Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Studies Hub
Ancient, medieval and early modern studies are popular and enduring topics whether in religion and mythology, literature, Hollywood or documentaries.
Majors offered in these areas: History, English, Political Science
Possible minors: History, English, Political Science, Philosophy, Religion, History of Art and Design, Museum Studies
Possible certificates: Art History
Faculty
Areas of interest: Ancient Greece and Rome, Medieval history, military history, British history
Classes taught: Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, Britain to 1688, Women in Antiquity, Renaissance and Reformation, Ancient and Medieval Warfare, Latin, Greek, Medieval Latin, Experimental archaeology and Mythology (co-taught with Dr. Nagy).
Areas of interest: Old English Poetry, Old Norse-Icelandic Eddas and Sagas, 14th-Century English Poetry, The Alliterative Tradition and Tolkien.
Classes taught: British Literature 1, Age of Chaucer, Old and Middle English Literature, Shakespeare, Medieval Outlaw Tales, The Alliterative Tradition, Old Norse Eddas and Sagas, Monsters and the Monstrous in Medieval Literature, Tolkien’s Sources and Analogues, Arthurian Literature throughout the Ages, Seminar in English Literature to 1660 and Icelandic independent study.
Areas of interest: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Second-Temple Judaism, Christian Origins/New Testament, Early Christianity, Middle Eastern archaeology, and the European Renaissance and Reformation.
Classes taught: Old Testament, New Testament, Jesus Remembered: Gospels, Renaissance and Reformation, Reformations and Religious Conflict, Early Christian Era.
Areas of interest: Restoration, eighteenth-century, and early Romantic British literature, with a particular focus on women's poetry.
Classes taught: British Literature 1, 18th Century English Literature, Shakespeare; Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama; Eighteenth-Century Fiction, Women and Poetry in the Eighteenth Century, Eighteenth-Century Travel Narratives, Eighteenth-Century Gothic, Satire and Social Change: The Eighteenth-Century and Now.
Areas of interest: Early Christian writers and philosophy, Medieval Christian history and theology, ethics.
Classes taught: Old Testament, New Testament, Renaissance and Reformation, Reformations and Religious Conflict, Early Christian Era.
Areas of interest: Medieval Spain, Renaissance Spanish literature, early modern Hispanic culture.
Classes taught: Colonial Spanish America, Early Modern Spain, Medieval Spain Independent Study.
2020-2024
2024
- G. Wrightson, ed., International Ancient Warfare Conference Proceedings vol. 2. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
2023
- G. Wrightson, The Third Macedonian War and the failure of Macedonian combined arms. Barnsley: Pen and Sword.
- G. Wrightson, “The Macedonian heavy infantry of Philip II and Alexander the Great: professionals in a world of amateurs.” In Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World, edited by Edward Anson. Leiden: Brill.
- Sharon Smith, “Elizabeth Gunning, The Farmer’s Boy”; “Elizabeth Gunning, The War-Office”; and “Margaret Minifie or Susannah Gunning, The Union.” The Cambridge Guide to the Eighteenth-Century Novel, 1660-1820, edited by April London. Cambridge University Press.
- G. Wrightson, ed. Terrorism through the Ages. Leiden: Brill.
2022
- G. Wrightson, The Battles of Antiochus the Great: the failure of combined arms at Magnesia. Barnsley: Pen and Sword.
2021
- G. Wrightson, Review: Alexander the Great and Propaganda edited by John Walsh and Elizabeth Baynham. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. 205 pages. Ancient History Bulletin
- Sharon Smith, "The Pleasures of Satire in the Fables of Anne Finch." In British Women Satirists in the Long Eighteenth Century, 98-112. Edited by Amanda Hiner and Elizabeth Tasker Davis. Cambridge University Press.
2020
- George Tsakiridis, “Meditate, Mediation,” In the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, DeGruyter.
- G. Wrightson, “Aeneas Tacticus, Philon of Byzantium, Onasander and the Good Siege: A Case-Study of Demetrius at Rhodes.” In Greek and Roman Military Manuals: Genre and History Edited by James T. Chlup and Conor Whately, 99-120. London and New York: Routledge.
- A. James Murphy, "Children in Mark: A Deconstructive Approach." In Listening to and Learning from Children in the Biblical World, 196-216. Eds. Kristine Henriksen Garroway and John W. Martens. Leiden: Brill.
- G. Wrightson, “Chariots and combined arms - Impact vehicle.” Ancient Warfare XIII.4: 44-47.
- M. Nagy, “The Wisdom of Friendship in Hávamál.” In Literary Speech Acts of the Medieval North, 81-95. Eds. Eric Shane Bryan and Alexander Vaughan Ames. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
2010-2019
2019
- Sharon Smith, and Jason McEntee, “Of Partners and Posses: Masculine Camaraderie in the Modern Western/Action Film.” The Twenty-First-Century Western: New Riders of the Cinematic Stage, 171-184. Edited by Douglas Brode and Shea T. Brode. Lexington.
