Representations of Palmyrene Women in Funerary Sculpture from the First Century BC to the Third Century AD

The PhD project is part of the international collective research project - Palmyra Portrait Project. The individual project examins females in the Palmyrene funerary portraiture dating from the 1st century BC to 3rd century AD. Aspects such as jewellery, clothing, headdresses, attributes and inscriptions will be analysed to see how different identities were negotiated and expressed in the portraits. Furthermore, comparative studies to the local society as well as other regions of the Roman world will be undertaken to reveal how females were portrayed outside of the funerary sphere in Palmyra, in other areas of the Roman world and which different cultural elements were used in the portraits.