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Lee E. Patterson
Introduction Course Syllabi Education & Training Publications Frequently Taught Courses Research & Creative Interests Professional Affiliations Update your profile

Lee E. Patterson

Professor of History, Graduate Coordinator Office: 2572 - Coleman Hall
Phone: 217-581-6372
Email: lepatterson2@eiu.edu
Website: http://eiu.academia.edu/LeePatterson

INTRODUCTION

In my history classes I want my students to encounter the treasures of the past and learn the lessons of human experience, to think critically and creatively about history, and to develop a sense of curiosity that they will carry with them into their own futures.  Whatever their major, whatever their goals in life, I encourage my students to let the humanities guide their journey.  History and its related fields allow us to experience the world in its wondrous variety and leave us with an inquisitiveness that lifts us above the banalities of an existence that knows only career objectives and materialistic goals.  I try to promote a love of learning that not only can make students' future careers successful by whatever measure their chosen industries apply but can make their journey through life enriched and fulfilling.

The image you see here was taken when I was in Armenia in the summer of 2023. Behind me are the Khor Virap monastery and the larger peak of Mt. Ararat.

Spring 2025 COURSE SYLLABI

HIS 57002

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HIS 3130

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Education & Training

University of Missouri-Columbia, Ph.D. in Classical Studies (2003)

Publications

  • Kinship Myth in Ancient Greece. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.
  • “Social and Diplomatic Relations in Greater Armenia.” Problems and Sources of the History of Ancient Armenia. Eds. Giusto Traina and Anahide Kéfélian. Brill. (draft completed and submitted)
  • “Augustus and the Nobility of Armenia.” L’Antiquité Classique 92 (2023): 67-92.
  • “Aristonicus,” “Armenia,” “Commagene,” “Hyrcani,” “Meherdates,” “Perseus,” “Pharasmanes,” “Phraates,” “Tigranes,” “Tiridates,” “Vardanes,” “Vologaeses,” “Vonones,” “Zeno.” The Tacitus Encyclopedia. Ed. Victoria Emma Pagán. Wiley-Blackwell, 2023.
  • “Mythography and Politics.” The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography. Eds. R. Scott Smith and Stephen Trzaskoma. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. 428-42.
  • “Justin II and the Armenian Revolt of 572.” HiMA, Revue Internationale d’Histoire Militaire Ancienne 10 (2021): 265-87.
  • “Heracles as Ancestor.” The Oxford Handbook of Heracles. Ed. Daniel Ogden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. 418-31.
  • Review of Gareth Sampson, Rome & Parthia: Empires at War. Ventidius, Antony and the Second Romano-Parthian War 40-20 BC. (https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.07.42/)
  • “Mithridates II’s Invasion of Armenia: A Reassessment.” Revue des Études Arméniennes 39 (2020): 187-98.
  • "Nero, the Reign of Tigranes VI, and the Annexation of Armenia." Latomus 79 (2020): 761-78.
  • “Minority Religions in the Sasanian Empire: Suppression, Integration, and Relations with Rome.” Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia.  Ed. Eberhard Sauer. Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017. 181-98.
  • “Myth as Evidence in Strabo.” The Routledge Companion to Strabo. Ed. Daniela Dueck. London and New York: Routledge, 2017. 276-93.
  • Review of Francesca Gazzano, Lara Pagani, and Giusto Traina, eds., Greek Texts and Armenian Traditions: An Interdisciplinary Approach.  (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2017/2017-07-11.html)
  • Review of Warwick Ball, Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire, 2nd edition.  (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2017/2017-01-57.html)
  • “Antony and Armenia.” TAPA 145.1 (2015): 77-105.
  • Review of D. W. Roller, trans., The Geography of Strabo. Classical Review 65.2 (October 2015): 608. (http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9994079&fileId=S0009840X15001456)
  • “Armenia,” “Caucasus,” “Parthia.” The Virgil Encyclopedia. Eds. Richard Thomas and Jan Ziolkowski. Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.
  • Review of D. T. Potts, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Classical Journal Online (2014.10.08). (http://cj.camws.org/sites/default/files/reviews/2014.10.08%20Patterson%20on%20Potts.pdf)
  • “Caracalla’s Armenia.” Syllecta Classica 24 (2013): 173-99.
  • “Geographers as Mythographers: The Case of Strabo.” Writing Myth: Mythography in the Ancient World. Studies in the History and Anthropology of Religion 4. Eds. R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma. Leuven: Peeters, 2013. 201-21.
  • Review of Sviatoslav Dmitriev, The Greek Slogan of Freedom and Early Roman Politics in Greece.  History: Reviews of New Books 41.1 (January 2013): 25.
  • Review of Alan M. Greaves, The Land of Ionia: Society and Economy in the Archaic Period.(http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011-04-17.html)
  • “Strabo, Local Myth, and Kinship Diplomacy.” Hermes 138.1 (2010): 109-18.
  • “Alcman’s Partheneion and Eliade’s Sacred Time.” Classical and Modern Literature 25.1 (2005): 115-27.
  • “An Aetolian Local Myth in Pausanias?” Mnemosyne 57.3 (2004): 346-52.
  • “Pompey’s Albanian Connection at Justin XLII,3,4.” Latomus 61 (2002): 312-25.
  • “Rome’s Relationship with Artaxias I of Armenia.” Ancient History Bulletin 15.4 (2001): 154-62.

Frequently Taught Courses

  • HIS 1500: Roots of the Modern World: Society and Religion
  • HIS 3120: Ancient Egypt
  • HIS 3130: Iraq and the Ancient Near East
  • HIS 3140: Ancient Greece
  • HIS 3150: The Roman World
  • HIS 3160: Ancient Iran
  • HIS 4863: The Trojan War: History and Archaeology
  • HIS 4865: Alexander the Great
  • HIS 5440: Ancient Persia: From the Achaemenids to the Sasanians
  • HIS 5700: History of Armenia
  • HIS 5710: Roman Frontiers
  • HIS 5810: Proseminar in Premodern History

Research & Creative Interests

Two distinct fields compete for my scholarly time: political uses of myth in the Greek world (and related issues involving perceptions of myth by Strabo, Pausanias, etc.) and Roman Armenia (and related issues involving the Arsacids, the Sasanians, Roman frontier studies, etc.). My first book Kinship Myth in Ancient Greece (reviewed in BMCR) examined communities (and sometimes kings like Alexander the Great) that invoked shared putative ancestors to justify a diplomatic venture.  On authors’ attitudes toward myth I have published pieces in various venues, with recent studies in two Oxford handbooks.  On the Roman side, I am currently writing a book on Roman Armenia.  My interest in this topic has yielded a number of recent publications in journals around the world.  I am the recipient of five Achievement and Contribution Awards, three in Research in 2014, 2020, and 2024 and two in Balanced (Teaching, Research, and Service) in 2016 and 2022.

Professional Affiliations

  • Society for Classical Studies (formerly American Philological Association)
  • Classical Association of the Middle West and South
  • Association of Ancient Historians
  • American Research Institute of the South Caucasus
  • Society for Armenian Studies