Ekaterina Nechaeva completed her PhD at the University of Siena in 2007 after graduating from the Saint-Petersburg State University. She is currently a Research Fellow in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks/Harvard University. After a long career at the State Hermitage museum, she now lives in Rome where she is associated with the American Academy in Rome. Her current project is on 'defection and freedom' in the Late Antique world, with a focus on individuals who fled, deserted, or permanently left the Roman Empire.