Elizabeth DePalma Digeser

Elizabeth DePalma Digeser is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She specializes in Late Antiquity, focusing on the transformation of the Roman Empire, religious and political dynamics, and methodologies integrating textual and material evidence. Her PhD (UCSB, 1996) underpins her expertise in Roman religious history and imperial ideology. She teaches courses on Roman history, late antiquity, and historiography.

Research Interests: Conversion of Rome to Christianity, Constantine's rise, Gaul's socio-political landscape, ritual practices (virginity/motherhood), and late antique ideology's reception in modern contexts. Current projects explore Constantine's propaganda in Gaul and Christian ritual's local variations pre-Chalcedon.

Publications: Key books include A Threat to Public Piety (2012) and The Making of a Christian Empire (2000). Recent articles analyze Constantine's patronage, persecution impacts, and religious syncretism in Gallia Belgica. Her work bridges ancient and modern interpretations of power and identity.

Awards & Professional Roles: 2008 UCSB Distinguished Teaching Award; founding editor of Studies in Late Antiquity; directs the California Consortium for the Study of Late Antiquity. She advises graduate students and has mentored numerous scholars in Roman and late antique studies.

Labs/Teams: Active in interdisciplinary projects on digital tools for historical research and collaborates with institutions like the Ecole Française de Rome. Her work intersects with archaeology and philosophy to contextualize material culture.