Johnathan Hardy

I am currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at the University of Minnesota specializing in late antique and early medieval art and architecture with a global perspective. I am finishing my dissertation titled “Multivalent Identities: Art, Architecture, and Ritual between Religious Minorities and the Sasanian Aristocracy 224 – 650 CE” which examines the ways in which identity and culture are created and exhibited by dominant and minority groups in late antiquity. My primary area of research focuses on the intersection of art, architecture, and religion in late antique Western Asia centering on the Sasanian Empire (224 – 651 CE) in Iran, its neighbors, and its multitude of religious minorities including Christians, Jews, Manichaeans, and Buddhists. I am trained as an art and architectural historian and draw on a wide variety of methodologies including Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing, 3D modelling, and network analysis.

Course offerings:
ART 294-04 Art and Archaeology of Ancient Iran
CLAS 194-04 Archaeology and GIS: Digital Methods, Networks, and Data Analysis in Archaeology