Dr Ruth Westgate

Cyhoeddiad

• Date
• Type
• Dyrchafiad i

Ymchwil

My research is primarily concerned with the architecture and decoration of Greek and Roman houses, and the relationship between houses and the society, politics and economy of the ancient world.

Greek mosaics of the Classical and Hellenistic periods

I am working on a monograph about decorated mosaics in the Greek world from the fifth century to the early first century BC, covering pavements of pebbles, tesserae, stone chips and various combinations of materials. This will be the first comprehensive study of Greek mosaics since the 1930s, ranging from the pebble mosaics of the Classical period to the late Hellenistic pavements of Delos and Pompeii, and including a corpus of decorated mosaics which will enable scholars to get a reliable overview of this material for the first time. The book will survey the techniques, materials and design of the mosaics, and will re-evaluate the prevailing models of their stylistic and technical development, considering each pavement in its architectural and regional context. But it also goes beyond conventional art-historical concerns to explore the changing ways in which mosaics and other decoration were used to structure the space in houses, and thus to gain insights into social and economic trends in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

Domestic space in Archaic–Hellenistic Greece

Another strand of my work examines the relationship between domestic space and socio-political organisation in the Greek world. At present I am exploring the ways in which the development of social and political complexity in the Aegean was played out in the architecture of houses from the Early Iron Age to the Classical period, looking at how social roles and status distinctions within and between households shaped the architecture and decoration of houses.

I am particularly interested in Classical and Hellenistic houses in Crete, which are strikingly different in their form and appearance from the courtyard houses found elsewhere in the period. The differences may be related to a different form of social organisation on Crete, which is attested by the literary sources; the austere, backward-looking appearance and furnishings of Cretan houses in this period suggest a desire to suppress or deny social change.

Addysgu

Undergraduate

• The Archaeology of Mediterranean Societies: Egypt, Greece and Rome - 20 credits (HS2123)
• Introduction to Ancient Greek History - 20 credits (HS3101)
• Investigating the Ancient World: Skills and Evidence - 20 credits (HS3103)
• Art and Archaeology of Archaic Greece - 20 credits (HS2386)
• Art and Archaeology of Classical Greece - 20 credits (HS2389)
• Pots, Poems and Pictures: Using Evidence for Ancient History - 20 credits (HS4336)
• Hellenistic Art and Architecture - 10 credits (HS4356)
• Houses in Roman Italy - 10 credits (HS4363)
• Art and Power in Rome, 211 BC–AD 138 - 10 credits (HS4368)

Postgraduate

• Themes and Approaches in Ancient History - 20 credits (HST002)
• Themes in Classical Archaeology - 20 credits (HST203)
• Special Topic: Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity - 20 credits (HST204)
• Approaches to Ancient Art - 20 credits (HST205)

Research supervision

I have supervised PhDs on domestic cult in Classical Greece, the status of Greek traders, and military imagery in Roman interior decoration. I would be happy to supervise topics on Greek archaeology, Greek and Roman art and architecture, or Greek social history.

Bywgraffiad

Education and qualifications

• 1995 PhD, History of Art, Manchester University (Greek Mosaics of the Classical and Hellenistic Periods)
• 1988 BA Classics, Clare College, Cambridge

Career overview

• 2013– Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Ancient History, Cardiff University
• 2004–2013 Lecturer in Archaeology and Ancient History, Cardiff University
• 1998–2004 Research Fellow/Lecturer in Archaeology and Ancient History, Cardiff University
• 1996 Associate Lecturer, Classics Department, King's College London
• 1993–1995 Macmillan-Rodewald Student, British School at Athens
• 1992–1993 School Student, British School at Athens

Notable achievements

• 2008 Awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for work on a monograph on Greek mosaics.
• 2001 Lead organiser of the conference 'Building Communities: House, Settlement and Society in the Aegean and Beyond'.

Aelodaethau proffesiynol

• Publicity Officer and Committee member, Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics
• Member of Standing Commitee, Council of University Classical Departments
• Member of Council, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 2007–2010
• Secretary, Cardiff and District Classical Association, 2001–2010
• Member, Association International pour l'Étude de la Mosaïque Antique
• Member of Council, British School at Athens, 1996–1998

Meysydd goruchwyliaeth

Areas supervised

I would be interested in supervising PhD projects on:

• Greek and Roman houses and households
• Ancient mosaics and painting
• Greek and Roman art and architecture, especially from the Classical, Hellenistic and early Imperial periods
• Greek archaeology and social history

Current PhD students

• Karen Gregory, Mapping Mosaics in Fourth-Century Roman Britain: Regional Patterns and Elite Networks; co-supervisor with Martin Pitts (Exeter University)
• Alexia Miltiadous-Johansson, Houses and Households in Hellenistic–Roman Crete and Cyprus; co-supervisor with James Whitley
• Vasiliki Kontogianni, Hydrophobic Coatings and Organic Additives in Hellenistic–Roman Mortars: The Case Study of Crete; third supervisor with David Watkinson and Nicola Emmerson