Dr. Joaquín Serrano del Pozo

Biography:

I am a historian specialised on Late Antique and Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) culture. I am interested in the study of medieval war from a sociocultural perspective, in the veneration of Christian relics, and in the relations between literary, material and iconographic sources. Being originally from Chile, I completed a BA and an MSt in History at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), then I moved to Scotland for a PhD at the Centre of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies (CLAIBS) of the University of Edinburgh. During my doctoral studies, I attended the school of Byzantine Greek of the Trinity College of Dublin, the London International Palaeography School, and courses of Digital Humanities with the Mary Jaharis Centre. Moreover, I visited the British School at Athens for my research, and I taught tutorials of Byzantine history and History of Art. My PhD thesis at Edinburgh examined the use of Christian relics in Late Roman and Byzantine war. My current postdoctoral research here at Tübingen expands on this topic and explores the political and military use of Christian relics by the rulers of various different kingdoms and polities during the Middles Ages (AD 600-1200). Furthermore, I am currently teaching an übung titled “The end of Antiquity? The crucial seventh century and Byzantium”.

Academic career:

2024-2025: Teach@Tübingen Postdoctoral Fellow – The University of Tübingen

2019-2024:

• PhD in History – The University of Edinburgh, UK (funded by ANID).
• Tutor in the courses “Transformation of the Roman World”, “Roman History 1B”, and “History of Art 1A: Art and Belief in Europe (Edinburgh College of Art)”

2025-2017: Magister (MSt) in History of Art and Culture, PUCV, Chile.

2009-2014: BA in History and BA in Education at PUCV, Chile.

• Social and cultural history of Late Antiquity and Byzantium (4th-13th centuries)
• The veneration of Christian relics
• War and society in the Middles Ages
• The Roman-Persian wars and the reign of Heraclius

• Review of: “Mike Humphreys (Editor), A Companion to Byzantine Iconoclasm, Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2021. ISBN: 978-90-04-46200-7”. Byzantion Nea Hellás, (41), 2022, pp. 323–326: byzantion.uchile.cl/index.php/RBNH/article/view/68434
• “Relics, images and Christian devices in the Roman-Persian wars (4th-7th centuries)”, Pre-Modern “Pop Cultures”? Images and Objects around the Mediterranean (c. 350-1918), Eikon-Imago 2022: revistas.ucm.es/index.php/EIKO/article/view/76706
• “The Constantinian Labarum and the Christianization of Roman Military Standards”, Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture, 15, 2021, pp. 37–64 : DOI:  http://doi.org/10.18573/jlarc.117
• “The Cross-standard of Emperor Maurice (582-602 AD)”, Diogenes 11 (ISSN 2054-6696), 2021, pp. 1-17:  gemuob.wordpress.com/category/diogenes/
• “El combate singular de Heraclio: ¿leyenda o historia?”, Historia 396, Vol. 10, N°1, 2020, pp. 285-318 (ISNN: 0719-7969 [Emperor Heraclius’ single combat: legend or history?]: www.historia396.cl/index.php/historia396/article/view/404
• “El emperador Heraclio (610-641) entre la Historia y la leyenda: un estado de la cuestión”, Intus-Legere Historia, Vol. 12, N°1, 2018 (DOI: 10.15691/07198949.237).  [The emperor Heraclius (610-641): between History and legend]: intushistoria.uai.cl/index.php/intushistoria/article/view/237
• “¿El emperador Heraclio como nuevo David? La iconografía de los Platos bizantinos de Chipre frente a las fuentes escritas”. Byzantion Nea Hellás, N°36, 2017, pp. 282-305 (ISSN: 0718-8471) [The emperor Heraclius as a new David? The iconography of the Byzantine silver plates…]: www.scielo.cl/scielo.php
• “La Pérdida de España: el tópico de la lamentación y el sentido providencial en la Crónica Mozárabe del 754.”, Intus-Legere Historia, Vol. 8, N°1, 2014.  (DOI: 10.15691/07176864.2014.002) [The “Loss of Spain”: the topic of lamentation and the providential interpretation in the Mozarabic Chronicle of 754]: intushistoria.uai.cl/index.php/intushistoria/article/view/156