Dr. Jessica Böttcher-Ebers

Dr. Jessica Böttcher-Ebers

Research Fellow/Curricular Management

Studienbüro/Fakultät für GKR
Institutsgebäude
Schillerstraße 6, Room M 003
04109 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97-37217
Fax: +49 341 97-37228

Dr. Jessica Böttcher-Ebers

Dr. Jessica Böttcher-Ebers

Head of Study Office

Studienbüro/Fakultät für GKR
Institutsgebäude
Schillerstraße 6, Room M 003
04109 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97-37217
Fax: +49 341 97-37228

Abstract

Director and scientific assistant in the study office of the Faculty of History, Art and Area Studies, teaching at the Department of History, at the Chair of Classical Archaeology.


After studying Classical Archaeology and Cultural Studies, she received her doctorate in 2007 on the topic "The arch as a visual sign in the Roman cityscape".


Worked at the German Archaeological Institute in Rome and Berlin, in publishing, in the preservation of historical monuments and in museums. Established a competence school for doctoral students at the HTWK Leipzig, Saxon University Didactics Certificate.


As Curricular Manager in the Study Office of the GKR, she supervises and advises the study programmes MA Classical Antiquity, BA and MA Ancient Oriental Studies as well as the BA and MA Anthropology in the further development of study documents, their evaluation and accreditation.

Professional career

  • since 07/2013
    Head of and research assistant of the GKR study office
  • 09/2011 - 07/2013
    Project assistant at the Competence School for PhD students in the Research Department at the HTWK Leipzig
  • 05/2010 - 12/2010
    Project collaborator museum database DAPHNE Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Sculpture Collection
  • 01/2010 - 04/2010
    Project collaborator "The Market Gate and the Agora of Miletus" (funded by the Thyssen Foundation) at the Institute for Classical Archaeology at the University of Leipzig
  • 06/2007 - 08/2007
    Freelance research assistant, contract for work at the Institute for Classical Archaeology at the FU Berlin
  • 04/2004 - 03/2007
    Research assistant at the Institute for Classical Archaeology at the University of Leipzig
  • 12/2005 - 06/2006
    Research assistant in the real estate catalogue department at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin
  • 10/2001 - 09/2003
    Research assistant in the real estate catalogue department at the German Archaeological Institute in Rome

Education

  • 10/2014 - 09/2016
    Saxon university didactics certificate and E-taeching certificate at HDS in Leipzig
  • since 07/2012
    Birth of the son
  • since 11/2008
    Birth of the daughter
  • 11/2007 - 11/2008
    Trainee in the preservation of architectural and artistic monuments, Saxony-Anhalt State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeology in Halle (Saale)
  • 10/2007 - 03/2010
    Postgraduate studies in monument conservation at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Anhalt Deassau University of Applied Sciences
  • 07/2006 - 12/2006
    Trainee in the editorial department of Classical Studies at K.G. Saur Verlag in Leipzig
  • 10/2003 - 12/2003
    Trainee in the editorial department of Classical Studies at K.G. Saur Verlag in Leipzig
  • 10/1996 - 09/2001
    Master's degree in Classical Archaeology and Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig

Architecture semiotics

Republican architecture

Architectural terracottas

Votive terracottas

Theory of Architecture

The focus of my research and teaching is on topics of architectural semiotics. Architectural semiotics deals with all phenomena of architecture as well as urban and landscape planning that can be regarded as signs or sign processes in communicative contexts. Architecture is thus understood as a carrier of communication and is examined for its expressive value in relation to the interaction with the ancient viewer. The methodical approach of semiotics describes and analyses these signs and sign processes and thus provides a framework for interpreting the meaning of the respective architectures.


Terracottas

I am also engaged in applied research on the terracotta holdings of the Saxon museums, i.e. from the various teaching collections of the UL and the Skulpturensammlung in Dresden. Students are thus given the opportunity to train their skills in the scientific cataloguing of ancient artefacts and to conduct provenance research within the framework of the history of the collection. In addition, dealing with the small-format terracottas opens up the possibility of applying new digital methods for the research of ancient sculpture, for example making 3-D models, but also of critically questioning them. 



  • Votive terracottas in the study depot of the Dresden Collection of Classical Antiquities

    The exercise focuses on over 50 Etruscan and Italian votive terracottas from the Dresden Collection of Classical Antiquities. The students first examine them with regard to their typological and stylistic classification, research their provenance and discuss their religious context. These results will be presented during the excursion to Dresden. Subsequently, research approaches to votive terracottas will be discussed and questions for the term paper will be formulated.

