Books by Rachel Wood
Imagining the Divine: Exploring Art in Religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia, 2021
Download for free here: https://britishmuseum.iro.bl.uk/concern/books/a9b7f9c6-9b53-4eaf-a6ba-03b... more Download for free here: https://britishmuseum.iro.bl.uk/concern/books/a9b7f9c6-9b53-4eaf-a6ba-03b8eb8bb65f
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in the relationships between people and objects in religious contexts across the ancient world. These shifts in behaviour and formalising of iconographies are visible in art associated with numerous religious traditions including, but not limited to, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, religions of the Roman Empire, and paganism in northern Europe. Studies of these religions and their material culture, however, have been shaped by Eurocentric and post-Reformation Christian frameworks that prioritised Scripture and minimised the capacity of images and objects to hold religious content. Despite recent steps to incorporate objects, much academic discourse, especially in comparative religion, remains stubbornly textual. This volume therefore seeks to explore the ramifications of placing objects first and foremost in the comparative study of religions in late antiquity, and to consider the potential for interdisciplinary conversation to reinvigorate the field.
This book reveals the rewards of exploring the relationship between art and religion in the first... more This book reveals the rewards of exploring the relationship between art and religion in the first millennium, and the particular problems of comparing the visual cultures of different emergent and established religions of the period in Eurasia-Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroas-trianism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and the pagan religions of the Roman world. Most of these became established and remained in play as what are called 'the world religions'. The chapters in this volume show how the long traditions of studying these topics are caught up in complex local, ancestral, colonial and post-colonial discourses and biases, which have made comparison difficult. The study of late antiquity turns out also to be an examination of the intellectual histories of modernity.
Imaging technologies are transforming the study and presentation of artefacts. The con... more Imaging technologies are transforming the study and presentation of artefacts. The contributors to this volume are at the vanguard of applying developing technologies to cultural heritage, and their chapters discuss ways in which various techniques are being used for research, digital cataloguing, and public engagement. Eight chapters highlight diverse methods in imaging and presentation (e.g. photogrammetry, multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, structure-from-light, digital microscopy, 3D printing, and virtual and augmented reality) applied to objects of differing forms, size, media and cultural origin, including standing stones in pre-Columbian Nicaragua, Egyptian and Roman sculpture, Mesopotamian cylinder seals, and rock crystal vessels made in the early medieval Islamic world. Aimed at contributing to knowledge-transfer between sciences, humanities, and cultural heritage professionals, this volume offers updated, accessible accounts of digital imaging of objects for general and specialist audiences.
Papers by Rachel Wood
Article for Oxford Historian XIII on the 'Empires of Faith' research project and an upcoming exhi... more Article for Oxford Historian XIII on the 'Empires of Faith' research project and an upcoming exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum (October 2017).
in A. Kouremenos, S. Chandrasekaran & R. Rossi ed. 'From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridization and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East', 2011
Talks by Rachel Wood
Part of a collaborative study by members of the Empires of Faith project on 'Images of Mithras' i... more Part of a collaborative study by members of the Empires of Faith project on 'Images of Mithras' in the ancient world, from Western Europe through to Central Asia. Thursday March 5th, 2.30-5.00pm, Sackler Rooms, The British Museum. See attached poster for further details.
Corpus Christi Classics seminar series, 'Greece and the East revisited'. Convened by J. Ma. Semin... more Corpus Christi Classics seminar series, 'Greece and the East revisited'. Convened by J. Ma. Seminar Room, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Weds 4th March 2015, 5pm.
Classical Archaeology seminar series 'Art on the edge', convened by P. Stewart. Ioannou Centre fo... more Classical Archaeology seminar series 'Art on the edge', convened by P. Stewart. Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles, Oxford. Monday 2nd March 2015, 5.00pm.
Images of Mithras: joint paper with P. Adrych, R. Bracey, D. Dalglish and S. Lenk; 'After Rome' s... more Images of Mithras: joint paper with P. Adrych, R. Bracey, D. Dalglish and S. Lenk; 'After Rome' seminar, Oxford, 16th October 2014.
Gallery talk, Citi Money Gallery, British Museum, 29th July 2014
Conference paper from Wandering Myths: transcultural uses of myth in the ancient world, Oxford, A... more Conference paper from Wandering Myths: transcultural uses of myth in the ancient world, Oxford, April 14th 2014.
EoF Conference Presentations and Events by Rachel Wood
Conference 11th-13th January 2018, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.
F... more Conference 11th-13th January 2018, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.
For more details, see https://empiresoffaith.com/conference
A brief introduction to the Khosro Cup Replication Project by Rachel Wood, taken from https://emp... more A brief introduction to the Khosro Cup Replication Project by Rachel Wood, taken from https://empiresoffaith.com/exhibition/the-khosro-cup . Accompanied by 3 videos documenting how the 3D model of the Cup was made for the Ashmolean Museum's 'Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions' exhibition (19th Oct 2017 - 18th Feb 2018).
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE by Rachel Wood
Extract from exhibition catalogue J. Elsner & S. Lenk et al, 'Imagining the Divine: art and the r... more Extract from exhibition catalogue J. Elsner & S. Lenk et al, 'Imagining the Divine: art and the rise of world religions', Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2017.
EXHIBITIONS by Rachel Wood
The exhibition features the creation of the specific visual languages of five of the world religi... more The exhibition features the creation of the specific visual languages of five of the world religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. The imagery still used by these belief systems today is evidence for the development of distinct religious identities in Late Antiquity. Emblematic visual forms, such as the figures of Buddha or Christ, or Islamic aniconism, only evolved in dialogue with a variety of coexisting visualizations of the sacred. As late antique believers appropriated some competing models and rejected others, they created compelling and long-lived representations of faith, but also revealed their indebtedness to a multitude of contemporaneous religious ideas and images.
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Books by Rachel Wood
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in the relationships between people and objects in religious contexts across the ancient world. These shifts in behaviour and formalising of iconographies are visible in art associated with numerous religious traditions including, but not limited to, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, religions of the Roman Empire, and paganism in northern Europe. Studies of these religions and their material culture, however, have been shaped by Eurocentric and post-Reformation Christian frameworks that prioritised Scripture and minimised the capacity of images and objects to hold religious content. Despite recent steps to incorporate objects, much academic discourse, especially in comparative religion, remains stubbornly textual. This volume therefore seeks to explore the ramifications of placing objects first and foremost in the comparative study of religions in late antiquity, and to consider the potential for interdisciplinary conversation to reinvigorate the field.
Papers by Rachel Wood
Talks by Rachel Wood
EoF Conference Presentations and Events by Rachel Wood
For more details, see https://empiresoffaith.com/conference
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE by Rachel Wood
EXHIBITIONS by Rachel Wood
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in the relationships between people and objects in religious contexts across the ancient world. These shifts in behaviour and formalising of iconographies are visible in art associated with numerous religious traditions including, but not limited to, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, religions of the Roman Empire, and paganism in northern Europe. Studies of these religions and their material culture, however, have been shaped by Eurocentric and post-Reformation Christian frameworks that prioritised Scripture and minimised the capacity of images and objects to hold religious content. Despite recent steps to incorporate objects, much academic discourse, especially in comparative religion, remains stubbornly textual. This volume therefore seeks to explore the ramifications of placing objects first and foremost in the comparative study of religions in late antiquity, and to consider the potential for interdisciplinary conversation to reinvigorate the field.
For more details, see https://empiresoffaith.com/conference