Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis

Donald A. Rogers Professor, Department of History

Department of History

Campus
IU; IU Bloomington

Full Biography

I specialize in the history and material culture of early medieval Europe. I have a background in archaeology and architectural history, and I combine those topics with the study of the way history was written in the Early Middle Ages. I have published a Latin edition and an English translation of the ninth-century author Agnellus' Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis (Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna). My book Ravenna in Late Antiquity is a history of the city and monuments of Ravenna from the fifth to the ninth centuries (2010).  My most recent book, Fifty Early Medieval Things, was co-written with Paolo Squatriti and Hendrik Dey, and was published in 2019.  My current book project considers the role of bishops as church-builders, from late antiquity through the Carolingian period. Finally, from 1995-2021 I was the Executive Editor of The Medieval Review, an online book review journal in medieval studies. I teach surveys and upper-level courses on late antique and medieval history, as well as more specialized courses on topics related to the western European Early Middle Ages.

Research Interests

  • Late antique and early medieval Europe
  • Medieval historiography
  • Urban change in Late Antiquity
  • Material culture and archaeology

Education

  • B.A. in Archaeological Studies, Yale University, 1988
  • Ph.D. in History of Art, University of Pennsylvania, 1994

Courses Taught

  • B208 Pagans and Christians in the Early Middle Age
  • H206 Medieval Civilization
  • B351 Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages
  • B348 Byzantine History
  • C390 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • J300 Early Medieval England, Medieval Queens and Empresses
  • Graduate classes on medieval historiography, medieval ethnicity, essential readings in early medieval history and/or late antiquity, and other topics

Publications

Books

  • New Solomons: Bishops and Church Splendor in Early Medieval Christianity (in progress)
  • Seymour H. Mauskopf, with Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis, Alfred Nobel and the Case of Ballistite vs. Cordite, 1894: Patents, Powders and Profits (forthcoming from Palgrave)
  • Fifty Early Medieval Things:  Materials of Culture in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, with Paolo Squatriti and Hendrik Dey (Cornell University Press, 2019).
  • Ed. with David Brakke and Edward Watts, Shifting Cultural Frontiers in Late Antiquity (Routledge, 2012).
  • Ravenna in Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
  • Agnellus Ravennatis, Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis, edited Latin text with introduction, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 199 (Brepols Publishers, 2006).
  • Ed. with Judson Emerick, Archaeology and Architecture:  Studies in Honor of C. L. Striker (Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2005).
  • The Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna, English translation with introduction (The Catholic University of America Press, 2004).
  • Ed., Historiography in the Middle Ages (Brill, 2003).

Articles

  • "The Twelve Apostles in Late Antique Art and Text," Revue d’Études augustiniennes et patristiques 71, 2026 (forthcoming).
  • "Arian and Orthodox Apostles in Late Antique Ravenna," Gesta 65.1, 2026 (forthcoming).
  • "Gregory of Tours, Solomon's Temple, and the Seven Wonders: Splendor and Ephemerality," Vigiliae Christianae 79 (2025):  535-553.
  • "Exarchs and Others: Secular Patrons of Churches in the 6th-8th Centuries," in Italy and the East Roman World in the Medieval Mediterranean: Empire, Cities and Elites, 476-1204, eds. Thomas J. MacMaster and Nikolas S. M. Matheou, (Routledge, 2021).
  • "Bishops, Cities, and Historical Memory," in A Companion to Byzantine Italy, ed. Salvatore Cosentino, (Brill, 2021), pp. 582-608.
  • "The Social Sphere of Writing: Manuscripts, Inscriptions and Papyri," in Ravenna and the Traditions of Late Antique and Early Byzantine Craftsmanship: Culture, Labour, and Economy, ed. Salvatore Cosentino (De Gruyter, 2020), pp. 195-210.
  • "The Mosaics of Ravenna," in The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art, ed. Robin M. Jensen and Mark D. Ellison (Routledge, 2018), pp. 347-363.
  • "Episcopal Commemoration in Late Fifth-century Ravenna," in Ravenna: its Role in Earlier Medieval Change and Exchange, eds. Judith Herrin and Janet Nelson (University of London, Institute of Historical Research, 2016), pp. 39-51.
  • "Urban Life and Culture," in A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy, eds. Shane Bjornlie, Kristina Sessa, and Jon Arnold (Brill, 2016), pp. 234-262.
  • "Church-Building in Rhetoric and Reality in the 5th-7th centuries," in Politische Fragmentierung und kulturelle Kohärenz in der Spätantike, eds. C. Radtki, M. Danner and D. Boschung (Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2015), pp. 159-182.
  • "The Roman Liber pontificalis, Papal Primacy, and the Acacian Schism," Viator 45.3 (2014):  1-16.
  • "Ecclesius and San Vitale:  the Episcopal Donor in Text and Image," in Envisioning the Medieval Bishop, eds. Evan Gatti and Sigrid Danielson (Brepols, 2014), pp. 41-62.
  • "Ravenna, St. Martin, and the Battle of Vouillé," in The Battle of Vouillé, 507 CE:  Where France Began, eds. Danuta Shanzer and Ralph Mathisen (De Gruyter, 2012), pp. 167-180.
  • "The Holy Man and the Conqueror:  the Legend of Attila and Pope Leo I," in Rerum gestarum scriptor. Histoire et historiographie au Moyen Âge:  Mélanges Michel Sot, eds. M. Coumert, M.-C. Isaïa, K. Krönert, and S. Shimahara (Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2012), pp. 239-247.
  • "The Mausoleum of Theoderic and the Seven Wonders of the World," Journal of Late Antiquity 3 (2010):  365-385.
  • "The Liber pontificalis of the Church of Ravenna and its relation with the Roman model," in Liber, gesta, histoire:  Écrire l'histoire des évêques et des papes, de l'Antiquité au XXIe siècle, eds. F. Bougard and M. Sot, (Brepols, 2009), pp. 283-297.
  • "Proconnesian Marble in Ninth-Century Ravenna," in Archaeology and Architecture: Studies in Honor of C. L. Striker, eds. D. M. Deliyannis and Judson J. Emerick (Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2005), pp. 37-41.
  • "Charlemagne's Silver Tables: The Ideology of an Imperial Capital," Early Medieval Europe 12 (2003):  159-177.
  • "Introduction," in Historiography in the Middle Ages, ed. D. M. Deliyannis (Brill, 2003), pp. 1-13.
  • "Year-Dates in the Early Middle Ages," in Time in the Medieval World, eds. C. Humphrey  and W. M. Ormrod (York Medieval Press, 2001), pp. 5-22.
  • "Bury Me in Ravenna?:  Appropriating Galla Placidia's Body in the Middle Ages," Studi Medievali, n.s. 13 (2001):  289-299.
  • "A Biblical Model for Serial Biography:  the Roman Liber Pontificalis and the Books of Kings," Révue Bénédictine 107 (1997):  15-23.
  • "Agnellus of Ravenna and Iconoclasm:  Theology and Politics in a Ninth Century Historical Text," Speculum 71 (1996):  559-576.
  • "Church Burial in Anglo-Saxon England:  The Prerogative of Kings,"  Frühmittelalterliche Studien 29 (1995):  96-119.