Curriculum vitae

research interests

Roman and medieval European history and historiography; classical and medieval Latin literature; Celtic studies; classical tradition

academic appointments

permanent fellow, Center for Epigraphical and Palaeographical Studies, Ohio State University, 2003-present

visiting assistant professor, Department of Greek and Latin, Ohio State University, 1998-2003

visiting assistant professor, Department of Classics, Union College, 1997-98

lecturer, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, University of Connecticut, 1997

lecturer/visiting fellow, Departments of History and of Classics, Yale University, 1995-97

visiting assistant professor, Department of Classical Studies, University of Michigan, 1995

assistant editor, volume 6, Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1992-93

teaching assistant, Departments of History and of Classical Studies, University of Michigan, 1989, 1991-92, 1993

book

Classical Antiquity and the Politics of America: From George Washington to George W. Bush, editor and contributor (Baylor University Press, 2006)

articles in refereed journals

“The arrival of wine in Ireland,” North American Journal of Celtic Studies 5.1 (2021), 83-96

“Eric P. Hamp: 16 November 1920 – 17 February 2019,” North American Journal of Celtic Studies 3.2 (2019), 201-209

“Releasing sins in Vergil’s margins: A liturgical prosa in Bern, Burgerbibliothek 167,” Journal of Medieval Latin 18 (2008), 247-256

“The assassination of Diarmait mac Cerbaill,” Celtic Studies Association of North America Yearbook 7 (2008), 46-57

“The Jerry Springerization of late antiquity,” Ancient World 33 (2002), 21-25

“Carnal love and priestly ordination on sixth-century Tiree,” Innes Review 51 (2000), 95-108

“Traditional teaching or modernist manifesto? Matthew of Vendôme’s criticisms of the ancients in book 4 of the Ars versificatoria,Journal of Medieval Latin 8 (1998), 192-205

“The Annals of Ulster and the date of the meeting at Druim Cett,” Peritia 11 (1997), 44-52

“The beginning of the Historia Augusta,Historia 45 (1996), 364-75

“Two papyri and events in the life of Caracalla,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 105 (1995), 257-59

“Colum Cille’s ordination of Áedán mac Gabráin,” Innes Review 41 (1990), 139-50

articles in conference proceedings, Festschriften and edited volumes

“Ammianus Marcellinus,” “Claudius Tacitus,” “Sulpicius Severus,” in Victoria Emma Pagán, ed., The Tacitus Encyclopedia (Hoboken, N.J., 2023), 48-49, 271-272, 1044

“Comparative approaches to the Historia Augusta,” in Edmund P. Cueva and Javier Martínez, eds., Splendide Mendax: Rethinking Fakes and Forgeries in Classical, Late Antique and Early Christian Literature (Groningen, 2016), 205-215

“Elagabalus,” “Symmachus,” in Eric Orlin et al., eds., The Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions (New York, 2015)

“Septimius Severus (145-211),” in Gordon Martel, ed., The Encyclopedia of War (Chichester, England, 2012)

“Caracalla,” “Julia Domna,” in Michael Gagarin and Elaine Fantham, eds., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, volume 1 (Oxford, 2010), 51-52, 141-142

“97. Asinius Quadratus,” “98. Nikostratos of Trapezos,” in Ian Worthington, ed., Brill’s New Jacoby (Brill Online, http://www.brillonline.nl, 2009)

“Columbus,” in Encyclopedia Judaica, Second Edition (Detroit, 2006)

“Caracalla’s sense of humor and Cassius Dio’s Latinity,” in Giorgio Bonamente and Marc Mayer, eds., Historiae Augustae Colloquium Barcinonense (Bari, Italy, 2005), 221-231

“A.W. Mair,” in R.B. Todd, ed., Dictionary of British Classicists (Bristol, 2004)

“Wolves and Saracens in Odilo’s Life of Mayeul,” in Michael W. Herren, C. J. McDonough and Ross G. Arthur, eds., Latin Culture in the Eleventh Century, volume 2 (Turnhout, Belgium, 2002), 116-128

“Kinship in Adomnan’s Vita S. Columbae,” in Dorothea Walz, ed., Scripturus vitam: lateinische Biographie von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart (Fs. Walter Berschin; Heidelberg, 2002), 723-730

“The Five Good Emperors of the third century,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Classical Studies, volume 1 (Athens, 2001), 565-576

“Caracalla the intellectual,” in Enrico dal Covolo and Giancarlo Rinaldi, eds., Gli imperatori Severi (Biblioteca di Scienze Religiose 138; Rome, 1999), 39-46

