The AIA San Francisco Society is thrilled to welcome Dr. Rubina Raja (Aarhus University) back to Berkeley. Please join us to hear Dr. Raja speak about the archaeology and history of ancient Gerasa. This will be the final lecture of the AIA San Francisco Society’s 2024-2025 lecture series.

Abstract: The Antonine period Artemis sanctuary in the Decapolis city Gerasa is one of the largest sanctuaries in the Roman world. With its impressive architecture and central location in the city, which also was named Antioch on the Gold River, the sanctuary has received a lot of attention in scholarship for more than a century. What is less known, however, is the fact that the sanctuary had a forerunner, which has until now not been located. This presentation takes its point of departure in new research undertaken on the archaeology and history of Gerasa, which has been aimed at, among other things, reinvestigating the pre-Antonine Artemis cult in Gerasa.

Speaker: Dr. Rubina Raja, Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art, Director of The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University, Denmark