Kenneth W. Harl
Tulane University
Ph.D., Yale University
 
Dr. Kenneth W. Harl is Professor of Classical and Byzantine History at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he teaches courses in Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader history. He earned his B.A. from Trinity College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Recognized as an outstanding lecturer, Professor Harl has received numerous teaching awards at Tulane, including the coveted Sheldon H. Hackney Award. He has earned Tulane's annual Student Body Award for Excellence in Teaching nine times and is the recipient of Baylor University's nationwide Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers.

In 2007, he was the Lewis P. Jones Visiting Professor in History at Wofford College. An expert on classical Anatolia, he has taken students with him into the field on excursions and to assist in excavations of Hellenistic and Roman sites in Turkey.

Professor Harl has also published a wide variety of articles and books, including his current work on coins unearthed in an excavation of Gordion, Turkey, and a new book on Rome and her Iranian foes. A fellow and trustee of the American Numismatic Society, Professor Harl is well known for his studies of ancient coinage. He is the author of Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East, A.D. 180–275 and Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700.
 
Courses by this professor:

Vikings  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Explorers and traders, the Vikings sailed from Newfoundland to Baghdad, across raging seas and swift rivers, extending trade and prosperity in voyages of creative destruction. By 1100, however, the Vikings had disappeared, having willingly shed their identity and dissolved into the mists of myth and legend. How did this happen? And how should we remember this formidable civilization? Who were the Vikings? Dr. Kenneth W. Harl rediscovers these warriors, artists, merchants, poets, and kings, explaining their role on the world stage.
Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Uncover deep mysteries about the ancient civilizations of the Near East—and their indelible impact on the history of the world—with Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations. This course is your introduction to the fascinating civilizations that often receive only a few lines of cursory discussion in the average textbook on Western civilization, including: the Hitties, the Assyrians, and the Sumerians. Along the way, award-winning Professor Kenneth W. Harl examines the evolution of writing, the development of vast empires, and the growth of trade. Filled with insights into ancient history, this course will give you a new appreciation of our own roots, and a rock-solid foundation for deeper exploration.
World of Byzantium  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Open new vistas of historical insight as you join award-winning scholar and lecturer Kenneth W. Harl in this study of the crucial yet overlooked civilization of Byzantium. These lectures fill a gap in history and give you a much wider and more accurate perspective on everything from the decline of imperial Rome to the rise of the Renaissance.
Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Go beyond the myth to learn about ancient history's greatest military leader and his time in Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire. In 36 spellbinding lectures, you'll enter Alexander's world and witness the astonishing feats of military genius that have made Alexander's name renowned to the present day. An expert on the classical world, Professor Kenneth W. Harl introduces you to all sides of this fascinating figure—the passions that drove him, the extraordinary talents and insights he brought to the battlefield, and the intensive training that helped mold his character. With this detailed portrait, you'll truly understand what made Alexander so great.
Rome and the Barbarians  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Who were the barbarians, and how could Rome wield its power against them for centuries? This course tells the story of complex relationships between these different cultures and their Roman conquerors from 300 B.C. to A.D. 600 as they intermarried, exchanged ideas, and, in the ensuing provincial Roman cultures, formed the basis of Western European civilization.
Era of the Crusades  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Professor Kenneth Harl, Tulane University’s nine-time teaching award winner, leads a thorough and intellectually challenging analysis of one of history’s most renowned and influential periods of religious warfare. You will fully appreciate how Western civilization changed in many profound ways during the Crusading era, and explore misperceptions and long-debated questions about the Crusades.
Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
The peninsula of Asian Turkey, known to the Greeks as Anatolia and to the Romans as Asia Minor, is about the size of Texas. This small subcontinent has arguably seen more history than any other comparably sized patch of Earth anywhere. Professor Kenneth W. Harl discusses Asia Minor’s pivotal role in history in this engaging, original presentation.
Peloponnesian War  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University

The ancient Greek historian Thucydides called it "a war like no other"—arguably the greatest in the history of the world up to that time. The Peloponnesian War pitted Athens and her allies against a league of city-states headed by Sparta. Thucydides's eyewitness account of the war has been a classic for 24 centuries and is still studied for its profound truths about the nature of human strife. In The Peloponnesian War, Professor Kenneth Harl draws on this masterpiece and other ancient sources to give you a full picture of the Greek world in uneasy peace and then all-out war in the late 5th century B.C.
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$570 		Medieval World & Vikings (Set)  
By Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Draw connections between the experiences of medieval Europeans and Vikings in this dynamic two-course set. Find out what life was like for everyday men and women during the Middle Ages with The Medieval World. Then, in The Vikings, explore the important role that these warriors, artists, merchants, poets, and kings played on the world stage.