  • Introduction to Roman architecture

    The students first acquire a basic knowledge of building technology, building organization, building regulations, building types and urban planning and learn the essential caesuras in the development of Roman architecture from the rising Rome of the royal era in the 6th century BC to the fall of the empire in the 5th/6th century AD. On this basis, selected individual buildings will be jointly analysed in description exercises and central questions of current research will be discussed.

  • Greaco-Egypt Terracottas

    Within the seminar, students will learn about the production techniques and locations as well as find contexts of Graeco-Egyptian terracottas. They apply the knowledge of iconography and stylistic development acquired in the course to original objects from the Museum of Antiquities, the Egyptian Museum in Leipzig and the Dresden Collection of Classical Antiquities. In the context of the scientific inventory development they document the clay figures in digital 3-D models.

  • Roman theatres. Architecture, equipment and performance practice

    Students are given an overview of the most important stages in the transformation process of Roman theatres from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. In addition to the architecture of the theatre, its statuary decoration is also examined. This is extended by the examination of objects of cabaret of various genres, which belong to the theatre's thematic area. As examples, some originals and plaster casts of the Leipzig Collection of Classical Antiquities will be presented.

  • Research workshop: Roof terracottas from Greece and Asia Minor

    Students will gain a general overview of the typology, chronological development and regional peculiarities of roof terracottas in Greece and Asia Minor from the 6th to the 4th century B.C. They will acquire skills in the reflective description, interpretation and historical contextualisation of archaeological finds. The focus is on the research of the roof terracottas of Akalan in Asia Minor, which are kept in the Collection of Classical Antiquities in Dresden.

  • Roman Architectural Ornament. An Introduction

    In the exercise, students acquire a basic knowledge of the repertoire of forms of Roman architectural ornamentation and its development in the period from the 1st century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. On the basis of the examination of capitals and vine friezes, for example, they train their methodological competence in describing and in the typological and stylistic classification of architectural ornamentation. In addition, the students learn about current semantic interpretation approaches.

  • Representations of strangers in Roman art of the imperial period

    The exercise deals with the question of how the Romans dealt with contact with foreign ethnic groups in Roman pictorial art from the time of the late republic to late antiquity. For this purpose, representations of foreigners are to be analysed from various points of view. On the one hand, the spectrum of identification of different ethnic groups will be worked out, on the other hand, the background and messages behind the depictions will be examined.

  • From Hephaistos' workshop - Bronzes in the Museum of Antiquities

    The teaching collection of the Museum of Antiquities has a wide range of tools, sculpture and vessels made of bronze. Their research is the focus of the exercise, with the emphasis on Roman small bronzes. Students learn about and analyse different types of exhibitions and concepts of exhibition in the course of excursions to different museums. On this basis, they work in groups to create exhibition concepts for a small special exhibition in the Museum of Antiquities.

  • Greek terracottas

    In the exercise Greek terracottas from the collection depot are scientifically processed. Students will learn about the genre of terracottas with their own current research fields and methods and practice writing catalogue texts according to defined criteria and in accordance with the conventions for museum object documentation. They work with archaeological object databases and use the e-learning platform moodle to publish their texts.

  • Practice Excursion to Rome

    The exercise serves as preparation for the excursion to Rome. Students will learn about the repertoire of forms and the essential stylistic developments in urban Roman architectural ornamentation from the Flavian to the Severan period and actively apply this knowledge by means of exercises.

  • Aphrodite in Greek and Roman art

    Aphrodite has been depicted since early Greek times and over the course of time has undergone an amazing change in meaning and appearance. In the seminar the different types of Aphrodite are presented and analysed and their occurrence in different genera and contexts is discussed. In Roman empire Aphrodite Venus experiences a real triumphal procession and becomes a leitmotif of the civilized world.

  • Introduction to Roman architecture

    The exercise teaches the basics for the description, analysis, interpretation and discussion of ancient architecture. The focus is on the development of Roman architecture from the emerging Rome of the royal era in the 6th century B.C. to the fall of the empire in the 5th/6th century A.D. The focus is on building techniques, building organization, building types and urban planning in the respective historical context. This is accompanied by central questions of current research