Research Fields

• Roman art and architecture
• Hellenistic art and architecture
• Funerary architecture
• Second Temple period
• Ancient Jerusalem
• Flavius Josephus
• Herod the Great
• The Hasmonean Dynasty
• Jewish Art

About

Dr. Orit Peleg-Barkat is a Classical archaeologist specializing in Hellenistic and Roman art and architecture of the southern Levant, and especially in Hasmonean and Herodian architectural decoration. She has published extensively on the architectural decoration of the Hasmonean and Herodian palaces at Jericho, the mausoleum at Herodium, and the Herodian Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

She has also studied trends and changes in the funerary architecture of Judea in the Hellenistic and Roman eras. In recent years, Dr. Orit Peleg-Barkat has run three archaeological excavations – one at the Byzantine-period village of En Gedi, the other at Horvat Midras in the Judean Foothills, where remains of a Roman temple and a Jewish pyramidal funerary monument were uncovered, and the third in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

 

Selected Publications

 

Peleg-Barkat O., 2012. “The Relative Chronology of Tomb Façades in Early Roman Jerusalem and Power Displays by the Élite,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 25/1, pp. 403−418

Peleg-Barkat O., 2014. "Fit for a King: Architectural Décor in Judaea and Herod as Trendsetter," Bulletin of the American

School of Oriental Research 371, pp. 141−161

Peleg-Barkat O. (PI.), Geva, H. (C.), and Reich R. (C.), 2017. "A Monumental Herodian Ionic Capital from the Upper City of Jerusalem," Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology 8: 74–95

 Peleg-Barkat O., 2017. The Temple Mount Excavations in Jerusalem, 1968−1978 Directed by Benjamin Mazar, Final Reports, vol. V: Herodian Architectural Decoration and King Herod’s Royal Portico [Qedem series 57], Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Peleg-Barkat, O., 2019, Herod’s Western Palace in Jerusalem: Some New Insights, Electrum 26: 53-72.

 

Selected Awards

2015−2019: Individual Research Grant from the Israel Science Foundation, "Continuity and Change in Rural Roman Judaea: Horvat Midras as a Case Study," NIS 860,000. #48, #50, #63, #64

2015: Ruth Amiran Fund for Archaeological Research in Eretz-Israel, “Editing a Festschrift in honour of Prof. Joseph Patrich on the Occasion of his Retirement,” US$ 4,000. #14

2018: Ruth Amiran Fund for Archaeological Research in Eretz-Israel, “Student Academic Tour to Georgia,” US$ 10,000.

2019: Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung, "Conference - The Basilica in Roman Palestine, Its Architectural Layout, Role and Function in the Ancient City, University of Tübingen," EU€ 11,000.

2019: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Grant (together with Prof. Gregg Gardner from University of British Columbia, Vancouver), "The Horvat Midras Excavation Project: Cultural Interaction in Rural Roman Judea," CAD$ 69,023.

2020: The Roger and Susan Hertog Center for the Archaeological Study of Jerusalem and Judah Grant, “The Gan HaMisgav Excavations in the Jewish Quarter,” US$ 30,000.

2021: The Roger and Susan Hertog Center for the Archaeological Study of Jerusalem and Judah Grant, “The Gan HaTkumah Excavations in the Jewish Quarter,” US$ 20,000.

 

Teaching

 

Fashion Victims of the Ancient World

Alexander the Great and his Heritage

Jerusalem through the Ages – The Tangible Past

Rome and Jerusalem between Augustus and Titus

Introduction to Greek Archaeology

Introduction to Roman Archaeology

Topics in Classical – Byzantine Archaeology: Herodian Art and Architecture

Topics in Classical – Byzantine Archaeology: The Archaeology of Hellenistic Palestine

Josephus' Writings and the Archaeological Finds

The Classical Architectural Decoration

King Herod and other Client Kings

Egyptomania: Egypt in Rome, Rome in Egypt

The Hasmoneans from an Archaeological Perspective - Rebels, Priests and Kings