Rabun Taylor, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), will present a lecture titled “Between Babylon, Rome, and Judaea: Gardens and Quotation at the Palaces of Herod the Great” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in 116 Art Building West.

Taylor received a doctorate in classical studies from the University of Minnesota in 1997 and taught in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University for 10 years before joining the UT faculty. His research interests center on Roman material culture, but encompass all areas of classical art, architecture, and archaeology, as well as urbanism, social history, and religion.

Herod the Great, an Idumaean who adopted the customs of his Judaean subjects, also kept one foot firmly planted in the cultural avant-garde of the Hellenized Roman elite whom he served as client king and occasional companion. His allegiance to his Roman allies is plainly evident in the designs of his palace-villas at Jericho, Caesarea, Jerusalem, and Herodeion, though all of these places also drew from native, Egyptian, and Near Eastern traditions too. This talk explores the ways in which Herod’s palace gardens—with their groves, pools, streams, peristyles, pavilions, and views—consciously evoked both Roman and distinctly regional prototypes. During this period of architectural ferment, ideas traveled westward, too; the possibility is explored that the Naumachia of Augustus at Rome, with its island memorial and encompassing garden, took these cues from Herod’s world.

The lecture is sponsored by the School of Art and Art History, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the School of Art and Art History in advance at 319-335-1376.