Samuel Barber studies the art and architecture of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. His research draws on theories of landscape, space, and materiality to explore the various ways the built environment is shaped by—yet also has a hand in shaping—social and political structures.
His current book project, The Early Medieval Palace: Architectures of Authority, 300–850 CE, investigates the intersecting relationships between elite architecture and political power in the post-Roman Mediterranean. This study argues that the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire triggered a revolution in how space was conceptualized and organized. Between the sixth and eighth centuries CE, the sprawling horizontality of the Late Roman palace was replaced by a new preference for height, the reciprocal visibility of the elevated structure “spatializing” the ruler's authority over the landscapes of the post-Roman Mediterranean. His other interests include the archaeology of urbanism in Late Antiquity; protest and the material culture of dissent; and intermedial relationships between portable objects and architecture.
Sam offers a range of courses on premodern art and architecture from the introductory to advanced levels, focusing on themes such as the architecture and material culture of religion; ecocritical approaches to medieval art and culture; and trade, exchange, and conflict in the Mediterranean basin.
Areas of Expertise
Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages; cities and urbanism; ritual, liturgy, and performance in premodern art and architecture.
Education
- Ph.D., Cornell University
- M.A., University of York
- B.A. (Hons.), Durham University