Brad Hostetler

Brad Hostetler specializes in the art and material culture of Late Antiquity and Byzantium, with a particular emphasis on portable luxury objects from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. He teaches courses on the art and architecture of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean, including ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium and the Islamicate world. Professor Hostetler’s research focuses on the relationships between texts and images, including ekphraseis about, and words inscribed on, works of art. He is currently writing a book that examines the nature and meaning of relics and reliquaries in Byzantium through the lens of inscriptions, including the ways in which inscribed texts mediate and guide the faithful’s engagement with, and understanding of, sacred relics. He is also co-editor on two other projects in progress. The first is a catalogue of Ethiopian objects donated to Kenyon in 2019, and the second is "The Routledge Handbook of Byzantine Material Culture." Professor Hostetler’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.