Inaugural Lecture - Professor Richard Flower

Details:

• Date: Wednesday 25 February 2026
• Time: 4-5pm, followed by a drink's reception
• Location: Streatham Campus, Streatham Court LT C

Lecture title: The Twelve Days of Christianisation: A Journey through Late Antiquity

Abstract:

What defines late antiquity? Probably its most striking and influential feature is the transformation of Christianity from a persecuted minority religion to the dominant faith of the Roman empire, espoused by purple-clad emperors, fulminating bishops, innovative authors, devout ascetics and millions of other inhabitants of this vast territory. Yet the question of how we tell that story, and which people, factors and events we prioritise, remains a great conundrum for any historian of the fourth and fifth centuries. This lecture will be a personal exploration of what does and doesn’t (or should and shouldn’t) loom large in such accounts, focusing on twelve particular moments from across the period.

Richard's bio:

Richard Flower is Professor of Classics and Late Antiquity. Originally from Sheffield, he studied for his BA, MPhil and PhD in Classics at Clare College, Cambridge. After holding a Research Fellowship at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and a temporary Lectureship at Sheffield, he arrived at Exeter in 2012. He specialises in the history and literature of late antiquity, especially religious and cultural change. He is the author of Emperors and Bishops in Late Roman Invective (2013) and Imperial Invectives against Constantius II (2016), and editor or co-editor of Unclassical Traditions I and II (2010, 2011), Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity (2020), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy (2025) and Brill’s Companion to Roman Prosopography (2025).

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