Matthew
Canepa
Assistant Professor, Ancient Iran
and the Mediterranean World
Contributing
Faculty Member, Interdisciplinary Programs in Archaeology
and Asian
Studies
On Leave 2009/2010
Currently Visiting Research
Fellow, Merton
College, University of Oxford
Office tel. 843-953-2294
Fax: 843-953-8212
Office: Room 302B, Albert Simons Center
for the Arts
Email: canepam@cofc.edu
Education:
BA, Art History and Psychology, University
of Colorado, Boulder
MA, Humanities, University of Chicago
MA, Art History, University of Chicago
PhD, Art History, University of Chicago
About Professor Canepa:
A specialist in the art and cultures of the late Roman/early
Byzantine Empire and Pre-Islamic Iran, Professor Canepa’s
research focuses on cross-cultural interaction in the
pre-modern world. His forthcoming book entitled The
Two Eyes of the Earth (University of California Press)
will be the first to analyze the artistic, ritual and
ideological interactions between the Roman and Sasanian
empires in a comprehensive and theoretically rigorous
manner. His current projects include an exploration
of Middle Iranian art and the global idea of Iranian
Kingship and an edited volume that studies the phenomena
of cross-cultural interaction between the Mediterranean,
Iran, and China. He has been the recipient of numerous
research grants including the Council of American Overseas
Research Centers (2002-2003), the Deutsches Archäologisches
Institut (2007), the Archaeological Institute of America
(2008) and a Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship
from the American Council of Learned Societies (2009-2010).
In November 2008 Professor Canepa was elected a Fellow
of the Society
of Antiquaries of London.
Recent and Forthcoming Publications:
Books:
The
Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between
Rome and Sasanian Iran
Transformation of the Classical Heritage 45. Berkeley:
University of California Press, Nov. 2009.
Theorizing Cross-Cultural Interaction among the
Mediterranean, Near East and Asia Ars
Orientalis 39. Washington D.C.: Freer Gallery of
Art, Smithsonian Inst., 2009, Accepted for Publication.
(editor and contributor)
Articles and Reviews:
“Sculpting and Enacting a Topography of Power:
the Ritual, Social and Environmental Contexts of Iranian
Rock Reliefs,” in Drawing on Rocks, Gathering
by the Water. O. Harmansah ed. Providence, RI:
Brown University, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology;
distributed by David Brown Book Co., under review.
“The Processes and Practices of Cross-Cultural
Interaction Among Late antique Elites: Rome, Sasanian
Iran and Sui-Tang China,” In Theorizing Cross-Cultural
Interaction Ars Orientalis 39 (2009, Accepted for
Publication).
“The Problem of Indo-Scythian Art and Kingship:
Evolving Images of Power and Royal Identity between
the Iranian, Hellenistic and South Asian Worlds,”
in Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans: Iranian-Speaking
Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes, A. Alemani ed., Supplement
to Faventia: Revista de Filologia Classica (Barcelona:
Autonomous University of Barcelona Press, 2009, forthcoming).
Review
of J. Wiesehöfer and P. Huyse, Eran ud Aneran:
Studien zu den
Beziehungen zwischen dem Sasanidenreich und der Mittelmeerwelt
in The Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.01.35.
Review
of La dinastia degli Orontidi nella Commagene ellenistico-romana,
by Margherita Facella in The Bryn Mawr Classical Review
2007.01.21.
Works in Progress:
“The Creation and Destruction of the Past in Sasanian
Iran: Changing the Past through the Built, Visual and
Ritual Environments.” (under review)
From Bactria to the Mediterranean: The Joel
Handshu Collection of Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Near
Eastern Coins.
In association with the College of Charleston Library
Office of Special Collections. Planned catalogue of
over 170 ancient
coins with thematic essays.