- G. Wrightson, Combined Arms warfare in Ancient Greece: from Homer to Alexander the Great and his Successors. London and New York: Routledge.
- A. James Murphy, "Children and the Sayings Source Q - What the Double Tradition Reveals about Q's Attitude toward Children, Part B: Q 11:19-20; 12:53; 14:26; and 17:1-2," Biblical Interpretation 27, no. 1.
- G. Wrightson, “Combined Arms and Integrated Warfare - All together now.” Ancient Warfare XIII.1: 18-21.
- G. Wrightson, “Combined arms in ancient Greece - Beginnings of integrated warfare.” Ancient Warfare XIII.2: 12-15.
- G. Wrightson, “Combined arms in Macedonia - The peak of integrated warfare.” Ancient Warfare XIII.3: 16-19.
- A. James Murphy, "The 'Lost Boys' (and Girls) of Q's 'Neverland.'" In T&T Clark Handbook to Children and Childhood in the Biblical World, 291-310. Eds. Sharon Betsworth and Julie Faith Parker. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark.
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2018
- George Tsakiridis, “Addressing Guilt within the Religious Community: Cyprian of Carthage, Reconciliation, and the Science of Emotion,” Theology and Science. Volume 15, No.1, pp. 92-106
- George Tsakiridis, “Addressing Guilt within the Religious Community: Cyprian of Carthage, Reconciliation, and the Science of Emotion,” Theology and Science. Volume 15, No.1, pp. 92-106
- G. Wrightson, "La batalla de Gaugamela y el empleo de 'armas combinadas' (The battle of Gaugamela and Integrated Warfare).” Desperta Ferro Historia antigua y medieval 47 (May): 14-22.
- A. James Murphy, "Contrasting Portrayals of Children in 1 Samuel." Point of View Publishing.
- A. James Murphy, "Focusing on the Child Next to Jesus in Mark 9:33-37." Point of View Publishing.
- M. Nagy. “Ásmundar saga kappabana: Some Inconsistencies Explored.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews 31.1 (2018): 1-8.
2017
- George Tsakiridis, “Habit as a Spiritual Discipline in Early Christianity,” pp. 77-88. Habits in Mind: Ethics, Religion, and the Science of Virtue. Brill.
- G. Wrightson, Becoming Civilized? A History of Western Civilization to 1600. First edition. Minneapolis: Cognella
2016
- G. Wrightson. In: Londey, P., D. Kelly, S. Phang, and I. Spence eds. Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social and Military Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. – entries on: Megalopolis, battle of (331); Ipsus, battle of (301); Alexander III, campaigns in Thrace and Illyria; Paraetacene, battle of (316); Gabiene, battle of (316); Magnesia, battle of (189); Cynoscephalae, battle of (197); Pydna, battle of (168); Rhodes, siege of (305).
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2015
- Sharon Smith, “‘I Cannot Harm Thee Now’: The Ethic of Satire in Anna Barbauld’s Mock-Heroic Poetry.” European Romantic Review 26, no. 5: 551-573.
- G. Wrightson, “‘Surprise, surprise:’ The tactical response of Alexander to guerilla warfare and fighting in difficult terrain.” The Ancient World 46, No. 2: 162-179.
- T. Howe, E. Garvin, and G. Wrightson, eds., Greece, Macedon and Persia: Studies in the Social, Political and Military Consequences of Conquest Societies in honour of Waldemar Heckel. Oxford: Oxbow.
- Sharon Smith, “Defoe’s The Complete English Tradesman and the Prostitute Narrative: Minding the Shop in Mrs. Elizabeth Wisebourn, Sally Salisbury, and Roxana.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 15, no. 2: 27-57.
- G. Wrightson, “Macedonian armies and the perfection of Combined Arms.” In Greece, Macedon and Persia: Studies in the Social, Political and Military Consequences of Conquest Societies in honour of Waldemar Heckel, edited by T. Howe, E. Garvin, & G. Wrightson, 59-68. Oxford: Oxbow.
- W. Heckel, S. Mueller, and G. Wrightson, eds., The Many Faces of War in the Ancient World. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
- Sharon Smith, Michael Keller, Jason McEntee, and Steven Wingate, “Reading Spike Jonze’s Her: A Discursion.” Reading Popular Culture: An Anthology for Writers, 3rd ed., edited by Michael Keller, Kendall Hunt.
- G. Lee, H. Whittaker, & G. Wrightson eds. Ancient Warfare: Introducing Current Research (International Ancient Warfare Conference vol. 1). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
- G. Wrightson, “To use or not to use: The practical and historical reliability of Asclepiodotus’ ‘philosophical’ tactical manual.” In Ancient Warfare: Introducing Current Research (IAWC vol. 1) edited by G. Lee, H. Whittaker, & G. Wrightson, 65-93. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
2014
- A. James Murphy, "Undesired Offspring and Child Endangerment in Jewish Antiquity," Journal of Childhood and Religion 5.
