German ancient historian to speak on early Christianity
Friday, July 25th, 2008
Alexander Weiss, a German professor of ancient history who is in Australia as a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, will give a public lecture at the University of New England next week.
The lecture, at UNE’s Earle Page College on Thursday 31 July, will be titled “Consuls, curators and city councillors among the early Christians, AD I-III”. It will be part of the UNE “Aspects of Antiquity” lecture series.
Born in 1968, Alexander Weiss studied ancient history, Classical archaeology and prehistory at the University of Bonn, where he completed his MA (1996) and PhD (2002). From 2003 he has held the post of Junior Professor in Ancient History at the University of Leipzig. There he directs a project on Roman rule in the Maghreb. Since 2004 he has also participated in a project on ancient slavery conducted under the auspices of the Mainz Academy. He has been in Australia with his family for nearly a year as Feodor Lynen Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and is based at Macquarie University in Sydney.
Alexander Weiss has written two books: one on ancient slavery, and the other – with his wife – on women in early Christian groups. (The photograph displayed here is of an early Christian wall painting depicting a veiled woman praying.) He has also edited a book that is due for publication shortly.
Next Thursday’s lecture will be in the Earle Page College Gallery at 5.30 pm.
The following day (Friday 1 August) at 9.15 am, Dr Weiss will give a research seminar for UNE’s School of Humanities. This seminar will be in Lecture Theatre A3 of the UNE Arts Building. The topic will be “Sergius Paullus, Dionysios the Areopagite and Erastus the city treasurer: three early Christian Roman elite”.
Everyone is welcome to these two talks. For more information contact Professor Greg Horsley in UNE’s School of Humanities on (02) 6773 2390.