Books by Sebastian Heath
[Download full text from: https://thedigitalpress.org/datam/] DATAM: Digital Approaches to Teachi... more [Download full text from: https://thedigitalpress.org/datam/] DATAM: Digital Approaches to Teaching the Ancient Mediterranean provides a series of new critical studies that explore digital practices for teaching the Ancient Mediterranean world at a wide range of institutions and levels. These practical examples demonstrate how gaming, coding, immersive video, and 3D imaging can bridge the disciplinary and digital divide between the Ancient world and contemporary technology, information literacy, and student engagement. While the articles focus on Classics, Ancient History, and Mediterranean archaeology, the issues and approaches considered throughout this book are relevant for anyone who thinks critically and practically about the use of digital technology in the college level classroom.
DATAM features contributions from Sebastian Heath, Lisl Walsh, David Ratzan, Patrick Burns, Sandra Blakely, Eric Poehler, William Caraher, Marie-Claire Beaulieu and Anthony Bucci as well as a critical introduction by Shawn Graham and preface by Society of Classical Studies Executive Director Helen Cullyer.
"This beautifully illustrated volume is the accompanying catalogue for an exhibition at New York ... more "This beautifully illustrated volume is the accompanying catalogue for an exhibition at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. It features an introduction by Glen Bowersock and essays by leading scholars such as Gaelle Coqueugniot, Jean Gascou, Sebastian Heath, Pierre Leriche, and Thelma K. Thomas. The book also includes a map of the region and a detailed site plan of Dura-Europos as well as excavation photos, a checklist of objects in the exhibition, and a selected bibliography."
$29.95 + tax
ISBN: 9780691154688
120 pp. | 6 x 9 | 75 color illus. 1 map.
On sale at ISAW or through Princeton University Press (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9650.html)
Edited Journal Volumes by Sebastian Heath
ISAW Papers, 2014
Reports on current work relevant to the role of Linked Open Data (LOD) in the study of the ancien... more Reports on current work relevant to the role of Linked Open Data (LOD) in the study of the ancient world. As a term, LOD encompasses approaches to the publication of digital resources that emphasize stability, relatively fine-grained access to intellectual content via public URIs, and re-usability as defined both by publication of machine reabable data and by publication under licenses that permit further copying of available materials. This collection presents a series of reports from participants in 2012 and 2013 sessions of the NEH-funded Linked Ancient World Data Institute. The contributors come from a wide range of academic disciplines and professional backgrounds. The projects they represent reflect this range and also illustrate many stages of the process of moving from concept to implementation, with a focus on results achieved by the mid 2013 to early 2014 timeframe.
Papers by Sebastian Heath
ISAW Library Blog, 2024
A retelling of Sebastian Heath's faculty research talk given in April, 2024. This is the first of... more A retelling of Sebastian Heath's faculty research talk given in April, 2024. This is the first of three planned posts.
Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology, 2022
While much depends on the definition of the term and the extent to which that accommodates variab... more While much depends on the definition of the term and the extent to which that accommodates variability, the number of currently known Roman amphitheaters can be put between 260 and 280. By both rough calculation assuming a typical capacity of 11,000 and by taking account of prior scholarship, when possible, to use individual capacities for each structure, the total estimated seating capacity of all Roman amphitheaters is approximately three million. That is a large number in the context of an ancient state such as the Roman Empire. For amphitheaters for which no estimate of capacity is available, this article uses Nearest Neighbors estimation to estimate a capacity on the basis of known dimensions. Doing so accommodates the observation that the seating capacity of any amphitheater was not zero so that a number must be calculated. All the data by which these calculations are made - along with the Python code - are available for download and adaptation so that the process used here is reproducible. With an estimated total having been calculated, the distribution of this capacity is explored as grouped by modern countries as well as by ancient regions. The distribution is also mapped. These visualizations highlight Italy, and particularly Campania, as the area of greatest concentration of amphitheater seating. The central part of Africa Proconsularis, roughly modern Tunisia, is also an area of relatively high concentration. The main goal of this article is to report the approximately three million total estimated seating capacity and to visualize and map its spatial distribution. The article does also suggest that while amphitheaters can be considered important symbols of Roman culture, the unequal distribution of seating implies unequal access to the experience of watching violent entertainments in these buildings. By offering a relatively straightforward approach to calculating total seating capacity, it also intends to be an easy point of reference for scholars integrating amphitheaters into historical narratives that take account of the inherent uncertainty that comes with the study of these large structures.
