Alexander Ekserdjian

Alexander Ekserdjian is a historian of ancient Mediterranean art with a specialisation in the sculpture of Hellenistic Central Italy. His research focuses on ancient responses to visual art, particularly the role played by sculpted images of the gods in religious experience. He is interested in the theology and anthropology of sacred sculpture, and the ways material culture can contribute to the study of Roman religion.

Projects in progress include a book centered on the representation of the gods in Central Italy in the early period of Roman overseas expansion (third through first centuries BCE), an article on lists of art objects inscribed in stone within Greek sanctuaries, another on the torque in Hellenistic Italy, and a study on the modern reception of ancient votive body parts, as well as chapters on experimentation in Central Italian pedimental sculpture and on the “limits” of Etruscan art. He is currently editing the newest volume of “Selected Papers on Ancient Art and Architecture” (SPAAA), a series published by the Archaeological Institute of America, supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. SPAAA Volume 9 will contain essays focused on the art of ancient Central Italy and is expected to appear later this year.

Ekserdjian has benefitted from fellowships at Columbia University and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and a stay at the British School at Rome. He has also participated in archaeological excavations in Italy and the UK, most recently as a member of the Advanced Program in Ancient History and Art (APAHA) team at Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli.