Professor and Chair
Heritage Hall 360H
(205) 934-8691
Research and Teaching Interests: Roman Near East, early Christianity, early Islam
Office Hours: M/W 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Education:
- B.A./B.S., North Carolina State University, History/Chemistry
- M.A., North Carolina State University, History
- Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles, 2008, History
Walter Ward studies the history and archaeology of the Mediterranean/Near East during antiquity and the early medieval period, with a primary focus on the role of the Roman Empire in the Middle East. His research primarily examines the interaction between Greek, Roman, and local cultures and religions in the Near East in the first millennium C.E. His first book, Mirage of the Saracen: Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity (UC Press, 2014), was awarded the Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Prize. His second book, Near Eastern Cities from Alexander to the Successors of Muhammad (2019), was recently published by Routledge. Dr. Ward has also edited The Socio-economic History and Material Culture of the Roman and Byzantine Near East: Essays in Honor of S. Thomas Parker (Gorgias Press, 2017) and, with Denis Gainty, Sources of World Societies (Bedford/St Martins, 2011).
Dr. Ward has extensive experience living in the Middle East as both a researcher and archaeologist and regularly teaches courses about the ancient and medieval Middle East. He was inspired to devote his life to the subject after spending the summer between his sophomore and junior years at NC State excavating the ancient town of Aila (modern Aqaba, Jordan).
-
Recent Courses
- World History to 1600 CE
- History of the Roman Empire
- Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
- History of Ancient Greece
- Clash of Civilizations
- Arabia, Islam, and the Byzantine Empire
- Athens and Sparta
- From Alexander to Muhammad: The archaeology of the ancient Near East c. 323 BCE - 750 CE
- Religions in the Ancient Mediterranean World
-
Select Publications
Books:
- The Economy of the Later Roman Province of Third Palestine (Archaeopress, 2024)
- Near Eastern Cities from Alexander to the Successors of Muhammad (Routledge, July 2019)
- The Socio-economic History and Material Culture of the Roman and Byzantine Near East: Essays in Honor of S. Thomas Parker (Gorgias Press, December 2016).
- Mirage of the Saracen: Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, December 2014).
- Walter D. Ward and Carol White, Sources of World Societies, Vol. 1: to 1715 and Walter D. Ward and Denis Gainty, Sources of World Societies, Vol. 2: since 1450 (Bedford/Saint Martin's Press, 2011), a primary source companion to John P. Mckay et al., History of World Societies.
Book Chapters:
- “Water and control along the later Roman Empire’s south-eastern border.” Pp. 295-298 in H. Van Enckevort, M. Driessen, E. Graafstal, T. Hazenberg, T. Ivleva & C. Van Driel-Murray (eds), Supplying the Roman Empire: Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies 4, Leiden, Sidestone Press (2024)
- “Pilgrimage, Trade, and Security in the southern Levant in the Sixth Century CE.” Pp. 712-717 in Sommer, C. and S. Mateslic (eds.) 2018. Limes XXIII: Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies Ingolstadt 2015. Mainz: Nünnerich-Asmus Verlag (2018)
- "Eusebius's Onomasticon and the Transfer of the X Fretensis from Jerusalem to Aila” pp. 425-430 in Vagalinkski, L. and N. Sharankov (eds.). Limes XXII: Proceedings of the 22nd International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Ruse, Bulgaria, Sept. 2012. Sofia: National Archaeological Institute with Museum (2015)
Articles:
- “I Corinthians and Christian appropriation of the Sinai in Late Antiquity.” After Constantine 4:1-6 (2024)
- “Pseudo-Nilus’s Narrationes: a product of Julian’s Edict against Christian teachers?” Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture 17:131-139 (2023)
- “‘In Imitation of Hadrian:’ Memory and urban construction in the late antique Near East.” Journal of Ancient History 9.1: 1-19 (2021)
- “Orientalism and the study of the pre-modern Middle East.” Athens Journal of Mediterranean History 4.1: 7-17 (2018)
- "The 363 Earthquake and the End of Public Paganism in Palaestina Salutaris." Journal of Late Antiquity 9.1: 132-170 (2016)
- “‘In the province recently called Palestine Salutaris’: Provincial changes in Palestine and Arabia in the late third and fourth centuries C.E.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 181: 289-302 (2012)
-
Academic Distinctions & Professional Memberships
- Second Runner Up, Whetstone/Seaman Faculty Development Award, Alabama Humanities Foundation, 2013
- UAB Faculty Development Grant, 2012
- Samuel H. Kress Foundation Research Fellow in the Art and Archaeology of Jordan, American Center of Oriental Research, Amman, Jordan, 2006/2007