Staff profile

Ted Kaizer is Professor in Roman Culture and History. He was educated at Leiden (MA, 1995) and Brasenose College, Oxford (DPhil, 2000), and held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2002-2005) before coming to Durham. His main research interest is the social and religious history of the Near East in the Late Hellenistic and Roman period. He is the author of The Religious Life of Palmyra (Stuttgart, 2002) and has written articles on various aspects of religion and history of the Classical Levant. He is the editor of Blackwell's forthcoming Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. His present research project concerns a study of the social patterns of worship at Dura-Europos, a fortress town on the Middle Euphrates, and in this context he has also produced the historiographical introductions to two volumes in the Bibliotheca Cumontiana for the Academia Belgica in Rome: Scripta Minora VII, Franz Cumont's collected articles and reviews: D. Praet, T. Kaizer and A. Lannoy (eds.), Doura-Europos (Leuven, 2020 in press), p.XI-XCVIII; and Scripta Maiora XI, the republication of Cumont's 1926 monograph Fouilles de Doura-Europos, 1922-1923 (series editor C. Bonnet, forthcoming 2022). Fellowships awarded include: Fellowship of the Exzellenzcluster 'Religion und Politik' at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (2009); Margo Tytus Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati (2011); Christopherson/Knott Fellowship of the Institute of Advanced Study of Durham University (2013); Dale T. Mortensen Senior Fellowship at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (2014); Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (2014-17). He has widely travelled through the Middle East.

Areas of Doctoral Supervision

Most areas and periods of Roman culture and history, especially social and religious history in the imperial period, and in particular of the provinces in the eastern half of the empire.

Current PhD Students

• Alison Ewins, Religious Terminology in the Local Cult Centres of the Roman Near East (second supervisor: A. Rigolio)
• Lila Knight, Drafting an Empire: Palmyrene Manpower and Military Identity, 260-272 CE (second supervisor: A. Rigolio; external supervisor: I. Haynes)
• Rory McInnes-Gibbons, The Ruins of Palmyra: Reception from Rediscovery to Rubble (with co-supervision from N. Goldschmidt and E.V. Thomas)
• Gary Watson, The Role of the Roman Army in State-Building and Provincial Development on the Near Eastern Frontier during the Imperial Era (second supervisor: P. Low)

Past Research Students

• Polly Weddle, Touching the Gods: Physical Interaction with Cult Statues in the Roman World (PhD 2010)
• Peter Alpass, The Religious Life of Nabataea (PhD 2011)
  • published Brill 2013 (http://www.brill.com/religious-life-nabataea)
• Jennifer Wilkinson, Mark and his Gentile Audience. A Traditio-Historical and Socio-Cultural Investigation of Mk 4.34-9.29 and its Interface with Gentile Polytheism in the Roman Near East (PhD 2012 in Theology - co-supervised with W.R. Telford of the Dept. of Theology & Religion)
• H.A.M. (Rik) van Wijlick, Rome and the Near Eastern Kingdoms and Principalities, 44-31 BC. A Study of Political Relations during Civil War (PhD 2013)
  • in press Brill 2020 (https://brill.com/view/title/59068)
    
• Sebastian Nichols, 'The Gods of the Nations are Idols' (Ps. 96:5): Paganism and Idolatry in Near Eastern Christianity (PhD 2014)
• Donald MacLennan, Administrative Development in the Kingdoms and Principalities of the Near East under the Aegis of Rome (PhD 2018)
• Chiara Grigolin, Shaping Seleucid Identity over Time: Cities of the Seleucid Near East and their Foundation Stories (PhD 2018)
• Eris Williams Reed, Water and Worship in the Roman Near East: Gods, Spaces and Cults (PhD 2019)

• Local identities in the Classical Levant
• Religions in the Graeco-Roman world
• Social and religious history of the Roman Near East

Authored book

• Kaizer, T. (2002). The Religious Life of Palmyra. A Study of the Social Patterns of Worship in the Roman Period. Franz Steiner Verlag

