Dr. Charles Matson Odahl received BA and MA degrees in Ancient History and Classical Languages from California State University, Fresno, and his doctorate in Greek, Roman and Medieval History from the University of California, San Diego, and served as Professor of Ancient & Medieval History and Classical & Patristic Latin at Boise State University from 1975--2010. His main research interests are Cicero and the late Republic, early Christianity, and Constantine and early Byzantium. He has traveled, lived, studied and taught throughout Europe and around the Mediterranean Basin, and examined the extant texts, coins, artifacts, and monuments relevant to the Roman, early Christian and Byzantine imperial eras in the major museum collections and archaeological sites around the world. His publications include books on the Roman statesman Cicero, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, and Latin Christian literature, and forty articles and reviews in scholarly journals. Dr. Odahl has given hundreds of presentations across the country to professional associations, such as the American Historical Association, the Catholic Historical Association, the American Society of Church History, the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, and the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest; and to local and regional groups, such as the Idaho Historical Museum, the Lutheran Pastors Association of the Northwest, the Medieval Society of Idaho; and he has appeared on British and American television in historical presentations, and been the subject of dozens of newspaper and magazine articles relevant to his specialties of Roman, early Christian and Byzantine history, culture and art. Dr. Odahl now resides on the Oregon coast, and writes part time in his ocean front condo in Newport, teaches part time at Oregon State University in Corvallis, and beachcombs and surfs as much as possible along the Pacific. He can be reached at codahl@boisestate.edu and codahl@oregonstate.edu.
Journal Articles
Christian Symbolism on Constantinian Coinage, The Ancient World (2009)
During his arduous military campaign to wrest control of Rome from the tyrannical usurper Maxentius...
Constantine the Great and Christian Imperial Theocracy, Connections: European Studies Annual Review (2007)
From his Christian conversion under the influence of revelatory experiences outside Rome in A.D. 312...
Christian Minters at Constantinian Arles, The Ancient World (2007)
The town of Arles, situated along the east bank of the Rhone River in the...
Published Books
Cicero and the Catilinarian Conspiracy (2010)
This story of Cicero and the Catilinarian Conspiracy is set within and offers a case...
Constantin Şi Imperiul Creştin (2006)
A Romanian paperback translation of Constantine and the Christian Empire.
Constantine and the Christian Empire, 1st ed. (2006)
This biographical narrative is a detailed portrayal of the life and career of the first...
Contributions to Books
Published Book Reviews
Review of "Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge" (2012)
Book Review of Raymond Van Dam, Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge. New York: Cambridge...
Review of "Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity" (2011)
Book Review of Gary B. Ferngren, Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity. Baltimore, MD:...
Review of "Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church" (2011)
Book Review of Volker L. Menze, Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church....
Review of "Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity" (2009)
Book Review of Beate Dignas and Engelbert Winter, Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity (Cambridge,...
Review of "Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity: John Chrysostom and His Congregation in Antioch" (2008)
Book Review of Jaclyn Maxwell, Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity: John Chrysostom and His...