“Saints’ lives,” in Deborah Sinnreich-Levi and Ian Laurie, eds., Literature of the French and Occitan Middle Ages: Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries (Dictionary of Literary Biography 208; Detroit, 1999), 338-50

articles on Pertinax, Septimius Severus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus, Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Elagabalus, Maximinus Thrax, Gordian I, Gordian II, Gordian III and Philip the Arab in De Imperatoribus Romanis, an on-line encyclopedia of Roman emperors, 1997-2001, http://www.roman-emperors.org

“When newer eyes read older poetry: approaches to teaching Horace, Odes 2.5,” Humanitas 18.2 (Newsletter of the Ohio Classical Conference, 1994), 19-27

“The emperor, the army and the frontier,” Humanitas 16.1 (Newsletter of the Ohio Classical Conference, 1992), 38-48

reviews

Late Iron Age and ‘Roman’ Ireland, Discovery Programme Reports 8, in Journal of Roman Archaeology 31 (2018), 810-812

Christopher P. Evans, Jeroen Deploige, Sara Moens, Michael Embach, and Kurt Gärtner, eds., Hildegardis Bingensis Opera minora II, in Speculum 93 (2018), 205-206

Lavinia Galli Milić and Nicole Hecquet-Noti, eds., Historiae Augustae Colloquium Genevense in honorem F. Paschoud septuagenarii, in HISTOS 11 (2017), lxxxvii-xl View PDF

Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado, The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction?, in Classical Bulletin 86 (dated 2010; published 2015), 212-214

Maria Wyke, Caesar in the USA, in Journal of American History 100 (2013), 877

Jan M. Ziolkowski, Solomon and Marcolf, in Journal of Medieval Latin 21 (2011), 305-307

Lucie Dolezalová, Reception and its Varieties: Reading, Re-Writing, and Understanding Cena Cypriani in the Middle Ages, in Journal of Medieval Latin 19 (2009), 301-304

Brian Croke, Count Marcellinus and His Chronicle, in Ancient History Bulletin 18 (2004), 93-94

Constant J. Mews, The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard, in Speculum 78 (2003), 572-574

Christian Körner, Philippus Arabs, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003

Udo Kindermann, Einführung in die lateinische Literatur des mittelalterlichen Europa, in Speculum 77 (2002), 567-568

Jill Harries, Law and Empire in Late Antiquity, in Ancient History Bulletin 15 (2001), 198-199

Dauvit Broun, The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries, in Celtic Studies Association Newsletter 17.2 (Bealtaine 2000), 5-6

Martin Zimmermann, ed., Geschichtsschreibung und politischer Wandel im 3. Jh. n.Chr., in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2000

Benjamin T. Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, in Celtic Studies Association Newsletter 16.1 (Samhain 1998), 3-4

Helen M. Parkins, ed., Roman Urbanism: Beyond the Consumer City, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1998

Neville Morley, Metropolis and Hinterland, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1997

Michael Peachin, Iudex vice Caesaris, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1996

Vasily Rudich, Political Dissidence under Nero, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1995

invited lectures

“Language use in the Latin West in the later Roman empire,” Changelings Linguistics group, Ohio State University, 15 February 2023

“Dog breeds in classical antiquity,” Marshall University, 20 April 2012; Mississippi State University, 21 February 2013; University of Virginia, 5 March 2014; Archaeological Institute of America, Columbus Chapter, 13 May 2021

“The history of the bagel in Columbus,” Jewish Community Center of Columbus, 26 May 2010

“The rise of populism, the decline of classical education, and the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” University of Maryland, 14 September 2006

“Classical antiquity and the politics of America: From George Washington to George W. Bush,” Catholic University of America, 12 September 2006

“Prostituierte als Kaiser, Kaiser als Prostituierte: ein erotischer Brief Philostrats als Satire auf dem Kaiser Elagabal,” University of Bern, Switzerland, 8 February 2001

“Kinship in Adomnan’s Life of Columba,” Rutgers University, 9 November 2000

“Wolves and Saracens: literary representations and theological understandings of Islam in the Latin Middle Ages,” University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 14 October 1999

“The career paths of praetorian and urban prefects under the Severans,” Yale University, 23 April 1998

“Romans’ histories and Roman history,” Wesleyan University, 9 April 1997

Verba Polita: word choice in Matthew of Vendôme’s Ars versificatoria,” University of Chicago, 2 February 1989

conference lectures

“Celtic bilingualism in the Roman empire,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, held via Zoom, 18 March 2023

“W.B. Yeats, Ernest Blythe, and the Irish Wolfhound,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, held via Zoom, 11 April 2021

“The spelling of the Roman name Caesar in Irish bardic poetry,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Cambridge, Mass., 12 April 2019

“The earliest Corgis,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, 7 May 2016

