RUBINA RAJA is Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Director of the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions. She also directs several collective research projects focusing on the archaeology, history, and cultural heritage of Palmyra, including the Palmyra Portrait Project. Her books include Pearl of the Desert. A History of Palmyra (2022) and Urban Development and Regional Identity in the Eastern Roman Provinces, 50 BC – AD 250: Aphrodisias, Athens, Ephesos, Gerasa (2012).