Rita Lizzi Testa

Rita Lizzi Testa, also known as Rita Lizzi, is an Italian historian of late antiquity, specialising in Christianity and paganism in the fourth to sixth centuries CE.^[1] She is a Professor of Roman history at the University of Perugia.^[1]

Early life and education

Lizzi Testa was born in Terni, Umbria, on 17 August 1956.^[2] She was awarded a degree in Literature at the University of Florence, and completed her doctorate with a dissertation on De Regno by Synesius of Cyrene.^[2]

Career

Lizzi Testa lectured in Roman History at the University of Turin before taking up her current position at the University of Perugia.^[3] She serves as a member of the Class of Ambrosian Studies at the Accademia Ambrosiana,^[4] and is a member of the advisory board for CUA Studies in Early Christianity and Christianity in Late Antiquity.^[5][6] During her career, she has worked on five national projects studying the development of ancient institutions in late antiquity.^[3]

In 2023, Lizzi Testa was elected to the Accademia dei Lincei.^[7]

Selected bibliography

Books

• (1987) Il potere episcopale nell'Oriente Romano. Rappresentazione ideologica e realtà politica (IV-V secolo d.C.). Roma: Edizioni dell'Ateneo.
• (1989) Vescovi e strutture ecclesiastiche nella città tardoantica (L'Italia Annonaria nel IV-V secolo d.C.). Como: New Press. ISBN 978-8898238194.^[8]
• (2004) Senatori, popolo, papi. Il governo di Roma al tempo dei Valentiniani. Bari: Edipuglia. ISBN 978-8872283929.^[9][10]
• (2022) Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity. New York/London: Routledge. ISBN 9781472440846.^[11][12]
• (2024) Un Occidente rivolto a Est. Dalla fine della dinastia teodosiana alla rovina dell'Italia romana. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider. ISBN 9788891331779.

Edited volumes

• (2006) Le trasformazioni delle élites in età tardoantica. Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Perugia, 15-16 marzo 2004). Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider. ISBN 9788882653729.
• (ed. with Giorgio Bonamente and Noel Lenski) (2012) Costantino prima e dopo Costantino. Constantine before and after Constantine. Bari: Edipuglia. ISBN 978-88-7228-677-7.
• (2014) The Strange Death of Pagan Rome. Reflections on a Historiographical Controversy. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-54942-2, 978-2-503-57153-9.
• (ed. with Michele R. Salzman and Marianne Sághy) (2016) Pagans and Christians in Late Antique Rome. Conflict, Competition, and Coexistence in the Fourth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316274989, 978-1107110304.^[13][14][15]
• (2017) Late Antiquity in Contemporary Debate. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-443-84308-9.^[16][17][18]
• (ed. with Giovanni Alberto Cecconi and Arnaldo Marcone) (2020) The Past as Present. Essays on Roman History in Honour of Guido Clemente. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-58524-6, 978-2-503-58525-3.