S. Blakely and M. Daniels, eds. 2023. Data Science, Human Science, and Ancient Gods: Conversations in Theory and Method, pp. 135-173. Atlanta: Lockwood Press., 2022
This chapter uses a dataset of Roman amphitheaters plausibly in use during the second century CE ... more This chapter uses a dataset of Roman amphitheaters plausibly in use during the second century CE to consider the extent to which relative nearness of these structures to each other could have influenced the experience of attending events within them. The selection of which amphitheaters to in- clude in the discussion is made clear as the construction of amphitheaters in Roman territory was a continuous process leading to a peak in numbers in the second century. The discussion uses network analysis—specifically network degree, or number of connections to nearby amphitheaters—to es- timate the total number of amphitheater seats that are themselves relatively near-to-other-amphitheater seats. The paper intends to be clear about the nature of the calculations on which it is based and emphasizes that only estimates are possible. Within this constraint, it is likely that the number and nearness of seats in central Italy and the nearest parts of North Africa was sufficiently greater than in other regions to make the experience of watching beast hunts, executions, and gladiatorial combat in these regions qualitatively different than in other parts of the empire. This observation implicates the understanding of amphitheaters as a stable category of Ro- man material culture. The data and code on which the discussion is based are both available for download.
Goldstein, Lynne and Ethan Watrall. Digital Heritage and Archaeology in Practice: Data, Ethics, and Professionalism. University Press of Florida, 2022. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/book/101232., 2022
ISAW Papers, 2022
This paper presents a scenario in which a schematic plan of the House of the Faun at Pompeii is t... more This paper presents a scenario in which a schematic plan of the House of the Faun at Pompeii is the basis for creating an interactive environment that supports discussion of multiple experiences within that domestic space. The primary intent of this work is to enable classroom discussion. In this regard, the work described here shares goals with other pedagogic initiatives that use game engines to bring the ancient world into learning contexts. The interactive environment described here is implemented in a cloud-based game engine that supports simultaneous editing, sharing of projects, and free distribution of the end result. This paper advocates for and describes an example of the adoption of tools that allow multiple voices and perspectives-both modern and ancientto be included in the creation process. In doing so it builds on existing principles of open software development. The end result here is not a game if that term means an environment that measures the attainment of a specific goal. Instead, the interactive environment is a playful starting point for discussion. Library of Congress Subjects: Video games in education; Architecture, Roman; Pompeii (Extinct city).
ISAW Papers, 2021
This paper describes a practical workflow that enables the integration of Photogrammetry-based 3D... more This paper describes a practical workflow that enables the integration of Photogrammetry-based 3D modeling, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), and Multiband Imaging (MBI) into a single representation that can, in turn, be rendered visually using existing open-source software. To illustrate the workflow, we apply it to a fragment of an Egyptian painted wood sarcophagus now in the Institute of Fine Arts Study (NYU) Collection and then show how the results can contribute to the visualization, documentation, and analysis of archaeological and related materials. One product of this work is an animation rendered using the open-source software Blender. The animation emphasizes aspects of surface variation and reveals the craftwork involved in producing the sarcophagus fragment. In doing so, it highlights that the workflow we describe can serve many purposes and contribute to a wide variety of research agendas.