2013
- George Tsakiridis, “Guilt and the Science of Emotion: How Does Prayer Fit?” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. Volume 48, No.4, pp. 890-907.
- A. James Murphy, Kids and Kingdom: the Precarious Presence of Children in the Synoptic Gospels. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.
- Sharon Smith, “Juba’s ‘Black Face’/Lady Delacour’s ‘Mask’: Plotting Domesticity in Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda.” The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation 54, no. 1: 71-90.
2012
- A. James Murphy, "Children in Deuteronomy: the Partisan Nature of Divine Justice," Biblical Interpretation 20, no. 1: 1-15.
2011
- M. Nagy, The Alliterative Tradition in Early Middle English Poetry: Political Complaint and Social Analysis in the “Song of the Husbandman” and Beyond. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.
2010
- George Tsakiridis, Evagrius Ponticus and Cognitive Science: A Look at Moral Evil and the Thoughts. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.
- G. Wrightson, “The nature of command in the Macedonian sarissa phalanx.” AHB 24: 71-92.
- G. Wrightson, “The Naval Battles of 323/2 BCE.” In The Age of the Successors (323-276 BC) (Studia Hellenistic), edited by H. Hauben & A. Meeus, 517-535. Leuven: Peeters.
- W. Heckel, G. Wrightson and C. Willekes. “Scythed Chariots at Gaugamela.” In Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives, edited by E. Carney & D. Ogden, 103-113. Oxford: OUP.
2000-2008
2008
- Sharon Smith. Review of Scott Paul Gordon’s The Practice of Quixotism: Postmodern Theory and Eighteenth-Century Women’s Writing, in Eighteenth-Century Women: Studies in Their Lives, Work, and Culture, vol. 5. AMS Press.
2006
- Sharon Smith, “The Good Effects of a Whimsical Study: Romance and Women’s Learning in Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 18, no. 2: 203-228.
- M. Nagy, “Heroic Humor in The Battle of Maldon.” Proceedings of the Conference on Earlier British Literature 14: 116-128.
2002
- M. Nagy, "St. Æþelberht of East Anglia in the South English Legendary." Chaucer Review 37.2: 159-172.
1995
- M. Nagy, "A Reassessment of Unferð's Fratricide in Beowulf." Proceedings of the Medieval Association of the Midwest 3 (Spring):15-30.
- Jenn Finn, Loyola University Chicago
- Rosemary Moore, University of Iowa
- Jeane Reames, University of Nebraska-Omaha
- Jeffrey Rop, University of Minnesota Duluth
- Conor Whateley, University of Winnipeg
- Graham Wrightson, South ֱ State University
Past Conferences
- June 22-24, 2023
- June 23-25, 2022 hybrid online
Past Conferences
- War and Disease: The Many Faces of War VII - Oct. 20-22, 2022, hybrid at South ֱ State University, Brookings.
- Terrorism through the Ages: The Many Faces of War VI - Oct. 14-16, 2021 at South ֱ State University, Brookings.
- Published proceedings: 2023. G. Wrightson, ed. Terrorism through the Ages. Leiden: Brill.
- Veterans in War: The Many Faces of War V - Oct. 17-18, 2019 at South ֱ State University, Brookings.
- Women in War: The Many Faces of War IV - Sept. 19, 2018 at South ֱ State University, Brookings.
- Many Faces of War versions I-III took place in Calgary, AB, Canada and Los Angeles, California organized by W. Heckel and L. Tritle
- Jenn Finn, Loyola University Chicago
- Rosemary Moore, University of Iowa
- Jeffrey Rop, University of Minnesota Duluth
- Conor Whateley, University of Winnipeg
- Graham Wrightson, South ֱ State University
As I began to seriously consider a career in history academia, my interest in antiquities and the Middle Ages continued to grow. By taking a combination of courses from the history, English and religion departments, I was able to piece together an interdisciplinary medieval studies education with similar pillars as those offered at other universities in the United States. With the assistance of Drs. Wrightson, Nagy and Garst-Santos, I introduced myself to the Latin and Old Norse languages, the Scandinavian literary corpus and the Reconquista period. I believe that the Middle Ages is a period that popular culture largely misunderstands and while this is misunderstanding is mostly harmless, it opens the door for nefarious groups such as white nationalists to misappropriate the medieval past to justify hateful ideologies. Through studying this period of world history, I believe we may dispel racial myths, nationalistic falsehoods and modern distortions that would disarm many hate groups of their foundational narratives. As result of my work at SDSU, I was able to secure for myself a position in the University of Iceland’s Viking and Medieval Norse Studies master’s program. I think that for any SDSU student that is interested in pre-modern history, having an official minor on the books would be enormously helpful for graduate school applicants and those who wish to make a career in this field.
-Noah Mincheff, class of 2022
