’s ancient inhabitants, who possessed neither wealth nor power, other parts of the city better represent the lived spaces of their daily activities.

Recent geomorphological research in Ephesos has developed the first detailed outline of the ancient coastline during a period of rapid alluvial deposition in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Magnetometry imaging and ground-penetrating radar surveys in the harbor area have indicated structures that provide a more complete picture of the urban landscape, and a more promising location for the social classes from which the first Christians were drawn.

Admission to the ISAW Lecture Hall closes 10 minutes after the scheduled start time.

Educated in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Minnesota and the Eberhardt-Karls Universität, in Tübingen, Germany, Christine M. Thomas took a Ph.D. in the Study of Religion at Harvard University. After an appointment as a Junior Fellow with the Society of Fellows at Harvard, she joined the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is an Associate Professor. A veteran of annual fieldwork campaigns in Turkey since 1991, she has written extensively on ancient Christian literature and on the religions of Asia Minor in the Roman imperial period.

There will be a reception folowing the event.

This is a public event.

To RSVP, please email isaw@nyu.edu.