Iran Between Alexander and Islam: Contesting the
Global Idea of Iranian Kingship in the Hellenized and
Iranian Near East, Central and South Asia (330 BCE-
642 CE). (in progress)
Recent and Forthcoming Conference Contributions:
2009
"Building a New Vision of the Past in the Late
Sasanian Empire: The Creation and Experience of the
'Avestan' Past." Paper invited for presentation
at the mini-conference 'Recent Trends in Late Antique
Iranian Studies' held at the Middle Eastern Studies
Association Annual Meeting, November 23, 2009. Boston,
MA.
"Inscriptions, Landscape, and the Built Environment
in the Eastern Mediterranean and Iran in Late Antiquity."
Paper invited for presentation at the British Epigraphy
Society Autumn Colloquium, November 21, 2009. Oxford,
UK.
"Theorizing cross-cultural interaction among the
late-antique and early medieval Mediterranean, Near
East and Central Asia." Paper invited for presentation
at the Oxford University Late Roman Seminar, November
19, 2009, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, UK.
"The Creation and Destruction of the Past in Sasanian
Iran: Manipulating the Past through the Built and Natural
Environment." Paper invited for presentation at
the Cambridge University Byzantine Seminar: The Near
East in the Age of Justinian and Muhammad, November
3, 2009, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.
“The Iranian Dynastic Sanctuary and the Global
Nature of Iranian Kingship between Alexander and Islam.”
College Art Association Annual Conference, Los Angeles.
Feb. 25-28, 2009.
“Roman and Persian Identity Beyond the Borders
of Empire: Client King Poaching, Ceremony and Gift Giving”
Shifting Frontiers VIII: Shifting Frontiers in Late
Antiquity, Bloomington, Indiana, April 1-4, 2009.
2008
Theorizing Cross-Cultural Interaction between
the Ancient and Early Medieval Mediterranean, Near East
and Asia.
Panel Chair, College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference,
Feb. 20-23, 2008.
Scholarship on many of the cultures within this broadly
defined sphere has recently benefited from a shift to
questions that transcend traditional art historical
boundaries. As a result, scholars who study the visual
cultures of these regions have found themselves drawn
closer together, but without a common vocabulary with
which to communicate. The goal of this panel is to bring
these theoretical considerations to the fore and provide
a platform to explore these problems with greater rigor.
"The Art of Manichaean Ritual: texts, images and
objects of ritual power and their transformation across
the late antique Mediterranean, Near East, and Central
Asia." Invited speaker, Objects in Motion: the
Intersection of Religion and Sacred Objects in the Late
Antique and Early Medieval World. One day colloquium
at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative
Arts, Design and Cultures. May 2, 2008. http://www.bgc.bard.edu/
“Sculpting and Enacting a Topography of Power:
The Ritual, Social, and Environmental Contexts of Sasanian
Rock Reliefs.” Invited speaker, Drawing on Rocks,
Gathering by the Water: Archaeological Fieldwork at
Rock Reliefs, Sacred Springs and other Places. Conference
organized by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
and the Ancient World, Brown University. March 1, 2008.
http://proteus.brown.edu/drawingonrocks/Home
2007
“’King of Kings of Iran and Non-Iran’:
The Monumental Rock Relief in Sasanian Iran between
Rome and South Asia.” College Art Association
Annual Conference, Feb. 14-17, 2007.
“Captive and Competitive Royal Images: the Sasanian
in Roman Art.” 108th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological
Institute of America (AIA), January 4-7, 2007
“The Problem of Indo-Scythian Art and Kingship,”
Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans: Iranian-Speaking Nomads
of the Eurasian Steppes, international conference held
at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, May 6-11,
2007.
2006
“Ritual and Visual Technologies of Memory in the
Early Sasanian Empire.” Accepted for presentation
at the American Schools of Oriental Research Annual
Meeting, Nov. 15-18, 2006.
“The Late Antique Kosmos of Power: International
Ornament and Royal Identity in the Sixth and Seventh
Centuries.” 21st Annual Congress of Byzantine
Studies, London, 21-26 August 2006
“The Diadem, Nimbus and Red Footwear in Rome and
Iran” 6th Biennial Iranian Studies Conference,
London, 2-6 August 2006. |
Prof. Canepa |
|