From Artemis Ephesia to John the Theologian: The Appropriation and Transformation of Sacred Space in Byzantine Ephesus
This project analyzes the various processes of appropriation and transformation of the Ephesian sacred topography in transition to Christianity that are examined from a new perspective by taking the interrelationship of religion and urbanity into account. Based upon the close analysis of archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence, the study particularly focuses on Ephesus’ key sanctuaries, the Temple of Artemis and St. John’s Basilica outside the Greco-Roman city center. The project’s aim is to shed new light on the reshaping of religious identity and to deepen our understanding of how religious dynamics impact and change urbanity in Byzantine Ephesus from the fourth up to the early fourteenth century AD.
Professional Biography
Verena Fugger is research associate at the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna. She studied History of Art and Christian and Byzantine Archaeology in Vienna, Edinburgh, and Rome. Previously, she was research associate and lecturer at the University of Bamberg in Germany. In her work she combines art historical and archaeological approaches with contemporary religious and cultural historical discourses. Whereas her awarded PhD thesis dealt with Roman catacomb painting from a reception-aesthetic perspective, the focus of her subsequent research shifted towards the late antique and Byzantine material and visual culture of the eastern Mediterranean with a special focus on Asia Minor and Syria.