Rhiannon Garth Jones
- Position: Lecturer in Global Medieval History
- Areas of expertise: Abbasid art and architecture; early Islam; Global Middle Ages; cross-cultural interaction; light; religious studies; Solomonic reception; Roman reception; digital archives; heritage; 3D modelling.
- Email: R.GarthJones@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: 4.09 Parkinson
- Website: Bluesky | ORCID
Profile
I am a global medieval historian, with a primary focus on early Islamic architecture and material culture, contextualised by the shared cultural, material, and religous traditions of Afro-Eurasia. My current areas of research include material religion and the role of light in creating divine experiences in medieval West Asia, Solomonic reception across medieval Afro-Eurasia, early Islamic textiles, Islamic medievalisms, and Christians as an internal audience in the Abbasid Caliphate. I am also a popular historian: I am Editor at Medieval World: Culture and Conflict magazine and recently published a trade monograph, All Roads Lead to Rome (2025).
At the Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds, I teach, research, and publish on topics across medieval Afro-Eurasia, their contemporary reception, and how our knowledge is shaped by historiographical trends. This includes early Islamic projetions of power, medieval Romans, medieval mapping, Islamicate ideals of nomadism and urbanism, classical Arabic poetry, imperial receptions of Rome, Islamic medievalisms, medieval materiality, medieval textiles, and more.
Research interests
My current areas of research include light and material religion in medieval West Asia, early Islamic textiles, and Solomonic reception across ancient and medieval Afro-Eurasia. My book, All Roads Lead to Rome, is out now with Aurum Press.
Professional memberships
- Middle East Medievalists