Address: University of the Aegean, Department of Mediterranean Studies (1 Democratias Ave., 1, GR, 851 32, Rhodes).

Phone: 22410-99319 

Email: zarras@aegean.gr  

Position: ΕDIP, in Byzantine Art and Archaeology, University of the Aegean (Rhodes). Department of Mediterranean Studies.

Current Position: Senior Research Fellow, University of Münster, 2016-2018.

Research Interests: Archaeology and Art of the Late Antiquity, Mosaic Pavements in Greece and in Eastern Mediterranean; Byzantine Painting of the Middle and Late Period, Epigraphy, Monumental Painting in Balkan Peninsula and in Cyprus.

 

EDUCATION

2006:  Phd Kapodistrian University, Department of Archaeology & History of Art, Philosophical Faculty, Title: “The Iconographic cycle of the Eothina Gospel Lections in Palaiologan Monumental Painting in the Balkan Peninsula”, Grade: Distinction

1997-2001:  BA, Kapodistrian University of Athens, Philosophical Faculty, Department of Archaeology & History of Art.

1996-1997: MA, Kapodistrian University of Athens, Theological Faculty, Department of Theology, Dissertation title: “The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after his Resurrection”, Grade: Distinction 

1994-1995:   I attended a series of lectures on Byzantine Art, offered by Prof. Η. Βuschhausen (Early Christian Art and Archaeology) and Prof. J. Prolović (Architecture and Monumental Painting in Serbia 13th – 15th c.), Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik, University of Vienna. I was invited by Prof. H. Βuschhausen to present in the Department of Postgraduate Studies of the Institute my Master Thesis that I completed during my residence in Vienna.                      

1987-1992: BA, Kapodistrian University of Athens, Theological Faculty, Department of Theology.

EMLOYMENT- TEACHING

2017- Assistant Professor

University of Aegean (Rhodes), Faculty of Humanities, Department of Mediterranean Studies 

Teaching Courses: See below

2008-2014  Lecturer 

University of Aegean (Rhodes), Faculty of Humanities, Department of Mediterranean Studies 

Taught Courses: 

  1. Art and Archaeology of Early Byzantine Period: Architecture, Painting and Sculpture  
  2. Art and Archaeology of Middle Byzantine Period: Architecture, Painting.
  3. Art and Archaeology of Late Byzantine Period: Architecture, Painting
  4. Early Christian Archaeology in Eastern Mediterranean: Early Christian Basilicas in Dodecanese and in Asia Minor.
  5. Byzantine History

Post-Graduate Seminars: 

  1. Early Christian Topography of Rhodes (fall 2009); Excavations in Dodecanese during the 20th century (fall 2010), Art and Archaeology in Late Antiquity: Early Christian Basilicas of Rhodes (fall 2011); Mosaic Pavements from Eastern Mediterranean (fall 2012).
  2. Art and Society in the Palaeologan Period: The famous Painters Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the Balkan Peninsula (spring 2009, spring 2010); Art and Artists in Eastern Mediterranean during the 14th century: The Examples of Mystras, Crete and Cyprus (spring 2011, spring 2012). 

2006-2010 Lecturer  

  1. Arcadia Center for Hellenic, Mediterranean & Balkan Studies and Research, Athens
  2. Taught Course: “The Power of Images: Art and Ideology in Byzantium”

2006 – 2010 Lecturer 

University of Patras, Department of Philology 

Taught Courses: 

  1. Byzantine History
  2. Introduction in Byzantine Archaeology and Art  

EXCAVATIONS

7/ 2011 &7/2012
University of the Aegean
Rhodes, Kymisala, Ancient Necropolis (Prof. M.    
Stefanakis & Dr. Nektarios Zarras)

7-8/ 2000, 7/2001 & 7-8/2002
Member of the University excavation team
Andros, Palaiopoli, Early Christian Basilica (Prof. N. Gioles – Prof. L. Palaiokrassa)

8/2001
Member of the University Excavation Team
Kos, Kardamaina, Early Christian settlements (Prof. S. Kalopissi)

12/1996 – 5/1997
Member of the University excavation team
Athens, Akropolis area (Makriyianni) (Prof. N. Gioles & L. Palaiokrassa)

7-8/1995 & 7-8/1996
Member of the University excavation team
Andros, Kato Κastro (Prof. E. Dori).

