Robert Martin Frakes (born 1962) is an American classics scholar. He is the dean of the School of Arts & Humanities at California State University, Bakersfield, where he is also a professor of history. His research concerns "political, legal, and religious history in the later Roman Empire".

Education and career

Frakes grew up in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, where he became interested in classics through the mentorship of Vernon P. Ziolkowski. He is a 1984 graduate of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. After earning a master's degree and teaching certifications in Latin and Social Science through the Stanford Teacher Education Program, he completed a Ph.D. in history at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

in 1991. His dissertation was ''Audience and meaning in the "Res gestae" of Ammianus Marcellinus'', supervised by Harold A. Drake. From 1991 until 2017, Frakes was a faculty member in history at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. During this time, he was also a Humboldt Research Fellow, visiting the Leopold Wenger Institute for Ancient Legal History and Papyrus Research at

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. At Clarion, he became chair of the Department of Social Sciences. In 2017, he moved to California State University, Bakersfield as dean of the School of Arts & Humanities and professor of history.

Personal life

Frakes is married to Susan Frakes, a

bookbinder Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

. He is the son of historian George E. Frakes and teacher and librarian Catherine Rose Kay Davies Frakes. Like Frakes, both of his parents were educated at

Books

Frakes is the author or editor of several books on ancient history, as well as a college writing textbook. They include: *''Contra Potentium Iniurias: The Defensor Civitatis and Late Roman Justice'' (Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und Antiken Rechtsgeschichte 90, C. H. Beck, 2001) *''Writing for College History: A Short Handbook'' (Cengage, 2004) *''Religious Identity in Late Antiquity'' (edited with Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, Edgar Kent, 2006) *''The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity: Religion and Politics in Byzantium, Europe and the Early Islamic World'' (edited with Elizabeth DePalma Digeser and Justin Stephens, Tauris Academic Studies, 2010) *''Compiling the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum in Late Antiquity'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frakes, Robert 1962 births Living people American classical scholars Historians of ancient Rome Stanford University alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Clarion University of Pennsylvania faculty California State University, Bakersfield faculty