Dr. Stewart

Dr. Charles Anthony Stewart is an art historian and archaeologist. He specializes in the development of ancient and medieval architecture, especially in the eastern Mediterranean region and Western Asia. He has conducted research in North Africa, Europe, and Asia. In general, his research investigates transitional periods of history, as well as artistic, technological, and economic exchange between neighboring cultures. His focus has been the island of Cyprus.

Regarding periods, his publications have explored the development of classical Greek and Roman Art and its continuity and adaptation into the early Middle Ages, as well as the relationship between the Byzantine and Sassanid Persian Empires, and the later Islamic Caliphates. Underlying all his research is the thesis that art reflects changes in cultural beliefs, including religious belief and worldview.

In 2005 he began compiling an architectural survey of excavated Jacobite and Nestorian churches.

Since 2014, Professor Stewart has served as Chair of the Art History Program at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, and a Research Affiliate of the Tandy Institute for Archaeology in Fort Worth, Texas.

Publications

Books:

Domes of Heaven: The Domed Basilicas of Cyprus. Published Dissertation (Ann Arbor: UMI, 2008) (ISBN: 978-0-54975-556-2)

Cyprus and the Balance of Empires: Art and Archaeology from Justinian I to the Coeur de Lion. Managing editor, with editorial assistance from Annemarie Weyl Carr and Tom W. Davis. CAARI Monograph Series, no. 5/ Archaeological Report Series (ARS), no. 20 (Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2014) (ISBN: 978-0-89757-073-2) (peer-reviewed)

Visual Culture in Late Antique Cyprus (forthcoming)

Book Chapters:

"Churches,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, eds. T. Davis, W. Caraher and D. Pettegrew (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2018)

"Modular Design in the Vaulting of Early Byzantine Cisterns and Reservoirs,” in Against Gravity, ed. by R. Ousterhout, L. Haselberger, and R. Holod (Philadelphia: Center for Ancient Studies/University of Pennsylvania, 2016) (peer-reviewed)

Chapter 7: “The Fortification of Cyprus within the Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire (965-1185),” ‘Byzantium’ in Transition, Volume 2:Middle to Late Byzantine or Early Frankish era, 12th – 13th centuries, edited by Athanasios Vionis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)

Chapter 16: “Early Byzantine Military Architecture in Cyprus,” The Archaeology of Late Antique and Byzantine Cyprus (4th – 12th centuries AD): [Centre d’études Chypriotes, Cahier 43], ed. by Maria Parani and Demetrios Michaelides (Paris: De Boccard, 2013), 287-306 (peer-reviewed)

Chapter 2 (with Thomas Davis): “A Brief History of Byzantine Archaeology on Cyprus” and Chapter 8: “Architectural Development in Byzantine Cyprus,” in Cyprus and the Balance of Empires (see entry above), 17-27, 107-134 (peer-reviewed)

Chapter 8: “The Development of Byzantine Architecture on Cyprus,” in Cyprus and the Balance of Empires: (see entry above), 107-134 (peer-reviewed)

Chapter 27: “Flying Buttresses & Pointed Arches in Byzantine Cyprus,” in Masons At Work, ed. by R. Ousterhout, L. Haselberger, and R. Holod (Philadelphia: Center for Ancient Studies/University of Pennsylvania, 2012) (peer-reviewed ) http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ancient/publications.html

Articles (Peer-Reviewed)

"A Byzantine Image of Alexander the Great: Literature in Stone,” Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus 2017 (Nicosia: Government Publications, forthcoming 2018), 1-45.

"Expressing Christian Identity on the Silk Road,” (with Thomas W. Davis), Bulletin of International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS) 25 (forthcoming, 2017)

"Architectural Innovation in Early Byzantine Cyprus,” Architectural History 57 [published by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, London] (2014): 1-29.

"The First Vaulted Churches in Cyprus,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 69.2 (June, 2010): 162-189.

"The Barrel-Vaulted Basilicas of Cyprus,” Proceedings of the 4^th International Cyprological Congress, Lefkosia, 29 April –3 May 2008, vol. 2 (Nicosia: Etaireīa Kypriakōn Spoudōn, forthcoming)

Positions