 

HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2016-2018 Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Fellow

2013 Summer Fellow in Byzantines Studies, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard    University

2013 Prize in Memory of Maria Theochari awarded by the Christian Archaeological Society (Athens) for the book: The Iconographic Cycle of the Eothina Gospel Lections in Palaiologan Monumental Painting in the Balkan Peninsula. 

 

RECENT CONFERENCE PAPERS

By invitation

  1. Narrating the Sacred Story: New Testament Cycles in Byzantine Church Decoration, The New Testament in Byzantium: Dumbarton Oaks Spring Symposium 2013 (26-28 April), Washington D.C. 
  2. Artistic Centers and Periphery in the Byzantine World Before the Fall of Constantinople: Monumental Painting in Peloponnesus during the first half of the 15th Century, στο International Symposium: Before and After the Fall of Constantinople, Belgrade 2012.
  3. Mosaic pavements from the Chatzjiandreou Basilica in Rhodes, in: Symposium, Archaeology and Art during Late Antiquity in Dodecanese, Abstracts, Rhodes 2011, 15.
  4. The Wall-Paintings of the 14th c. in the Church of the Holy Cross at Pelendri Cyprus, in: IV International Cyprological Congress, Abstracts, Nicosia 2008, 104-106.
  5. Α. Spanos – N. Zarras, Representations of Emperors and Royals as Saints in Byzantine Textual and Visual Sources, Integration and Disintegration in Medieval Europe. International Spring School, March 31 – April 2, 2008 Schwerte, Germany.
  6. The Preparation of Codex in the Iconography of the Evangelists in Palaiologan Painting, in: International Symposium, The Book in Byzantium: Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bookbinding, Athens 13-16 October 2005.
  7. Τhe Iconographical Cycle of the Eothina Evangelia in Churches from the Reign of King Milutin, International Scientific Forum, Banjska Monastery and King Milutin Era, Banjska – Kosovska Mitrovica 22-25 September 2005.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Books: 

In progress: 

Painting and Ideology in the 14th-Century Mystras: The Iconographic Program of the Gallery in the Virgin Hodegetria.

Dedicatory Inscriptions and Donor Portraits of Middle Byzantine Macedonia, University of Münster

Published:

2014 N. Zarras – M. Stefanakis (eds.), Archaeology and Art during Late Antiquity in Dodecanese, Proceedings of the Symposium in the Memory of Elias Kollias, Eulimene Series, 2, (Publication of the Mediterranean Archaeological Society), Rethymnon 2014.

2011 The Iconographic Cycle of the Eothina Gospel Lections in Palaiologan Monumental Painting of the Balkan Peninsula [Byzantina Keimena kai Meletai 56], Aristotele University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2011.

2010 The Church of the Holy Cross at Pelendri, Lefkosia 2010.

Book Chapters

In progress: 

2016 Narrating the Sacred Story: New Testament Cycles in the Middle and Late Byzantine Church Decoration, in R. S. Nelson – D. Krueger (eds.), The New Testament in Byzantium: Dumbarton Oaks Center Symposia and Colloquia,   Washington D.C., 239-275.

2016 “Identity and Patronage in Byzantium: Epigraphic Evidence and Donor Portraits of Naxos”, στο Chr. Stavrakos (ed.), Inscriptions in Byzantine and  Post-Byzantine History and History of Art, Proceedings of the International Symposium Inscriptions: Their Contribution to the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art (Ioannina, June 26-27, 2015), Wiesbaden 2016, 53-78.

2015  An artistic ekphrasis gem: Nikolaos Mesarites’s description of the mosaics in the Church of the Saint Apostles in Constantinople, in: A. Simpson (ed.), Byzantium, 1180-1204: The Sad Quarter of a Century, Athens 2015 (in preparation). 

