PIRATES, MOSAICS, AND MORE PIRATES!: TWENTY YEARS OF EXCAVATION AT ANTIOCHIA AD CRAGUM IN ROUGH CILICIA (TÜRKIYE) 

WED, SEP 10, 6 PM 

(5 pm cash bar in The Fountain Court)  

A partnership program with The Joslyn and the AIA Lincoln/Omaha Society  

Join us in Witherspoon Hall to hear Michael Hoff, professor of art history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the fall 2025 featured speaker for the Archaeological Institute of America’s National Lecture Program. Since 2005, the University of Nebraska has been conducting excavations at the Roman-era city of Antiochia ad Cragum on the south Turkish coast. The city was by no means a major player in the political spectrum of the Roman Empire. In fact, its name hardly appears anywhere in ancient historical and literary sources. Yet through excavation, this non-descript little town has offered up so much information regarding how ordinary Romans went about their lives. The site made its first presence as a base for the infamous Late Hellenistic “Cilician Pirates.” It serves again as a pirate base during the Byzantine era, preying upon pilgrims to the Holy Land, and then there’s a final pirate presence in the 17th century. Hoff’s lecture explores the historical development of the town and chronicles the major finds made during the first twenty years, including the rich array of mosaics that helped make the excavations among the more prominent in the eastern Mediterranean.  

This event is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Creighton University.

About the Speaker 

Michael Hoff specializes in Greek and Roman archaeology, particularly of Asia Minor in Turkey where he currently conducts research.  From 1997 to 2004, Hoff co-directed the architectural survey team of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project that documented ancient Roman sites in Türkiye.  Since 2005, Hoff has served as Project Director for the large-scale excavations of the ancient Roman-era city of Antiochia ad Cragum on the south coast of Türkiye. Hoff has excavated previously at Caernarvon in Wales, and the Athenian Agora, Corinth, Crete, and Nemea in Greece.  In addition to his work on the archaeology of Asia Minor, Hoff also conducts research on the history and topography of Roman Athens.  Hoff has authored over 60 articles, book reviews and reports in international journals and has co-edited two books. His newest book, From Pirate Base to Roman City: The Excavations of Antiochia ad Cragum in Rough Cilicia, will be published by Oxbow Press in 2026.  Hoff has lectured widely with the Archaeological Institute of America and has delivered lectures on his research at over 40 colleges, universities, and archaeological societies throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Professor Hoff received his BA from the University of Missouri, MA from Florida State University, and PhD from Boston University.  Hoff joined the art history faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1989. 

About the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) 

The AIA is North America’s largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to archaeology. The Institute advances awareness, education, fieldwork, preservation, publication, and research of archaeological sites and cultural heritage throughout the world. The AIA Lincoln/Omaha Society was chartered in 1995.