The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion

On the eve of our postgraduate workshop in ancient material religion and public lecture about the votive finds from San Casciano dei Bagni, we are delighted to share the recording of a conversation with our visiting speaker Dr Jacopo Tabolli. Tune in to hear about the latest excavations at the Etrusco-Roman thermo-mineral site of Bagno Grande at San Casciano dei Bagni – and some of the astonishing...

Marisa Müsing visited the Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion at The Open University on 10th June 2025 to give a paper entitled ‘digital mimicry and the villa of mysteries’. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Marisa Müsing were joined by Dr Emma-Jayne Graham and Dr Joanna Paul to record an audio discussion about the Villa of the Mysteries and the relationship between contemporary...

Patricia Kret visited the Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion at The Open University on 24th February 2025 to give a paper entitled ‘Reuse in the creation and use of Greco-Roman amulets’. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Patricia Kret were joined by Emma-Jayne Graham and Barbara Roberts to record an audio discussion about amulets in the ancient Roman world. The discussion also f...

Dr Theodora Jim visited the The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on the 21st November 2019, to give a paper entitled “Divine Saving and ‘Votive’ Religion in Ancient Greece”. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Theodora Jim were joined by John Maiden and Emma-Jayne Graham to record an audio discussion about understandings of divine saving in antiquity and beyond. Th...

Dr Anna Perdibon visited the The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on the 16th October 2019, to give a paper entitled "Sacred Trees and Tree Persons in Ancient Mesopotamia". After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Anna Perdibon were joined by Graham Harvey and Shirley Elderfield to record an audio discussion about trees, both ancient and modern. The discussion also feat...

Dr Sean Leatherbury visited the The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on 13th June 2019, to give a paper entitled "Materializing the Community in the Late Antique Syrian Church". After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Sean Leatherbury were joined by Dr Janet Huskinson and Dr David Noy to record an audio discussion about ancient mosaics and the artists who made them. Th...

Dr Camilla Norman visited the The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on 13th June 2019, to give a paper entitled “The Ritual Ecology of Archaic South-East Italy”. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Camilla Norman were joined by Professor Phil Perkins and Dr Eleanor Betts to record an audio discussion about ritual and gender in pre-Roman Italy. The discussion also fe...

Professor Michael Scott visited The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on 23rd May 2019, to give a paper entitled “Walls And the Ancient Greek Ritual Experience”. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Michael Scott were joined by Dr Emma-Jayne Graham and Dr Christine Plastow to record an audio discussion about ‘walls and boundaries' in ancient Greece and Italy. The dis...

Dr Jody Cundy visited the The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on 21st March 2019, to give a paper entitled “Paradoxographic mentalité and the sacred: thinking through (im)material collections in Pausanias' Periegesis Hellados”. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Jody Cundy were joined by Dr Jan Haywood and Dr Angeliki Lymberopoulou to record an audio discussion a...

The inaugural seminar of The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion took place on 14th February 2019. Professor Maureen Carroll from the University of Sheffield gave a paper entitled ‘‘Mater Matuta and her ‘Sisters’: Exploring Fertility Cults and Associated Votives in Early Roman Religion’. After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Maureen Carroll were joined by Emma-Jayne Gra...