BEMA is an online archive for collections of images and documents relating to the east Mediterranean. The images focus on sites related to the period from Late Antiquity (c. A.D. 200) to the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461, though many of the images also include details of modern landscape and life. The archive comprises images collected by several scholars over the course of their careers or during particular archaeological expeditions. These private archives include images of sites now inaccessible or damaged by weathering and warfare and images of sites often closed to the public.
All images and documents on this site are provided for free use and reproduction for non-commercial purposes, including scholarly publication, teaching and presentation. Please see our copyright conditions here. Participation and contributions are welcomed from anybody, whatever your interest in the history and culture of the East Mediterranean. The aim of this site is to create a repository of images and documents which, otherwise, would either be lost or remain inaccessible for the foreseeable future. If you would like to donate images, please contact the organisers with a little information about your image collection and its relevance this this site.
This archive is run and maintained by us in our spare time. It is not a funded project, and this brings with it some limitations. Please see our description of what we don’t do. It also brings opportunities, however: anything that we don’t do remains a possibility and we welcome suggestions, ideas, and constructive criticism to turn this into a sustainable and valuable resource for the future.
