Matthew Canepa

Matthew P. Canepa is Professor and Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Presidential Chair in art history and archaeology of Ancient Iran at the University of California, Irvine. An elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and former Guggenheim fellow, Canepa is the author of numerous publications including the award-winning books The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE–642 CE (2020 James R. Wiseman Award, Archaeological Institute of America) and The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran (2010 James Henry Breasted Award, American Historical Association). His most recent volume is entitled Persian Cultures of Power and the Entanglement of the Afro-Eurasian World (Getty, 2024). With support of a CAORC fellowship, at ASCSA he is researching the material entanglements between the Seleucid and Arsacid empires and Central Asia, India and the Mediterranean with a focus on the role of precious metal vessels and commensal politics.