Overview
Drawing on both archaeological and textual evidence, Caitlin Barrett's research examines cultural, religious, and trade connections between Egypt and the rest of the ancient Mediterranean world. Her recent book, Egyptianizing Figurines from Delos: A Study in Hellenistic Religion (2011), investigates religious syncretism and cultural hybridity in the domestic sphere through a study of locally-made Egyptianizing terracotta figurines from the Hellenistic site of Delos. She is currently working on a second monograph dealing with "Nilotic scenes" and the Roman reinterpretation of Egyptian religion. Dr. Barrett's work has received grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the American Research Center in Egypt, and Sigma Xi, among other sources; and in 2010, she was an invited participant in a conference on religious syncretism in the ancient world, hosted by the Center for the Ancient Mediterranean at the University of Pennsylvania. She has excavated and surveyed at a range of Bronze Age through early modern sites in Egypt, Greece, and the United States.
Courses
Spring 2013 Office Hours:
M 3:00-5:00
Spring 2013
Magic and Witchcraft in the Greco-Roman World (CLASS 2646/ARKEO 2846/ANTHR 2846/NES 2546)
Hellenistic Religions (CLASS 4650/ARKEO 4650/NES 4650)
Fall 2012
Egyptomania (CLASS 2685/ARKEO 2285/ANTHR 2285/NES 2985)
Archaeology of the Hellenistic Mediterranean (CLASS 7743/ARKEO 7743/NES 7743)
Spring 2012
Cleopatra's Egypt (CLASS 2688/NES 2688)
Archaeology of Greek Religion (CLASS 4750/ARKEO 4150/ANTHR 4150/RELST 4750)
Fall 2011
Egyptomania (CLASS 2685/ARKEO 2285/ANTHR 2285/NES 2985)
Selected Publications
MONOGRAPHS:
Egyptianizing Figurines from Delos: A Study in Hellenistic Religion (2011). Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 36. Leiden: Brill
ARTICLES:
"Ceramic Fabrics of Figurines from Greco-Roman Egypt." Submitted to Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (currently under review).
“Harpocrates on Rheneia: Two Egyptian Figurines from the Necropolis of Hellenistic Delos” (in press). In E. Lafli and A. Muller (eds.), Figurines de terre cuite en Méditerranée orientale grecque et romaine: Production et diffusion, iconographie et fonction. Colloque international, 2-6 juin 2007. Supplément, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. Izmir, Turkey: École Française d’Athènes.
“The Perceived Value of Minoan and Minoanizing Pottery in Egypt” (2009). Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22.2: 211-234.
“Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar” (2007). Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7: 7-65.