Dr. Rocío Suárez Vallejo

About | I am a historian specialising in Late Antiquity, with a focus on the history of religions in the post-Roman West. I hold a PhD in Ancient History and History of Religions from the University of Málaga and the University of Padova (April 2025). My research focuses on the construction of “paganism” as a polemical tool in Christian sources, as well as on ritual practices and religious experiences in rural contexts. My work explores the interaction between ecclesiastical authorities and local communities, with special attention to the ways in which ritual practices were negotiated, adapted and reshaped. My research also engages with hagiographical topoi, particularly those associated with the Egyptian eremus and the natural environment as a catalyst for the “wild” in the post-Roman kingdoms. I am also interested in the relationship between lived religion and ritual strategies to cope with climate-related uncertainty, especially in Visigothic Hispania, Merovingian Gaul and Britain.

Education

• PhD in Ancient History and History of Religions, University of Málaga and University of Padova, 2025
• MA in Ancient History and Classical Studies, Complutense University of Madrid / Autonomous University of Madrid, 2020
• BA in History, University of Málaga, 2019

Employment

• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Málaga, nov 2024–may 2025
• Doctoral Researcher (FPU Fellowship, Spanish Ministry of Science), University of Málaga, 2020–2024
• Research Assistant (JAE Intro Fellowship), CSIC – Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean and Near East, Madrid, 2019–2020

Research Stays

• Universität Hamburg, 2025
• Università di Padova, Italy, 2023
• Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France, 2022
• Erasmus+ Exchange, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy, 2018

Publications (selected)

2026

• Suárez Vallejo, R., Stones, Trees and Springs in the Ritual Landscape of Late Antique Gaul and Hispania, Colec. Ritual in the Ancient Mediterranean Series, London: Routledge, March 25th. ISBN 9781041213017.
• Suárez Vallejo, R., “La larga sombra del paganismo en la Hispania visigoda (ss. XX–XXI)”, Revista de Historiografía. In press.
• Suárez Vallejo, R., “El paganismo romano en la estrategia teológica de la misión cristiana: de Martín de Braga a Bernardino de Sahagún (ss. VI–XVI)”, Dialogues d’histoire ancienne. In press.

2025

• Suárez Vallejo, R., “Idola fregit? Revisiting Iconoclasm on Leodegar’s Tombstone in Northern Italy (752 CE)”, Studies in Late Antiquity, 9(2): 243–274.
• Alvar Nuño, A.; López-Gómez, J.C.; Martínez Maza, C.; Suárez Vallejo, R., “Macrocartografías rurales del cristianismo tardorromano en la Bética (SS. IV-V)”, in Después de la villa. Cristianización y cambio en el territorio meridional hispano, ed. Jaime Vizcaíno Sánchez, pp. 241–256, Madrid: CSIC, Anejos de Archivo Español de Arqueología.
• Martínez Maza, C.; Suárez Vallejo, R., “Metaphorical Landscapes in Rural Hispania: The Transformation of Religious Geographies in Visigothic Hagiography”, in Religion in Rural Late Antique Iberia, ed. José Carlos López Gómez & Antón Alvar Nuño, pp. 236–264, London: Routledge.

2022

• Alvar Nuño, A.; Suárez Vallejo, R., “Espacios sacros, riesgo económico y dispositivos simbólicos en la Hispania visigoda”, in Negoziare la crisi: i Santuari come luoghi di resilienza, ed. Ada Campione, Laura Carnevale & Angela Laghezza, pp. 9–21, Bari: Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro. ISBN 9788866290629.

Research Projects

• Member of the team, Spatial and Metaphorical Isolation in the Christian West (4th–7th c.), Spanish Ministry Project, 2025–2028. Principal Investigators: Clelia Martínez Maza & Antón Alvar Nuño.
• Member of the team, Rural Religion in Late Antique Hispania (4th–7th c.), Spanish National Project, 2021–2025. Principal Investigators: Clelia Martínez Maza & Antón Alvar Nuño.
• Member of the team, Networks of Christian Expansion in Late Antique Baetica, Centro de Estudios Andaluces, 2026–2027. Principal Investigator: Clelia Martínez Maza.
• Member of the team, Religious Coexistence and Conflict in Baetica, Programa Operativo Feder Andalucía 2014-2020. Financiación: 55.130€. IP: Clelia Martínez Maza. 01/09/2021-30/09/2023. Miembro del equipo. Principal Investigator: Clelia Martínez Maza.

Selected Conference Papers

2025

• “Looking for fortune in post-Roman Iberian countryside”, Shifting Fortunes in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Edinburgh Centre for Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies, Edinburgh, UK, April 23rd.
• “The best desert is made of water: nature and mission in the Vita Columbae (7th century)”, XX International Conference of the Australian Early Medieval Association: Tempestuous Times, Melbourne, Australia, October 3rd.

2024

• “Shifting Landscapes in Visigothic Hermitage”, 21st International Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion, Gothenburg, Sweden, August 20th.
• “Un Valle del Silencio? Una aproximación geoespacial al paisaje monástico de la ‘Tebaida Berciana’”, International Workshop Exploring Hispania’s Countryside: Geospatial Technologies and Databases, Évora, Portugal, May 24th.

2023

• “Care among sisters: The duties of nuns in Visigothic Hispania”, History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland. Conference 2023, London, UK, May 9th.
• “The Error of the stulti homines: Simplicity and Primitivism as an Intellectual Discourse Towards the Cult of Nature”, Ritual, Belief and the Natural World in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond, Society of Ancient Mediterranean Religions, University of St Andrews, UK, May 27th.
• “Roman gods in the theological strategy of Christian missions: Martin of Braga (6th c.) and Bernardino of Sahagún (16th c.)”, Atelier Young Researchers. Religions of Rome and the Roman World, Sorbonne Université–École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France, February 1st.

2021

• “Sacred Places, Economic Risk and the Moral Economy of the Peasant in Late Antique Hispania”, 18th International Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religion, Pisa, Italy, September 3rd.
• “Religione rurale nella Dioecesis Lunensis (5th-8th c.): ripensando l’epigrafe di Leodegar”, International Workshop Scrittura epigrafica e sacro in Italia dall’antichità al medioevo. Luoghi, oggetti e frequentazioni, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy, December 15th.

Teaching

• Undergraduate Teaching (Ancient History of the Iberian Peninsula, History of the Hellenistic Kingdoms and the Roman World and History, Society and Culture of Antiquity), University of Málaga, 2020–2025.
• Co-supervision of undergraduate dissertations, 2022–2025.