John Matthews (historian)
John Frederick Matthews, is a British historian and academic. Since 1996, he has been a professor of Roman history at Yale University, where he was also the John M. Schiff Professor of Classics and History from 2001 to 2014.
Life and career
Matthews was born in 1940. He studied at The [Queen's College, Oxford], graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1962: as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts degree. He went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in 1970. His doctoral thesis was titled "The supporters of the Emperor in Western society in the age of Theodosius". His supervisor was Peter Brown, then a fellow of All Souls College.He held the Dyson Junior Research Fellowship in Greek Culture at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1965 to 1969, and was then elected an official fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He returned to The Queen's College in 1976, when he was elected a fellow. At the University of Oxford, he was also a lecturer in Middle and Later Roman History from 1969 to 1990, when he was promoted to a readership; he was promoted again in 1992, to a personal chair as Professor of Late Roman History. Matthews left both The Queen's College and the University of Oxford in 1996 to take up a professorship of Roman History at Yale University, where he was also John M. Schiff Professor of Classics and History from 2001 to 2014.