You are here People > Rebecca Usherwood

Dr Rebecca Usherwood

Assistant Professor in Late Antique and Early Byzantine Studies

I grew up in London and studied Classical Civilisation at the University of Nottingham, where I received my PhD in 2015. Prior to joining Trinity’s Classics Department in 2018, I taught at University College London, the University of Nottingham, Durham University, and the University of St Andrews. I am a series editor for Liverpool University Press’ Women in Ancient Cultures series. I also work as a historical advisor in film, heritage, and cultural sectors, as well as contributing commentary on Roman antiquity for Irish radio. I won the Consultancy award in the 2023 Trinity Innovation Awards for my work with industry.

Research

I am a historian of the third and fourth centuries CE, a transitional period in the Roman empire and the start of what we now call Late Antiquity. I am primarily interested in emperors and imperial ideology, especially in the tetrarchic and Constantinian periods. I am drawn to the challenge of finding methodologies whereby we can glimpse how a broad range of subject populations understood their place in the world via their attitudes and behaviours towards emperors. My first monograph, Political Memory and the Constantinian Dynasty: Fashioning Disgrace, was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2022. In it I challenged the common assumption that the obliteration of traces of disgraced rulers (so-called ‘damnatio memoriae’) was a standardised procedure imposed by the state. Focusing on the erasure of imperial names from inscriptions, I emphasise how these actions relied on the willing participation of individuals who chose to engage – or not engage – in such behaviour for their own reasons, thus allowing us to trace the ways in which news of political change spread and was interpreted. My ongoing research looks at shifts in state/subject communication amidst the structural changes of Late Antiquity, and prioritises documentary and material evidence (especially objects and inscriptions).

Selected Publications

Political Memory and the Constantinian Dynasty: Fashioning Disgrace, 2022, Palgrave MacMillan: New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture.
‘Where are the names of the Iovii and Herculii? Exploring Christian responses to Tetrarchic material culture.’ Journal of Late Antiquity 15.2, 2022.
‘Fracturing the Collective: Political Disgrace and Tetrarchic Commemoration’ in F. Carlà-Uhink & C. Rollinger eds. The Tetrarchy as Ideology. (Re)Presentations and (Re)Figurations of an Imperial Power, 2023, Franz Steiner Verlag.
Ed. with Kay Boers, Becca Grose, and Guy Walker, Erasure in Late Antiquity, 2024 Budapest: Trivent Medieval. Available Open Access here.

Teaching & Supervision

I am happy to offer supervision in areas related to the administrative, political, and cultural history of the Roman and late Roman empire, especially topics related to imperial ideology.

I have training and a special interest in inclusive pedagogy (UDL), which I use as a framework across my teaching practice. I teach or contribute to a wide range of modules on ancient history, including final year modules on the emperor Constantine and ancient Christianity, an MPhil course and 3rd year course on Late Antiquity, and a 2nd year course on the Roman Empire. I also teach Latin.