FACULTY DIRECTORY E-H
Meet our experts!
Michael Furman
"Thebes"
Michael Furman is a historian of Greece in the fourth century BC with a focus on the city of Thebes and the wider region of Boeotia. After earning his Ph.D. in Ancient History from the University of St Andrews he has held multiple positions at Florida State University first in the Department of Classics and now as the Associate Director of the University Honors Program. His teaching focuses on demonstrating the relevance of the ancient world to today with courses on pseudoarchaeology, gaming, appropriations of the ancient world, public scholarship, and more. Dr. Furman relishes any opportunity to talk about the awesomeness of Thebes, decry the influence of Athens, and poke fun at the occasional absurdity of classical academia.
Stephen Harrison
"Alexander the Great"
Stephen Harrison is an ancient historian at Swansea University. His work explores the ancient Near East and ancient Greece, focusing particularly on the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World. His first book, Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies (Reaktion, 2025), tries to shed light not just on Alexander himself but on the people around him, and on the challenges that historians face when trying to reconstruct his life. His second, Kingship and Empire under the Achaemenids, Alexander the Great, and the Early Seleucids (Edinburgh University Press), uses ideas about monarchy and imperialism to explore cross-cultural interactions. You can find him exploring his favourite stories from the ancient world on Instagram and YouTube @stephenharrisonhistory.