Samuel Cohen

Samuel Cohen is an Associate Professor specializing in late antique and early medieval history, particularly late and post-Roman Italy and the Mediterranean world. His work focuses on religious controversy, episcopal authority, Ostrogothic Italy, and migration patterns. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto with concentrations in Early and Late Antique Christianity, Roman History, and Religious Conflict.

Research interests include the rhetoric of heresy, papal authority in fifth/sixth centuries, and contested episcopal elections. He has contributed to Studies in Late Antiquity, Late Antique Archaeology, and Early Medieval Europe. Current projects include a monograph on heresy rhetoric and Roman bishops' authority.

• 2024: Published three articles on disaster rhetoric, episcopal elections, and Lombard-Roman conflict
• 2023: Published analysis of violence in Roman episcopal elections
• 2020: Co-authored special issue on migration rhetoric in Late Antiquity

Awards include the 2019 DFG Fellowship at Universität Tübingen. Teaches courses on Late Antiquity, Roman social history, and tolerance/intolerance in early medieval contexts. Active in reviewing major works on Merovingian kingdoms, Vandal exiles, and Mediterranean sources.