Book review

• Kaizer, T. (2016). The future of Palmyrene studies. Journal of Roman archaeology. Supplementary series, 29, 924-931
• Kaizer, T. (2015). On the origins of Palmyra and its trade. Journal of Roman archaeology. Supplementary series, 28, 881-888
• Kaizer, T. (2009). Orient. Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 11, 359-364. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110208962.4.301
• Kaizer, T. (2008). Old and new discoveries at Palmyra. Journal of Roman archaeology. Supplementary series, 21, 652-664
• Kaizer, T. (2003). The Near East in the Hellenistic and Roman periods between local, regional and supra-regional approaches. Scripta classica Israelica, 22, 283-295

Chapter in book

• Kaizer, T. (2016). Divine constellations at Palmyra. Reconsidering the Palmyrene ‘pantheon’. In A. Kropp, & R. Raja (Eds.), The world of Palmyra (17-30). Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab
• Kaizer, T. (2016). Revisiting the “temple of Bêl” at Dura-Europos: a note on the fragmentary fresco from the naos. In M. Heyn, & A. Steinsapir (Eds.), Icon, cult, and context : sacred spaces and objects in the classical world : essays in honor of Susan B. Downey (35-46). UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
• Kaizer, T. (2015). Dura-Europos under Roman rule. In J. Cortés Copete, E. Muñiz Grijalvo, & F. Lozano Gómez (Eds.), Ruling the Greek world : approaches to the Roman Empire in the East (91-101). Franz Steiner Verlag
• Kaizer, T. (2015). ‘Familiar strangers’: gods and worshippers away from home in the Roman Near East. In M. Blömer, A. Lichtenberger, & R. Raja (Eds.), Religious identities in the Levant from Alexander to Muhammed : continuity and change (19-32). Brepols Publishers
• Kaizer, T. (2014). Euhemerism and religious life in the Roman Near East. In T. Gnoli, & F. Muccioli (Eds.), Divinizzazione, culto del sovrano e apoteosi : tra antichità e Medioevo (295-306). Bononia University Press
• Kaizer, T. (2013). Identifying the divine in the Roman Near East. In L. Bricault, & C. Bonnet (Eds.), Panthée : religious transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (113-128). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004256903_006
• Kaizer, T. (2013). Creating local religious identities in the Roman Near East. In M. Salzman, & W. Adler (Eds.), The Cambridge history of religions in the ancient world. Volume II, From the Hellenistic age to late antiquity (54-86). Cambridge University Press
• Kaizer, T. (2011). Religion in the Roman East. In J. Rüpke (Ed.), A companion to Roman religion (446-456). Wiley
• Kaizer, T. (2010). From Zenobia to Alexander the Sleepless: paganism, Judaism and Christianity at Late Roman Palmyra. In B. Bastl, V. Gassner, & U. Muss (Eds.), Zeitreisen. Syrien – Palmyra – Rom. Festschrift für Andreas Schmidt-Colinet zum 65. Geburtstag (113-123). Phoibos-Verlag
• Kaizer, T. (2010). Funerary cults at Palmyra. In O. Hekster, & S. Mols (Eds.), Cultural messages in the Graeco-Roman world : acta of the BABESCH 80th anniversary workshop Radboud University Nijmegen, September 8th 2006 (23-31). Peeters Publishers
• Kaizer, T. (2009). The Parthian and early Sasanian empires, c. 247 BC - AD 300. In T. Harrison (Ed.), The great empires of the ancient world (174-195). Thames & Hudson
• Kaizer, T. (2009). Religion and language in Dura-Europos. In H. Cotton, R. Hoyland, J. Price, & D. Wasserstein (Eds.), From Hellenism to Islam : cultural and linguistic change in the Roman Near East (235-254). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511641992.011
• Kaizer, T. (2009). Patterns of worship in Dura-Europos: a case study of religious life in the Classical Levant outside the main cult centres. In C. Bonnet, V. Pirenne-Delforge, & D. Praet (Eds.), Les religions orientales dans le monde grec et romain : cent ans après Cumont (1906-2006) : bilan historique et historiographique ; colloque de Rome, 16-18 novembre 2006 (153-172). Brepols Publishers

