Maria S. Thomas, BA MSc MA

Trained in art history and theology at the Universities of York, Oxford, Salzburg, and VU Amsterdam, Maria is interested in the textual, material, and visual cultures of premodern Syriac Christian communities. Her research broadly focuses on the materiality of texts and writing across media, and on their social, and particularly liturgical, value.

Maria’s doctoral thesis at VU Amsterdam examined the “textual memorials” produced at two Syriac monasteries—the Monastery of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem and the Monastery of Moses in Nebk—between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, analysing how these texts constructed and articulated collective identity and memory.

She serves as the Middle Eastern Studies editor for The Digital Orientalist. Her forthcoming publications include contributions to Visual Culture in Medieval Syriac Traditions (De Gruyter) and Speculations: The Centennial Issue of Speculum.

Maria is joining the team in September 2025, working on the Syriac side of the GenAut-Project.