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Department of History College of Arts and Sciences

Walter D. Ward

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Professor and Chair wdward@uab.edu
Heritage Hall 360H
(205) 934-8691

Research and Teaching Interests: Roman Near East, early Christianity, early Islam

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).