"A Tale of Many Cities: The Serapeion at Ephesus and Politics in the Roman Empire"

Please join Tulane's Newcomb Art Department and Department of Classical Studies for a lecture by Alexander Sokolicek, "A Tale of Many Cities: The Serapeion at Ephesus and Politics in the Roman Empire," on Tuesday, November 7, at 6:15 pm, 102 Jones Hall.

The so-called Serapeion is one of the best-preserved and most distinguished temples at Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Travelers of the 18th century discovered its remains and misleadingly identified it with a temple of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Ever since, the building has been given many names, but its actual purpose has never been convincingly explained. Recently, a multidisciplinary team re-studied the temple area, offering a promising new possibility of interpretation, which will be discussed in the light of Egyptian religion, economy, and global politics in the Roman Empire.
 
Alexander Sokolicek is Senior Research Scientist at the Austrian Archeological Institute OeAI and Director of the OeAI bureau in Rome. Sokolicek received his PhD from the University of Vienna. He was the field director 2012-2015 of the joint excavations of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and the University of Oxford at Aphrodisias (Turkey) and the project manager 2007-2011 of the excavation of the Magnesian Gate of Ephesos. His research interests focus on urban layouts and fortifications as expressions of social and political identity.