Sarah E. Bond, Paul Dilley, and Ryan Horne, eds. Linked Open Data for the Ancient Mediterranean: Structures, Practices, Prospects . ISAW Papers 20., 2021
This paper describes the role of standards-based and open source file formats and tools in repres... more This paper describes the role of standards-based and open source file formats and tools in representing and interacting with small datasets. The example used is a database of Roman amphitheaters that is based on the GeoJSON variant of JSON, both of which formats are briefly defined and explained by example. It is stressed that the code sharing site GitHub can map the spatial information in GeoJSON files by default. Next, a series of iPython notebooks-all of which can be run interactively or downloaded for further developemnt-show the implementation of a lightweight interface for exploring amphitheater seating capacity. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes that using existing tools can make it easier to maintain focus on the intellectual content of a dataset.
A. Hrychuk Kontokosta and P. de Staebler, eds. Roman Sculpture in Context. Selected Papers in Ancient Art and Architecture [SPAAA] vol. 6. [Send me a DM and I can forward a digital offprint of my contribution.] , 2020
Art historians and archaeologists have long been publishing visual recreations of the context of ... more Art historians and archaeologists have long been publishing visual recreations of the context of Roman sculpture that in turn allow modern viewers to imagine the spaces in which these objects were displayed. A very brief summary illustrates this point and shows the turn to using digital tools to accomplish this goal. e importance of creating and reus-ing open licensed digital content is emphasized. Doing so will allow many voices and perspectives to be represented in virtual digital worlds. An example of such work is given in the form of a very preliminary interactive and multiplayer plan of the House of the Faun at Pompeii. is resource uses open-licensed content and also free software tools, suggesting that as more content becomes available, more scholars, as well as students and others, will be able to explore the diversity of settings and people that existed in the Roman world.
DATAM: Digital Approaches to Teaching the Ancient Mediterranean, 2020
[Download full text of volume from: https://thedigitalpress.org/datam/]
The Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project (PALP) is an online resource, based in a Linked Open Data ... more The Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project (PALP) is an online resource, based in a Linked Open Data (LOD) format, to encourage sitewide discovery, mapping, analysis, and sharing of information about Pompeian artworks in their architectural contexts. The goal of PALP is to dramatically increase the number of researchers and members of the public who can access, analyze, interpret, and share the artworks of the most richly documented urban environment of the Roman world: Pompeii.
The Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project (PALP) is a collaborative initiative between Eric Poehler at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Sebastian Heath at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. Based on data from the Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project and built in Omeka-S, PALP is generously funded through a grant from the Getty Foundation, as part of its Digital Art History initiative.
See https://palp.p-lod.umasscreate.net for more information.
The Journal of Roman Studies, 2018
There is hardly any aspect of scholarly work and teaching in Roman Studies today not marked by di... more There is hardly any aspect of scholarly work and teaching in Roman Studies today not marked by digital technology. We assume that readers regularly access digital images of Roman material culture, use digitised corpora of primary sources in the original language or translation or consult online books and articles. The availability of digital resources on the internet is also a welcome enabler of ongoing public interest and even participation in the field. This overall state of affairs is generally a positive development, but both general trends and specific digital resources deserve a critical appraisal.
A. Meadows, F. Duryat, and S. Glenn, eds. 2018. Alexander the Great. A Linked Open World. Bordeaux: Ausonius Éditions., 2018
Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, 2018
From October 2016 to April 2017, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New Y... more From October 2016 to April 2017, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New York University was the venue for the exhibition Time and Cosmos in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Among the objects on display were ancient sundials, some of which were accompanied by digital animations that illustrated how such devices worked. The purpose of the current article is to place these digital resources in the context of the collaborative environment that created them and to show how they can continue to be effective in communicating the sometimes complicated operation of ancient sundials, including examples that were not on display in the gallery due to size constraints. After an introduction to the workings of the objects themselves, we discuss the role of this digital content in the visitor's experience and as a museum education resource for docents. Figure 1: Installation view of a visitor and the Roofed Spherical Sundial with Greek Inscription with an animation running at its side, 2016. The operation of this sundial is discussed and illustrated with animation in the text.
