Classics professor awarded NEH research fellowship

Dennis Trout, associate professor of Classical Studies, has been awarded a research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Professor Trout is one of five Missouri recipients of the award for 2002-2003 and the only one from the University of Missouri. The fellowship will allow Trout to research the development of early Christianity through the building projects and writings of Damasus, bishop of Rome from 366 to 384, a time when Rome became an important Christian city. Trout's research will lead to a book about the christianization of Rome in the fourth century.

"All cities are places of the imagination. In the fourth century, Rome's evolving built environment and the 'imagineered' environment considered together lead us to a better appreciation of how the center of the Roman Empire became the leading Christian city of the western Mediterranean," says Trout.

As bishop, poet, and builder Damasus created a heritage that could compete with the old imperial heritage. He wrote verses for inscription, constructed churches within the city walls, and enhanced the suburban shrines of the Roman saints and martyrs. While doing so, he adapted traditional poetic and architectural forms and images to the needs of the church. The final effect, over time, was to produce new sources of public memory that offered an alternative version of Rome's past, one that made better sense of the religious, social, and political prominence of Christianity at Rome after Constantine than the traditional stories of Roman origins.

"We can learn a great deal about how cities develop," says Trout, from the way Rome "rebuilt itself as a Christian city." Urban revitalization programs today rebuild cities based on visions of cities as economic engines and cultural icons.

Trout joined the department in 2000 after teaching for eleven years at Tufts University. He received his PhD from Duke University in 1989. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Early Christian Studies.

Trout's project and fellowship are part of a select group. NEH awarded a total of 171 research fellowships across the country for this competition. Endowment grants are awarded each year on a competitive basis; humanities experts outside of the endowment assess all applications and judge the quality and significance of each proposed project.

Additional links:

Dennis Trout
Classical Studies Department

National Endowment for the Humanities

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