Dr Rachel Wood
BA (Hons), MSt, DPhil, FHEA
Lecturer in Hellenistic History
Overview
My research focuses on how art and visual culture played a role in shaping experience in the Hellenistic world (c.330-c.30 BC), especially in the Middle East and Central Asia, in and around the Seleukid empire. I am particularly interested in what we can learn from iconography and objects about modes of cultural interaction and ancient religions. I teach a range of subjects in ancient history and archaeology, from the Classical period to late antiquity across the Mediterranean to Central Asia.
Publication
2021
- Wood, R. 2021. Response to R. Hobbs, 'Use of decorated silver Plate in Imperial Rome and Sasanian Iran'. In: Elsner, J. and Wood, R. eds. Imagining the Divine: Art in Religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia. London: British Museum Press, pp. 150-154.
- Elsner, J. and Wood, R. eds. 2021. Imagining the divine: Exploring art in religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia. London: British Museum.
2020
- Wood, R. 2020. Connecting art and Zoroastrianism in Sasanian studies. In: Elsner, J. ed. Empires of Faith in Late Antiquity: Histories of Art and Religion from India to Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 223-259., (10.1017/9781108564465.011)
2018
- Wood, R. 2018. The Khosro Cup Replication Project. [Exhibition and video]. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 19 Oct 2017-18 Feb 2018.
- Wood, R. 2018. Wandering hero, wandering myths? The image of Heracles in Iran. In: Audley-Miller, L. G. and Dignas, B. eds. Wandering Myths: Transcultural Uses of Myth in the Ancient World. De Gruyter, pp. 327-355., (10.1515/9783110421453-014)
- Kelley, K. and Wood, R. eds. 2018. Digital imaging of artefacts: Developments in methods and aims. Oxford: Archeopress.
2017
- Wood, R. and Ali, N. 2017. The emergence of Islamic art. In: Elsner, J., Lenk, S. and Parpulov, G. eds. Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions. Oxford: Ashmolean, pp. 135-161.
- Adrych, P. et al. eds. 2017. Images of Mithra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (10.1093/oso/9780198792536.001.0001)
- Wood, R. 2017. The Khosro Cup. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
2011
- Wood, R. 2011. Cultural convergence in Bactria: the votives from the Temple of the Oxos at Takht-i Sangin. In: Kouremenos, A., Chandrasekaran, S. and Rossi, R. eds. From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East. British Archaeological Reports, pp. 141-152.
Book sections
- Wood, R. 2021. Response to R. Hobbs, 'Use of decorated silver Plate in Imperial Rome and Sasanian Iran'. In: Elsner, J. and Wood, R. eds. Imagining the Divine: Art in Religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia. London: British Museum Press, pp. 150-154.
- Wood, R. 2020. Connecting art and Zoroastrianism in Sasanian studies. In: Elsner, J. ed. Empires of Faith in Late Antiquity: Histories of Art and Religion from India to Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 223-259., (10.1017/9781108564465.011)
- Wood, R. 2018. Wandering hero, wandering myths? The image of Heracles in Iran. In: Audley-Miller, L. G. and Dignas, B. eds. Wandering Myths: Transcultural Uses of Myth in the Ancient World. De Gruyter, pp. 327-355., (10.1515/9783110421453-014)
- Wood, R. and Ali, N. 2017. The emergence of Islamic art. In: Elsner, J., Lenk, S. and Parpulov, G. eds. Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions. Oxford: Ashmolean, pp. 135-161.
- Wood, R. 2011. Cultural convergence in Bactria: the votives from the Temple of the Oxos at Takht-i Sangin. In: Kouremenos, A., Chandrasekaran, S. and Rossi, R. eds. From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East. British Archaeological Reports, pp. 141-152.
Books
- Elsner, J. and Wood, R. eds. 2021. Imagining the divine: Exploring art in religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia. London: British Museum.
- Kelley, K. and Wood, R. eds. 2018. Digital imaging of artefacts: Developments in methods and aims. Oxford: Archeopress.
- Adrych, P. et al. eds. 2017. Images of Mithra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (10.1093/oso/9780198792536.001.0001)
Exhibitions
- Wood, R. 2018. The Khosro Cup Replication Project. [Exhibition and video]. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 19 Oct 2017-18 Feb 2018.
Other
- Wood, R. 2017. The Khosro Cup. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
Teaching
I am module convenor for the Year 2 option 'From the Hellenistic World to the Roman Empire' and contribute to teaching on other modules, including:
Year 1
- Investigating the Ancient World: Skills and Evidence
- Ancient Objects Then and Now
- Empires East and West 323 BCE - 680 CE
- A World Full of Gods
- The Archaeology of Mediterranean Societies: Egypt, Greece and Rome
Year 2
- Past and Present: Encountering Antiquity
- An Introduction to Greek Art and Archaeology
MA
- Doing Ancient History: Themes and Approaches
Biography
Lecturer in Hellenistic History, University of Cardiff, 2024-
Departmental Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, University of Oxford, 2018-2024
Co-curator, 'Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions', an exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford open from Oct 2017-Feb 2018.
Postdoctoral researcher, Empires of Faith project, The British Museum and University of Oxford, 2013-2018, in Sasanian art and religion
Archaeology DPhil (Oxf) 2013 'After the Achaemenids: exchange, transmission, and transformation in art in the visual culture of Babylonia, Iran, and Bactria c.330-c.100 BC' Supervisors: Prof. Bert Smith and Prof. Rachel Mairs
Classical Archaeology MSt (Oxf) 2008
Classical Archaeology & Ancient History BA (Hons) (Oxf) 2007
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- Classical Archaeology
- Hellenistic history
- Art history
- Iconography
- Ancient Iran