Skip to main content
Site navigation
School of American and Global Studies

Graham Wrightson

Graham Wrightson

Title

Associate Professor of History

Office Building

Lincoln Hall

Office

213

Mailing Address

Lincoln Hall 213
School of American and Global Studies-Box 2212
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

From the UK originally (Coventry then Monmouth, South Wales), then did graduate work in Calgary, Canada. Researches Ancient and medieval military history, specifically Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World. Enjoys performing in and directing musical theatre, choirs and bands

CV

Graham.pdf(179.71 KB)

Education

  • M.A. | University of Cambridge | 2004
  • M.A. | University of Calgary | 2006
  • Ph.D. | University of Calgary | 2013

Academic Interests

  • Ancient warfare
  • Greece and Rome
  • Tactical manuals
  • Medieval England
  • Crusades
  • Military history

Academic Responsibilities

  • AHSS 111 – Diversity and Global Studies (compulsory class for all Humanities majors)
  • HIST 121 - Western Civilization I (110-150 students every semester)
  • HIST 280 - Writing History (basic historical research methods taught every year)
  • HIST 322 - Ancient Greece and Rome
  • HIST 341 - English History to 1688
  • HIST 342 – Renaissance and Reformation
  • HIST 404 - Classical and Norse mythology (co-taught with Mick Nagy, professor of Early medieval literature)
  • HIST 406 - Experiential history (practical teaching in military and social history)
  • HIST 415 - Women in Antiquity
  • HIST 422 - Rome
  • HIST 425 - Medieval Europe
  • HIST 440 – Greece
  • HIST 460 – American Military History
  • HIST 482 - Travel Studies: Greece - Ancient and Medieval architecture, art and archaeology
  • HIST 491 - Latin – independent study
  • HIST 491 – Medieval Latin – independent study
  • HIST 491 - Greek – independent study
  • HIST 492 - Ancient and Medieval Warfare

Committees and Professional Memberships

Committees

  • Faculty advisor for History Honors society, History Club Phi Alpha Theta and the Ultimate Frisbee Club.
  • Various University committees

Professional Memberships

  • Association of Ancient Historians
  • American Philological Association

Areas of Research

  • Battle tactics
  • Tactical manuals
  • Hellenistic generalship
  • The historical development of combined arms
  • Casualty figures
  • Battlefield medicine

Publications

Monographs

  1. The Battles of Antiochus the Great: the failure of combined arms at Magnesia (Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2022) (In press)
  2. Combined Arms warfare in Ancient Greece: from Homer to Alexander the Great and his Successors. (London and New York: Routledge, 2019)
    Reviews: 
    Bryn Mawr - 2020.04.55 – Nadia Williams
    Classical Review - Davies, Gwyn. The Classical Review; Cambridge Vol. 69, Iss. 2 (Oct 2019): 501-503.

Articles

  1. “‘Surprise, surprise:’ The tactical response of Alexander to guerilla warfare and fighting in difficult terrain.” The Ancient World 46, No. 2 (2015): 162-179.
  2. “The nature of command in the Macedonian sarissa phalanx.” AHB 24 (2010): 71-92.

Edited books

  1. Wrightson, G., ed. Terrorism through the Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2023. (In press)
  2. Howe, T., 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, 2015.
  3. Heckel, W., S Mueller, and G. Wrightson, eds. The Many Faces of War in the Ancient World. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015.
  4. G. Lee, H. Whittaker, & G. Wrightson eds. Ancient Warfare: Introducing Current Research (International Ancient Warfare Conference vol. 1). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015.

Book Chapters (double blind peer-reviewed)

  1. “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, 2015.

Book Chapters (peer reviewed)

  1. “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, 2023. (In press)
  2. “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, 2020.
  3. “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, 2015.
  4. “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, 2010.

Co-authored Chapters

  1. Heckel, W., 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, 2010.

Textbook

  1. G. Wrightson. Becoming Civilized? A History of Western Civilization to 1600. First edition. Minneapolis: Cognella, 2017.

Encyclopedia Articles 

  1. 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, 2016. 
    – 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).

Magazine articles

  1. “Combined Arms and Integrated Warfare - All together now.” Ancient Warfare XIII.1 (2019): 18-21.
  2. “Combined arms in ancient Greece - Beginnings of integrated warfare.” Ancient Warfare XIII.2 (2019): 12-15.
  3. “Combined arms in Macedonia - The peak of integrated warfare.” Ancient Warfare XIII.3 (2019): 16-19.
  4. “Chariots and combined arms - Impact vehicle.” Ancient Warfare XIII.4 (2020): 44-47.
  5. "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 2018): 14-22.

Book Reviews

  1. Alexander the Great and Propaganda edited by John Walsh and Elizabeth Baynham. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. 205 pages. AHB (2021)
  2. Under Contract: 
    Monograph: The Third Macedonian War and the failure of Macedonian combined arms. Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2023. Under contract for manuscript submission December 24, 2022.

Edited book

  1. Topics in Ancient Warfare: International Ancient Warfare Conference Proceedings vol. 2, G. Wrightson eds. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2023. Under contract.

Book chapter

  1. “A new interpretation of the battle of Panion,” in Topics in Ancient Warfare: International Ancient Warfare Conference Proceedings vol. 2, G. Wrightson eds. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2023.

Department(s)