Philip Sapirstein

Philip Sapirstein is an Assistant Professor of Art History, having joined the UNL faculty after postdoctoral research in Israel (Fulbright, NEH), Greece (ACLS), and the University of Pennsylvania. An art historian and archaeologist, his areas of specialization are ancient architecture and ceramics. A major focus of his research is the emergence of monumental architecture from the 8th to 5th centuries B.C. at Greek sanctuaries and settlements in the mainland, Italy, and Turkey. He has been involved in fieldwork at many sites in the Mediterranean, including Corinth, Corfu, Olympia, and Sardis. With a background in studio art, design, and computer analysis, another significant aspect of Sapirstein's research is the exploration of advanced digital technologies for the recording, reconstruction, and visualization of antiquity. He has published on Greek roofing systems from monumental Archaic temples, the Athenian pottery industry, and methodology. Recent field projects include a 3D recording and reassessment of the Temple of Hera at Olympia, and the Digital Archaic Heraion Project at Mon Repos, Corfu.

Selected Publications

(2014) “Demographics and Productivity in the Ancient Athenian Pottery Industry”, in Athenian Potters and Painters III, ed. J. Oakley, Oxbow Books: 175-86

(2013) “Painters, Potters, and the Scale of the Attic Vase-Painting Industry”, AJA 117.4: 493-510 + online pp. 1-47

(2012) “The Monumental Archaic Roof of the Hera Temple at Mon Repos, Corfu”, Hesperia 81.1: 31-91

(2012) “Ethnoarchaeology,” in The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, ed. R. Bagnall et al: 2525-28

(2010) Contributor to Eclectic Antiquity: the Classical Collection at the Snite Museum of Art, ed. R.F. Rhodes, U. of Notre Dame

(2009) “How the Corinthians Manufactured Their First Roof Tiles”, Hesperia 78.2: 195-229

(2008, with N. Chernov) “Fitting Circles to Data with Correlated Noise,” Computational Statistics and Data Analysis 52: 5328-37

(2008) The Emergence of Ceramic Roof Tiles in Archaic Greek Architecture (PhD diss, Cornell University)