Ehsan Behbahani-Nia

Curriculum Vitae

Education
B.Arch. Azad University, 2016
Dual M.A. École d’Architecture de Strasbourg (ENSAS) and Université de Strasbourg, 2018
M.A. École Pratique des Hautes Études, 2020
Regular Member, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2024-2025

Biography
Ehsan Behbahani-Nia joined the Department of Art History of UW–Madison in 2020. He holds a bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Azad, Tehran, and three master’s degrees related to ancient architecture and archaeology from Strasbourg and Paris, France. His research focuses on ancient building technology, stone-cutting and craftsmanship in the Classical World, as well as cross-cultural interactions and craft across ancient Aegean, Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions.

For the 2024-2025 academic year, Ehsan was awarded a fellowship to participate in the Regular Member Program at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. He is also a research associate of Université Bordeaux–Montaigne and affiliated with the Getty Foundation’s Seminar on Connecting Art Histories–Beyond the Northern Aegean. In the field, he works with the Harvard–Cornell excavation team at Sardis, the Chicago excavation team at Isthmia in Greece, and recently the French-Turkish mission at Labraunda. Additionally, he has previously participated in archaeological missions in Iran, Serbia, Greece, Italy and France, in sites such as Pasargadae, Rome, Thasos, Delos, Onchestos, Caričin Grad, Mandeure, Arles, and Argentomagus.

Publications
“Tall-i Takht: New Evidence on the Construction of Pasargadae’s Terrace,” The Journal of Ancient Architecture 1, pp. 37–64.

Award(s)
2021 Douglas Schewe Award for Best Graduate Student Paper
“Carian Stonemasons in Pasargadae?”

Primary Advisor(s)
Nicholas D. Cahill