“The introduction of wine among the Irish,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Roanoke, 8 March 2014; 15th International Congress of Celtic Studies, Glasgow, 16 July 2015

Designer dogs’ in an illustrated manuscript of Ps.-Oppian’s Cynegetica,” Texts and Contexts annual manuscript studies conference, Columbus, Ohio, 15 November 2013

“Celtic dog breeds in classical antiquity,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Los Angeles, 9 March 2012

“Releasing sins in Vergil’s margins: a liturgical prosa in Bern, Burgerbibliothek 167,” Fifth International Congress for Medieval Latin Studies, Toronto, 5 August 2006; Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Cincinnati, 15 April 2007

“The prostitute as emperor/the emperor as prostitute: Elagabalus in Philostratus, Love-Letter 19,” Classical Association of the Middle West and South annual meeting, Lexington, Kentucky, 5 April 2003; Twelfth International Congress of Classical Studies, Ouro Preto, Brazil, 24 August 2004

“Caracalla’s sense of humor and Cassius Dio’s Latinity,” Historiae Augustae Colloquium Barcinonense, Empúries, Spain, 11 May 2002; Association of Ancient Historians annual meeting, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 10 May 2003

“The rise of populism, the decline of classical education, and the Seventeenth Amendment,” American Historical Association annual meeting, San Francisco, 5 January 2002

“The god Grannus,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Blacksburg, Virginia, 30 March 2001; Twelfth International Congress of Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, Wales, 26 August 2003

“Kinship in Adomnan’s Life of Columba,” EMERGE 2000 (Early Medieval Research Group), Edinburgh, Scotland, 7 September 2000; Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, St. Louis, 24 March 2000

table ronde summation, Le Contrat Public conference, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 17 June 2000

“The Jerry Springerization of late antiquity,” American Historical Association annual meeting, Chicago, 7 January 2000

“The ‘Five Good Emperors’ of the third century,” Eleventh International Congress of Classical Studies, Kavála, Greece, 25 August 1999

“The assassination of Diarmait mac Cerbaill,” Eleventh International Congress of Celtic Studies, Cork, Ireland, 27 July 1999; Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Los Angeles, 26 April 1996

“Wolves and Saracens in Odilo’s Vita Maioli,” Third International Congress for Medieval Latin Studies, Cambridge, England, 10 September 1998

“The libido of the Irish,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Los Angeles, 21 May 1998

“Elagabalus: the early years,” Association of Ancient Historians annual meeting, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 2 May 1998

“The Annals of Ulster and the date of the meeting of Druim Cett,” Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Montréal, 17 May 1997; Harvard Celtic Colloquium, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2 May 1997

Vetera enim cessavere novis supervenientibus: ancient readings and modern writings in Matthew of Vendôme’s Ars versificatoria,” American Philological Association annual meeting, San Diego, 30 December 1995

“Patrick and the Roman frontier,” International Medieval Congress, Leeds, England, 13 July 1995

“The beginning of the Historia Augusta,” Tenth International Congress of Classical Studies, Québec City, 25 August 1994

“Horace 2.5, methods of interpretation and how we should teach ancient poetry to students,” Ohio Classical Conference, Miamisburg, Ohio, 22 October 1993

“The introduction of wine among the Irish” (earlier version), Celtic Studies Association of North America annual meeting, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, 22 May 1992

“The emperor, the army and the frontier,” Ohio Classical Conference, Wooster, Ohio, 25 October 1991

community and professional service

Association of Ancient Historians, ad hoc committee concerning relations with the American Historical Association, 1998-99; organizer, 2002 panel at American Historical Association annual meeting

Basset Hound Club of Greater Detroit, secretary, 2008-12, 2013-present

Basset Hound Club of America, webmaster, 2011-present

Beth Jacob Congregation, Columbus, Ohio, vice president, 2011-12

Celtic Studies Association of North America, executive committee, 1997-99, 2009-11, 2014-20; vice president, 2014-16; president, 2016-18; organizer, 2011 annual meeting (held at Ohio State University)

Central Ohio Kennel Club, show committee, 2013-15; assistant show chair, spring show, 2014-15

Columbus Jewish Federation, community board member ex officio, 2005-8

Columbus Jewish Foundation, investment committee member ex officio, 2007-8

Columbus Jewish Historical Society, board member, 2003-present; vice president, 2005-8; president, 2008-12

Congregation Agudas Achim, Columbus, Ohio, vice president, 2001-4

Medieval Latin Studies Group (affiliated group of the American Philological Association), secretary-treasurer, 2001-5; organizer, 2001 panel at American Philological Association annual meeting

dissertation

Caracalla and his late-antique biographer: a historical commentary on the Vita Caracalli in the Historia Augusta, University of Michigan, 1994