I am a historian specialising in Late Antique and Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) culture. My research focuses on medieval war from a sociocultural perspective, the veneration of Christian relics, and the interplay between literary, material, and iconographic sources.
Originally from Chile, I completed a BA and an MSt in History at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso before undertaking a PhD at the Centre for Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies at the University of Edinburgh. During my PhD, I received training in Byzantine Greek, palaeography, and digital humanities, conducted research at the British School at Athens, and taught Roman, Byzantine, and art history. My doctoral thesis, forthcoming as a monograph in August 2026, examined the use of Christian relics in Late Roman and Byzantine warfare.
After completing my PhD, I moved to Tübingen for a Teach@Tübingen fellowship, where I taught a course on the seventh century and Byzantium. In 2025, I was awarded DFG funding for a two-year Walter Benjamin postdoctoral position at the University of Tübingen and JGU Mainz. My current research examines the political and military use of Christian relics across the medieval Euro-Mediterranean world, c. 600–1200.

2025 – Present:Walter Benjamin postdoctoral position – JGU Mainz
2025 – 2026:Walter Benjamin postdoctoral position – The University of Tübingen
2024 – 2025:Teach@Tübingen Postdoctoral Fellow – The University of Tübingen
2019 – 2024:-> PhD in History – The University of Edinburgh, UK (funded by ANID).
-> Tutor in the courses “Transformation of the Roman World”, “Roman History 1B”, and “History of Art 1A: Art and Belief in Europe (Edinburgh College of Art)”
2015 – 2017:Magister (MSt) in History of Art and Culture, PUCV, Chile.
2009 – 2014:BA in History and BA in Education at PUCV, Chile.
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2027). “Holy Icons on the Move? Processions and Miraculous Images between Early Medieval Rome and Constantinople” in Beyond Iconotropy: cult images, viewers and spaces in Late Antiquity, Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Brepols (chapter sent, currently in peer-review process).
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2026). “The Theotokos and Saint Theodore at war: Supernatural aid on the Bulgarian campaign of emperor John I Tzimiskes and the Battle of Dorostolon (AD 971)” in: Boris Stojkovski (ed.). Supernatural Aid in Medieval Warfare,  Archives of Vojvodina (in press).  
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2026). “Supplicatory Processions with Christian Relics: Origins, Development and Ritual Function in the Medieval Euro-Mediterranean World”. Cuadernos Medievales No 40 (in press).
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2026). “Sacred Images at War: The Ritual Use of Acheiropoietic Images in Early Byzantine Military Settings (6th-7th c.)”. Eventum: A Journal of Medieval Arts and Rituals, Vol. 3 (in press).
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2025). “The oath of the Byzantine army in AD 917 and the relic of the True Cross: some remarks on the meaning of the episode.” Byzantion Nea Hellás, n.º 44, 277-302:https://byzantion.uchile.cl/index.php/RBNH/article/view/76159.
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2024), “The labarum of Constantine as a charismatic object.”, Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society, 11(2), 379-396: https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10127
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2022), “Relics, images and Christian devices in the Roman-Persian wars (4th-7th centuries)”, Pre-Modern “Pop Cultures”? Images and Objects around the Mediterranean (c. 350-1918), Eikon-Imago, 57–69:  https://doi.org/10.5209/eiko.76706
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2021), “The Constantinian Labarum and the Christianization of Roman Military Standards”, Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture, 15, 37–64:  http://doi.org/10.18573/jlarc.117
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2021), “The Cross-standard of Emperor Maurice (582-602 AD)”, Diogenes 11, 1-17:  https://gemuob.wordpress.com/category/diogenes/
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2020), “El combate singular de Heraclio: ¿leyenda o historia?”, Historia 396, Vol. 10, N°1, 285-318 (ISNN: 0719-7969): 
  • http://www.historia396.cl/index.php/historia396/article/view/404
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2018), “El emperador Heraclio (610-641) entre la Historia y la leyenda: un estado de la cuestión”, Intus-Legere Historia, Vol. 12, N°1:  http://intushistoria.uai.cl/index.php/intushistoria/article/view/237
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2017), “¿El emperador Heraclio como nuevo David? La iconografía de los Platos bizantinos de Chipre frente a las fuentes escritas”. Byzantion Nea Hellás, N°36, ,. 282-305 (ISSN: 0718-8471):
  • http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-84712017000100282
  • Serrano del Pozo, J. (2014), “La Pérdida de España: el tópico de la lamentación y el sentido providencial en la Crónica Mozárabe del 754.”, Intus-Legere Historia, Vol. 8, N°1: http://intushistoria.uai.cl/index.php/intushistoria/article/view/156