2015  The Ancient Kymissala of Rhodes in Early Christian Period: Topography and Findings, in The Archaeological Work in the Aegean Islands, Rhodes 2015(in preparation).

2015  The Wall-Paintings of the central aisle of the Church of the Holy Cross at Pelendri, Cyprus. The Painters and their Work, Proceedings of the IV International Cyprological Congress, Abstracts, Nicosia 2014 [in preparation].

2015  Artistic Centers and Periphery in the Byzantine World before the Fall of Constantinople: Monumental Painting in Peloponnesus during the first half of the 15th Century, in: V. Stanković (ed.), Before and After the Fall of Constantinople, Belgrade 2014 (in press). 

Published:

2014 Mosaic pavements from the Chatziandreou Basilica in Rhodes, in: N. Zarras – M. Stefanakis (eds.), Proceedings of the Symposium, Archaeology and Art during Late Antiquity in Dodecanese Dedicated to the Memory of Elias Kollias, Eulimene Series, 2 (Publication of the Mediterranean Archaeological Society), Rethymnon 2014, 81-104. 

2014 The Painter Leontios the Deakon: A contribution to the work of a 14th-century Cypriot painter, in: Volume in honor of Professor and Academician Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos, I, Athens 2014, 107-115.

2012 Reflections of Palaiologan Style in Cypriot Monumental Painting, in ΣΥΜΜΕΙΚΤΑ. Papers dedicated to 40th Anniversary of the Institute for the Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 2012, 291-308.  

2010 (in collaboration with Α. Spanos) Representations of Emperors as Saints in Byzantine Visual and Textual Sources, in Μ. Βorgolte – B. Sneidmüller (eds.), Hybrid Cultures in Medieval Europe. Papers and Workshops of an International Spring School, (Europa im Mittelalter, Abhandlungen und Beiträge zur historischen Komparatistik 15), Berlin, Akademie Verlag 2010, 63-78.

 

PERIODICAL ARTICLES 

2013 The Palaiologan Icon of Christ in glory with the Apostles in the Museum of  the Greek Institute in Venise, DChAE 34 (2013) [In Memoriam T. Papamastorakis] 239-252.

2010 The Passion Cycle in Staro Nagoričino, JÖB 60 (2010), 181-213.

2010 Inscriptions from the Church of St George in Staro Nagoričino, DChAE 4/31 (2010) 115-124. 

2009 The Preparation of Codex in the Iconography of the Evangelists in Palaiologan Painting, Βyzantina 30 (2009) [In Memoriam G. Lavvas], 511-528.

2007 Christ en etera morfi (in another form), DChAE 28 (2007) [In Memoriam P. M. Mylonas], 213-224.

2006/7 Τhe Iconographical Cycle of the Eothina Evangelia in Churches from the   Reign of King Milutin, Ζograf 31 (2006-2007) [In Memoriam Ι. M. Djordjević], 95-113.

2006 Judas’ Suicide by Hanging in Byzantine Art, Αrchaeologia 99, June 2006, 30-36.

2003 Κato Kastro. The first phase of the excavations in the Venetian Castle of the Chora of Andros, Αndriaka Chronika 34 (2003), entries 65-69, 70, 113-115, 116-121, 139-141, 159-164.

2000/1 La tradition de la présence de la Vierge dans les scènes du “Lithos”  et du “Chairete” et son influence sur l’iconographie tardobyzantine, Zograf 28 (2000-2001), 113-120. 

 

GRADUATE-LEVEL STUDY, Director

Completed :

James Whittle, Text and Image in the Greek Alexander Romance, cod. Marc. 408 (Skidmore College, New York, 2009/10, Byzantine Literature and Philosophy).

 

MA THESIS, Commitee Member

Completed :

James Whittle, Comparison and Contrast of Eastern and Western Christian Civilizations, 325 -1669, through an Examination of two Contemporary Fourteenth Century Representations in the Mariological Cycle, Αrena Chapel in Padua – Kariye Camii in Constantinople (Skidmore College, New York, 2010).