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Dr. Rebecca Usherwood

Assistant Professor (Classics)
      
Profile Photo

Dr. Rebecca Usherwood

Assistant Professor (Classics)

 usherwor@tcd.ie

 


Details Date
Reviewer, Oxford University Press
External Reviewer, European Research Council
Reviews Editor, Hermathena 2019
Reviewer, Journal of Roman studies
Details Date From Date To
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, member 2014 ongoing
Servandus' brooch: imperial largitio and 'propaganda' in, editor(s)N. Baker-Brian, R. Flower, H. Holm, W. Lewis , Constantinian Representations: Ideology, Power and Propaganda, Liverpool, 2026, [Rebecca USHERWOOD], Book Chapter, ACCEPTED
Praising Constantine's Rivals in, editor(s)B. Gibson & R. Rees , Praising Constantine, Leiden, Brill, 2026, [Rebecca Usherwood], Book Chapter, ACCEPTED
Rebecca Usherwood, Who shaped the princeps?, Omnibus, 90, 2025, p27 - 29, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Rebecca Usherwood, Becca Grose, Guy Walker, Kay Boers, Erasure in Late Antiquity, Budapest, Trivent Medieval, 2024, 1 - 298pp, Book, PUBLISHED
Introduction in, editor(s)Rebecca Usherwood, Kay Boers, Becca Grose, Guy Walker , Erasure in Late Antiquity, Budapest, Trivent Medieval, 2024, pp8 - 24, [Rebecca Usherwood, Kay Boers, Becca Grose, Guy Walker], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Fracturing the Collective: Political Disgrace and Tetrarchic Commemoration in, editor(s)F. Carla-Uhink & C. Rollinger , The Tetrarchy as Ideology. (Re)Presentations and (Re)Figurations of an Imperial Power, Stuttgart , Franz Steiner Verlag (Habes), 2023, pp301 - 315, [Rebecca Usherwood], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Rebecca Usherwood, "First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt (Exhibit Review Article)", by Chester Beatty Collection , Near Eastern Archaeology, (85.5), 2023, p166-169 , Review, PUBLISHED
Rebecca Usherwood, Political Memory and the Constantinian Dynasty: Fashioning Disgrace, Palgrave Macmillan: New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture, 2022, 1 - 350pp, Book, PUBLISHED
Rebecca Usherwood , Where are the names of the Iovii and Herculii? Exploring Christian responses to Tetrarchic material culture, Journal of Late Antiquity, 15.2, 2022, p402 - 422, Notes: [Special edition 'Shaping Christian Politics', edited by R. Whealan, R. Flower and M. McEvoy.], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Rebecca Usherwood , Review of Imagining Emperors in the Late Roman Empire, by D. W. P. Burgersdijk and A. J. Ross , Journal of Roman Studies, 111, 2021, p333-334 , Review, PUBLISHED
  

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Our Divine Sparks, 'Special broadcast: 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed', RTÉ Radio 1, Dublin, 2025, -, Broadcast, PERFORMED
Rebecca Usherwood, 'Critical Friend consultancy on audio-visual programme for new gallery space, Museum of London', Museum of London, London, 2025, -, Notes: [Historical consultancy on two audio-visual productions for the Museum of London's new Smithfield space ('Roman Shop' and 'Roman Home')], Exhibition, COMPLETED
Rebecca Usherwood, Once upon a time in Rome: Putting Roman history on screen, Talk with Trinity, Unit18 (Trinity in the Community), 10.09.25, 2025, Unit18, Trinity in the Community, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Rebecca Usherwood, 'Romans Recreation Revealed', RTÉ The Business, Dublin, RTÉ, 2024, -, Broadcast, RELEASED
Rebecca Usherwood, Constantine and 'Propaganda'. Redressing the Difference, Constantinian Propaganda, Exeter University, 06.09.22, 2022, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Rebecca Usherwood, Egypt in the Roman Empire: From Augustus to Diocletian, Out of Egypt lecture series, Chester Beatty Collection, 16.11.22, 2022, Oral Presentation, PRESENTED
Rebecca Usherwood, "Could we do this? Did they do that?" Negotiating the Ancient World on Screen, Utrecht University (virtual), 10th June, 2021, New Discoveries Seminar, Utrecht University, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Rebecca Usherwood, How to retire (if you're a Roman emperor), University College Dublin (virtual), 27th April, 2021, Classical Association of Ireland, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Rebecca Usherwood, Scratching the Surface. Inscriptions and Cancel Culture in the Roman World., Galway University, 4th May , 2021, Classics Society, Galway University, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Rebecca Usherwood, The Invisible Chisel. Political Disgrace and Agency in Epigraphic Erasures., International Medieval Congress 2021, University of Leeds (virtual), 8th July, 2021, Postgraduate and Early Career Late Antiquity Network, Invited Talk, PRESENTED

  


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Award Date
Trinity Innovation Awards: 'Ones to Watch' (nominee) 2021
Trinity Innovation Awards: Consultancy award (winner) 2023
My research is concerned with the political and cultural history of the transitional period from the 'high' to 'late' Roman empire, especially the late third to fourth centuries CE (the Tetrarchy and its breakdown; the emperor Constantine and his sons). I am primarily interested in emperors and imperial ideology, but aim to approach these topics in ways which de-prioritise the traditional focus on the agency and actions of rulers. Instead, I am drawn to the challenge of finding methodologies where we can identify the ways in which 'normal' people living in the ancient world defined their identities through their attitudes and behaviours towards often distant emperors. My first monograph, Political Memory and the Constantinian Dynasty (Palgrave-Macmillan 2022), challenges the common assumption that the destruction of traces of fallen or disgraced rulers (so-called 'damnatio memoriae') was a standardised procedure imposed by governments. Using erasures of imperial names from inscriptions, I reveal how these actions relied on the willing participation of individuals who chose to engage (or not engage) in such behaviours for their own reasons, thus allowing us to trace the ways in which news of political change was received and interpreted. This and my wider research taps into theories of cultural and political memory, the collective shaping of public and private space, and the ways in which ancient communities processed the legacies of earlier rulers in the transition to the late antique world.