About
I am an ancient historian and my research primarily focuses on local identity formation in the Roman provinces. My PhD thesis investigated the culture and society of Roman Cyprus and was driven by study of the surviving material artefacts, notably inscriptions. I am in the final stages of revising this monograph which is under contract for publication with Oxford University Press.
The phenomena of cultural exchange in the Roman Empire and the materiality of ancient artefacts (i.e. their use, abuse, reuse and reception) to articulate identity remains central to my research. My practice and outlook are interdisciplinary and my research on local identity formation, particularly in relation to ancient Cyprus and its landscape, has been developed significantly through an ongoing collaboration with the visual artist Yorgos Petrou. The most recent stages of our work have been supported by the Cyprus High Commission (London). In November 2017 we hosted the art exhibition 33° 3’ 45’’ East (at the Cyprus High Commission from 23rd November to 2nd December) which presented our combined work to date on the themes of geological stratification and identity formation in Cyprus. This event drew specialist and non-specialist audiences and was featured as part of the online documentary series Κύπριοι του κόσμου. The work created for this exhibition, along with academic essays on the materiality of copper and Cyprus’ copper-rich landscape, is being prepared for publication.
I am also developing research on the cultural value of metals and identity formation in the Roman Empire. In 2019, I was awarded seed corn funding from the University’s SURGE fund to undertake pilot research. This work was done in collaboration with the College of Engineering (Swansea) and the School of History, Archaeology and Religion (Cardiff) and involved analysis of copper-alloy artefacts housed in Swansea University’s Egypt Centre. This work is ongoing and will feed into a much larger interdisciplinary which will investigate the impact of metals on communities from antiquity to the present day.