02/12/12 11:11 AMBritish Museum - Empires of faith

Page 1 of 2http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/empires_of_faith.aspx

ResearchResearch projectsEmpires of faithAbout the projectResearch aims and objectives

Empires of Faith

Project teamDr Jas’ Elsner, Senior Research Fellow, Corpus Christi College Jonathan Williams, Director of CollectionsJD Hill, Research ManagerRoger Bland, Keeper of Prehistoryand EuropeBelinda Crerar, Curator, Late AntiquityDepartment of Prehistory and Europe

PartnersAncient World Centre, Wolfson College, University of Oxford Supported by

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Why did new religious imagery and iconographies emerge indifferent religious traditions across Asia and Europe in the periodAD 200-800?

Did these developments influence and inspire each other, or werethey separate evolutions occuring independently thousands of milesapart?

These questions, and more, will be addressed by a major researchproject conducted in partnership between the British Museum andthe University of Oxford. Taking the broadest possible view, theproject will examine imagery from those religions that have survivedand many lost religions, from the cults of the Roman Empire toManichaeism, from Britain and Spain in the west to the Indiansubcontinent and the borders of China in the east.

About the project

The project will focus on a broad range of political entities of theperiod.

From the later Roman and Sasanian Empires, to the Gupta andKushan dynasties of South Asia, the Aksumites of Ethiopia and

Research aims and outputs

The research undertaken by this project will focus around a numberof key questions.

These include, why did new religious imagery and iconographiesemerge across a huge area at this time; to what extent were theseindependent or interdependent developments, and how did they

02/12/12 11:11 AMBritish Museum - Empires of faith

Page 2 of 2http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/empires_of_faith.aspx

Kushan dynasties of South Asia, the Aksumites of Ethiopia andYemen, and on to China, and south-east Asia, diplomacy, trade,migration and the spread of religions brought these diverse culturesinto close contact.

More about the project

independent or interdependent developments, and how did theyenable the rise of new forms of political and religious authority?

More about the research aims and objectives

Project team

Wolfson College, University of Oxford, with the British Museum, isoffering a number of research opportunities as part of this project.

Postdoctoral research

Three posts to explore religious imagery and material culture andtheir contexts from this period, developing and delivering majorpieces of research on the questions and subjects of this researchproject.

More information and how to apply

Doctoral research

Five fully-funded Doctoral Students in religious iconography andimagery, and their political and cultural contexts from theMediterranean world to South Asia, in about AD 200–800.

More information and how to applyImages: top, seated Buddha from Gandhara, about 2nd - 3rd century AD; bottom left, The Hinton St Mary Mosaic, Roman Britain, 4thcentury AD; middle, silver plate showing Shapur II, Sasanian, 4th century AD; bottom right, Gold coin of Kumaragupta I, north India, aboutAD 415-50.

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