Annual of the Institute of Fine Arts, 2017
A brief description of collaborative work to integrate RTI and Photogrammetry. NB: This is autho... more A brief description of collaborative work to integrate RTI and Photogrammetry. NB: This is authored by my student collaborators, not by me.
SAA Archaeological Record, 2017
With Ben Marwick (corresponding author), Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, C. Michael Barton, Lynsey A. Bates... more With Ben Marwick (corresponding author), Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, C. Michael Barton, Lynsey A. Bates, Michael Baxter, Andrew Bevan, Elizabeth A. Bollwerk, R. Kyle Bocinsky, Tom Brughmans, Alison K. Carter, Cyler Conrad, Daniel A. Contreras, Stefano Costa, Enrico R. Crema, Adrianne Daggett, Benjamin Davies, B. Lee Drake, Thomas S. Dye, Phoebe France, Richard Fullagar, Domenico Giusti, Shawn Graham, Matthew D. Harris, John Hawks, Sebastian Heath, Damien Huffer, Eric C. Kansa, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Mark E. Madsen, Jennifer Melcher, Joan Negre, Fraser D. Neiman, Rachel Opitz, David C. Orton, Paulina Przystupa, Maria Raviele, Julien Riel-Salvatore, Philip Riris, Iza Romanowska, Jolene Smith, Néhémie Strupler, Isaac I. Ullah, Hannah G. Van Vlack, Nathaniel VanValkenburgh, Ethan C. Watrall, Chris Webster, Joshua Wells, Judith Winters, and Colin D. Wren
'roman-amphitheaters' provides an up to date dataset describing Roman amphitheaters.
JOURNAL OF ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY-SUPPLEMENTARY SERIES-, 2001
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Books by Sebastian Heath
DATAM features contributions from Sebastian Heath, Lisl Walsh, David Ratzan, Patrick Burns, Sandra Blakely, Eric Poehler, William Caraher, Marie-Claire Beaulieu and Anthony Bucci as well as a critical introduction by Shawn Graham and preface by Society of Classical Studies Executive Director Helen Cullyer.
$29.95 + tax
ISBN: 9780691154688
120 pp. | 6 x 9 | 75 color illus. 1 map.
On sale at ISAW or through Princeton University Press (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9650.html)
Edited Journal Volumes by Sebastian Heath
Papers by Sebastian Heath
The Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project (PALP) is a collaborative initiative between Eric Poehler at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Sebastian Heath at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. Based on data from the Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project and built in Omeka-S, PALP is generously funded through a grant from the Getty Foundation, as part of its Digital Art History initiative.
See https://palp.p-lod.umasscreate.net for more information.
DATAM features contributions from Sebastian Heath, Lisl Walsh, David Ratzan, Patrick Burns, Sandra Blakely, Eric Poehler, William Caraher, Marie-Claire Beaulieu and Anthony Bucci as well as a critical introduction by Shawn Graham and preface by Society of Classical Studies Executive Director Helen Cullyer.
$29.95 + tax
ISBN: 9780691154688
120 pp. | 6 x 9 | 75 color illus. 1 map.
On sale at ISAW or through Princeton University Press (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9650.html)
The Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project (PALP) is a collaborative initiative between Eric Poehler at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Sebastian Heath at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. Based on data from the Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project and built in Omeka-S, PALP is generously funded through a grant from the Getty Foundation, as part of its Digital Art History initiative.
See https://palp.p-lod.umasscreate.net for more information.
The time seems right to begin to consider how we might integrate excavation material into this network of data. There are clear benefits to excavators, for whom the cataloguing of finds may become easier, and the interpretation of finds becomes immediately possible in a broader context. And there are benefits for numismatists and economic historians too, as they approach coinage from the point of view of broad circulation patterns. The prospect of aggregating the large amounts of data that resides with archeological excavations has now become very clear.