We are excited to announce that our very own Kathleen Lynch is about to begin her work as a Getty Scholar, especially since she is the first UC scholar to receive this fellowship! This year’s Getty Scholars are examining the political, intellectual, religious, and artistic relations between Persia, Greece, and Rome from the ninth century BC to AD 651 through a number of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary projects. Kathleen’s own work will focus on Athenian pottery in the Achaemenid empire.      

She shares with us: "My research project will examine the importation of Athenian-made ceramics to the Persian Empire, which reached from modern Turkey to Egypt and east to Armenia. During the 5th century B.C. Athenian potters produced high quality ceramic vessels decorated with elaborate figural imagery. These Athenian products found markets around the Mediterranean, including to the Persian world. Recent research persuasively shows that the Athenian potters designed some of their products—both shape and decoration—to appeal to non-Greek consumers in Italy. My project will explore the market for Athenian pottery to the east, to Persia, to ask if there are similar patterns of direct marketing. In this period, Athens and Persia were political enemies, yet it is clear that Persians used and valued Athenian pottery. In this light, what cultural function did the imported Athenian pottery have in the Persian world? Past scholarship has addressed the impact of Persian art on Athenian culture; this project will turn the tables and consider the impact of Athenian art on Persian culture."

To find out more about this project, check out the Getty's scholar site:  http://www.getty.edu/research/scholars/years/current.html