Joshua Thomas

I am a classical archaeologist specialising in the art and visual cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world. After holding positions at the University of Oxford and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, I joined Royal Holloway as Lecturer in the Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean in December 2024. Much of my research explores how artworks, objects and monuments functioned in their original spatial, cultural and historical contexts. My main research projects and themes are summarised below.  

Animals in ancient art. I have a longstanding interest in representations of animals in ancient visual culture, having written my first monograph (2021) on the intersection of art and natural science in the Hellenistic world. This monograph examines a range of artistic, archaeological, literary, epigraphic and papyrological sources to explore the importance attached to the study and representation of animals and plants in the Hellenistic East and Roman Italy, and was described by one reviewer as ‘ambitiously interdisciplinary book’. I am now working on a second monograph investigating the cultural and social significance of animal statues during Graeco-Roman antiquity, a topic often entirely overlooked in mainstream studies of ancient statuary. I began work on this project during my time as an Alexander-von-Humboldt Research Fellow in the Institut für Klassische Archäologie at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (2020–22).

Aphrodisias. Since 2015 I have been a member of the fieldwork team at Aphrodisias, a Greek city of the Roman period in modern-day Türkiye. My research at Aphrodisias focuses on sculpture in its urban context. To date I have produced four publications on material excavated at the site, looking at a mythological statue group depicting the Cyclops Polyphemos, the colossal figured consoles from the Hadrianic Baths, and the sculptural finds from the urban park known in antiquity as the Place of Palms. My current research at the site focuses on the sculptural finds excavated on the main north-south avenue known as the Tetrapylon Street. I have plans in the future to work further on the sculptural finds unearthed in the Hadrianic Baths.

Hellenistic mosaics. Mosaic art underwent important developments during the Hellenistic period, including the invention and then perfection of the tessellated technique. I have a special interest in the mosaics of this period, which often stand out for their rich iconography and eye-catching pictorial effects. Having published an article on the origins of the famous Alexander Mosaic at Pompeii, I am currently working on several further publications. One of these is an article on the Wrestlers Mosaic from Ptolemaic Alexandria, exploring the significance of the composition’s central picture for contemporary viewers in the context of the Ptolemaic royal palaces.

Metropolis in Thessaly. In summer 2024 I began a new archival research project in collaboration with Prof. Maria Stamatopoulou (University of Oxford) focusing on a Hellenistic tomb complex at Metropolis in Thessaly. Although discovered in 1909–11, the complex and its finds were not fully published by their original excavator A. S. Arvanitopoulos. There is now scope for a wholesale re-investigation of the complex thanks to the ‘rediscovery’ of crucial legacy archaeological data associated with Arvanitopoulos’ original excavations. Our project aims to examine this archival material in conjunction with the excavated finds in order to understand the complex in its wider geographical, cultural and historical context.