Department of History | The University of Chicago

The University of Chicago
Department of History
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 702-8346 -- Office
(773) 702-7550 -- Fax
Email: kwal@uchicago.edu
On Leave: Autumn 2009 and Winter 2010

Field Specialties
Byzantine and Late Roman Political, Social, Military and Religious Structure; Historiography; European Military History and Strategy; Byzantino-Islamic History.

Biography

Walter Kaegi's research concentrates on Byzantine (and Late Roman) history, especially from the fourth through eleventh centuries,with special attention to the seventh century. He investigates relationships between Byzantium and the Near East, including Islam, military and historiographical subjects and their interrelationships with religion and thought. He seeks to set these researches in broader European and Mediterranean contexts. He is the co-founder of the Byzantine Studies Conference and the editor of the journal Byzantinische Forschungen.

Publications

Byzantium and the Decline of Rome. Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1968; reprinted, 1970.

Byzantine Military Unrest 471-843: An Interpretation. Amsterdam & Las Palmas: A.M. Hakkert, 1981.

Army, Society and Religion in Byzantium. London: Variorum Revised Editions & Reprints, 1982.

Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Paperback, 1995.

Heraclius Emperor of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press (2003).

Some Thoughts on Byzantine Military Strategy. Hellenic Studies Lecture for Ball State University. Brookline, MA.: Hellenic College Press, 1983.[Printed separately]

"Byzantium and the Trans-Saharan Gold Trade: A Cautionary Note," Graeco-Arabica, vol. 3 (1984), 95-100.

"Procopius the Military Historian," Byzantinische Forschungen 15 (1990) 53-85.

"Byzantine Logistics: Problems and Perspectives." In collective volume, ed. by John A. Lynn, entitled The Feeding of Mars (Boulder:Westview Press, 1993) 39-55.

"The Capability of the Byzantine Army for Military Operations in Italy."In: Teodorico e i Goti, ed. by Antonio Carile (Ravenna: Longo Editore,1995) 79-99.

"Egypt on the Eve of the Muslim Conquest." Cambridge History of Egypt , ed. C. Petry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) pp 34-61.

"Society and Institutions in Byzantine Africa," In: Ai confini dell'impero. Storia, arte e archeologia della Sardegna bizantina. (Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy: M & T Sardegna, 2002) pp. 15-28.

Three principal projects are occupying his research time: He is writing a book on the poorly understood Muslim conquest of Byzantine North Africa. He is contributing a chapter to the Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire. He is planning an investigation of the role of Byzantine concepts of strategy in the emergence of concepts of strategy in early Modern Europe.

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Walter Kaegi

Professor of History, Voting Member, Oriental Institute
Ph.D. Harvard 1965