Conference Paper

• (2013, March). Cities and Gods: Religious Space in Transition. Presented at Cities and Gods: Religious Space in Transition, Durham, England

Edited book

• Kaizer, T. (Ed.). (2016). Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316403488.002
• Kaizer, T., Leone, A., Thomas, E., & Witcher, R. (Eds.). (2013). Cities and Gods. Religious Space in Transition. Peeters Publishers
• Hekster, O., & Kaizer, T. (Eds.). (2011). Frontiers in the Roman World. Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Durham, 16-19 April 2009). Brill Academic Publishers
• Kaizer, T., & Facella, M. (Eds.). (2010). Kingdoms and Principalities in the Roman Near East. Franz Steiner Verlag
• Kaizer, T. (Ed.). (2008). The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. Brill Academic Publishers

Journal Article

• Bucci, I., De Hoz, M.-P., Kaizer, T., & Moriggi, M. (in press). The first known inscription from Hatra in Greek and Hatran Aramaic: new insights into sociolinguistics and religion at the city of the Sun. IRAQ,
• Hekster, O., & Kaizer, T. (2025). The Orient In Herodian. Historia, 74(2), 230-254. https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2025-0010
• Kaizer, T. (2017). Empire, community, and culture on the Middle Euphrates: Durenes, Palmyrenes, villagers, and soldiers. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 60.1, 63-95. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-5370.12048
• Kaizer, T. (2016). Lucian on the temple at Heliopolis. Classical Quarterly, 66(1), 273-285. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0009838816000094
• Dirven, L., & Kaizer, T. (2013). A Palmyrene altar in the Cincinnati Art Museum. Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire, 90, 391-408
• Hekster, O., & Kaizer, T. (2012). An accidental tourist? Caracalla's fatal trip to the temple of the Moon at Carrhae/Harran. Ancient society, 42, 89-107. https://doi.org/10.2143/as.42.0.2172289
• Kaizer, T. (2011). Interpretations of the Myth of Andromeda at Iope. Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire, 88, 323-339. https://doi.org/10.4000/syria.939
• Kaizer, T. (2007). 'Palmyre, cité grecque'? A question of coinage. Klio, 89(1), 39-60. https://doi.org/10.1524/klio.2007.89.1.39
• Kaizer, T. (2006). In search of Oriental cults: methodological problems concerning ‘the particular’ and ‘the general’ in Near Eastern religion in the Roman period. Historia, 55(1), 26-47
• Kaizer, T. (2006). Capital punishment at Hatra: gods, magistrates and laws in the Roman-Parthian period. IRAQ, 68, 139-153
• Kaizer, T. (2005). Leucothea as Mater Matuta at colonia Berytus : a note on local mythology in the Levant and the Hellenisation of a Phoenician city. Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire, 82, 199-206
• Hekster, O., & Kaizer, T. (2004). Mark Antony and the raid on Palmyra: reflections on Appian, Bella Civilia V.9
• Kaizer, T. (2004). Religious mentality in Palmyrene documents. Klio, 86(1), 165-184
• Kaizer, T. (2004). Some remarks about religious life in the Decapolis

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Kaizer, T. (2010). Pseudo-Eupolemos (724). [Data]
• Kaizer, T. (2010). Eupolemos (723). [Data]

Other (Print)

• Kaizer, T. (2016). Tadmor-Palmyra, a unique civilization between East and West
• Kaizer, T. (2009). Hatra: temples, dieux et cultes
• Kaizer, T. (2006). Mithras, or ‘the passion of the bull-slayer’
• Kaizer, T. (2005). Ein Haus der Götter: Kulte und Religion in der Karawanenstadt Palmyra