I have many simmering anxieties as a scholar. Among them is my worry about having to publish the North Basilica at Polis on Cyprus by myself. This means immersing myself again in the literature of Early Christian architectural history. Among the most interesting features of the North Basilica is the presence of apsidal exedrae on… Read More →
I’ve been thinking and talking about walls a good bit lately — including an hour long conversation with David Pettegrew about the fortification of the eastern Corinthia. Last week I posted some scrappy notes on the Hexamilion Wall vaguely related to a paper that I’ll give in November at Michigan State. David and I discussed… Read More →
I was excited to see that the latest issue of Hesperia (93.1 for those of you keeping a scorecard) arrived just in time for the weekend. Since there was no Formula 1 this weekend, I was able to read an article during the time that I would have ordinarily been sitting and listlessly watching a… Read More →
The last month or so has seen a little pair of recent articles on material from the region of Polis-Chrysochous in northwestern Cyprus. Both article take advantage of the remarkable continuity of settlement at the site and in the wider region which appears to have avoided the disruptions associated with the so-called “Arab Raids” in… Read More →
Just a short post this morning as I continue recovering from the holiday season! Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of reading Matthew Milliner’s Mother of the Lamb: The Story of a Global Icon (Fortress 2022). The book tells the story of the icon of the Virgin of the Passion from its origins on… Read More →
For some reason baptistery projects take a long time to come out. This week, two baptistery related projects of mine somehow reached milestones. It’s a Christmas miracle. The first is the MASSIVE Cambridge Guide to the Architecture of Christianity edited by Richard A. Etlin. I had only a tiny contribution to this gigantic and long… Read More →
At the end of the semester, I tend to experience a bit of priority creep as the number of “do right now” projects (grading, end of semester deadlines, and so on) begins to encroach on the “do sometime soon” or “wouldn’t it be cool to do?” projects. That kind of ontological ambiguity which is only… Read More →
Every now and then I go back to reading something on Late Antique and Early Christian archaeology. It feels a bit like checking in with a favorite musician to see what they’re up to these days or watching the latest installment of a long running music franchise. You rarely expect something better or even different, but… Read More →
My day has almost gotten away from me before the shock realization that I had not posted a link to my talk at the University of Cyprus’s Archaeological Research Unit yesterday! Here’s the link: Enjoy!
I’m taking a real, honest to goodness vacation over the weekend. In fact, I’m going to vacation so hard that I’m not even taking a laptop! I reckon the last time that I vacationed without a laptop was in 2000 or 2001 when I was living in Athens. To celebrate this unlikely situation, I’m going to offer a… Read More →
This summer, I’ve enjoyed working with David Pettegrew on an article surveying the archaeology of the Late Antique Corinthia for some or another edited volume. The piece is getting pretty close to being done and I plant to work on it for a four or five hours this morning. I’m particularly happy with the introduction,… Read More →
Scholars interested in the architectural history of post-Roman Cyprus have been enjoying the immense (and sometimes overwhelming) outpouring of scholarship in their field over the last 20 years. Much of this work has been both high quality in terms of argument, but also (and perhaps as importantly) high production quality with careful illustrations, vivid photographs,… Read More →
This summer, I’ll be once again in the field meaning that my regularly scheduled blogging might become a bit more intermittent. I’m not doing field work, but it’s a study season which will focus primarily on the site of Polis on Cyprus (with a brief side trip to Isthmia in Greece). As readers of this… Read More →
Last week I finally finished Foteini Kondyli’s recent book, Rural Communities in Late Byzantium: Resilience and Vulnerability in the Northern Aegean (2022). It’s really quite brilliant and offers a model for the kind of intensive regional study that is possible as the result of slow, deliberate, careful research across archaeological survey, texts, architectural study, and… Read More →
Thanksgiving break is always an opportunity to slow down and be thankful for all the little things that make my life better. Historically, I dedicate Thanksgiving day to catching up on grading and taking a swing at the pile of books and articles that I’ve set aside to read “sometime.” Both of these tasks are… Read More →
