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Elizabeth DePalma Digeser

Current Courses

Fall 2009 (current)


Winter 2010 (tentative)


Department Fields

Announcements

New Ph.D. Emphasis in Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Our new Ph.D. Emphasis has been approved! More news soon.

What's going on at PENATES, the southern CA UC multi-campus research group in Late Antiquity

The Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group receives its 5th year of funding



Current Graduate Students

Ancient Rome, Late Antiquity


Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara, 1996

Office: HSSB 4213 Hours: MW 11-12 and by appointment
Fax: (805) 893-8795
Email: edepalma@history.ucsb.edu
Download CV

People interested in 112A (which is full) should go to waitlist.ucsb.edu and put themselves on the waiting list for this class. (more...)

Research and Teaching Interests

  • Research: Roman Religion and Thought in the 3-4C CE
  • Teaching: The History of Rome from the Middle Republic through Late Antiquity; History of Christianity

Current Projects

  • Siracusa & Ephesos: the metamorphosis of two goddess temples
    During Late Antiquity the famous temple to Athena in Siracusa became a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary; in Ephesos, the temple to Artemis, one of the world's 7 wonders, experienced a similar change. How ought we explain such radical transformations?
  • Philosophers and Public Piety: The Case of the Great Persecution
    This manuscript, currently with Cornell University Press, sets out to explain why late Platonist Hellene philosophers became increasingly opposed to Christianity in the late third century.
  • The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity
    This project, under the guidance of Prof. Lloyd Gerson, involves over 40 scholars. I have written three chapters on the historical context in which late antique philosophy flourished.

Selected Publications

  • "The Power of Religious Rituals: A Philosophical Quarrel on the Eve of the Great Persecution." Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity, Vol. VII (2009).
  • "Lactantius, Eusebius and Arnobius: Evidence for the Causes of the Great Persecution." Studia Patristica 39 (2006): 33-46.
  • Religious Identity in Late Antiquity. Toronto, 2006. Co-edited with R. M. Frakes
  • "An Oracle of Apollo at Daphne and the Great Persecution." Classical Philology 99 (2004): 57-77
  • "Porphyry, Julian or Hierokles? The Anonymous Hellene in Makarios Magnes' Apokritikos." Journal of Theological Studies 53 (2002): 466-502.
  • The Making of a Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome. Ithaca, 2000.
  • "Lactantius, Porphyry, and the Debate over Religious Toleration." Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998): 129-46

Undergraduate and Graduate Courses

  • HIST 213AB (spring & fall 2009), HIST 201E
    The theme for 213A this spring will be the ancient city. There will be an emphasis on Late Antiquity and on religious culture, but I will be situating these topics in their broader context.
  • HIST 112A: Roman Imperialism
    Winter 2010
  • HIST 112B: The Roman Revolution
    planned for Fall 2010
  • HIST 112C: The Late Roman Empire
    planned for Winter 2011
  • HIST 112D: The Roman World in Late Antiquity
  • HIST 114A: The History of Christianity to 1000 CE
    Winter 2010
  • HIST 2A: World Civilization to 1000 CE
    Fall 2009, planned for Fall 2010
  • HIST 112DR: Directed Readings in Roman History
    possibly winter or spring 2011, if there is interest

Honors and Professional Activities

  • Co-coordinator, Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group (with Prof. Christine Thomas)
  • Member, Advisory Board for Ancient Mediterranean Studies
  • President, Phi Beta Kappa, Lambda Chapter
  • UCSB Academic Senate Award for Distinguished Teaching, 2008
  • McGill University History Students Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2004