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Christopher Jones

Assistant Professor of History

About

Dr. Christopher W. Jones specializes in the history of the ancient world, particularly in the history of the Neo-Assyrian empire (930-612 BC). He earned his B.A. in Peace, War, & Defense and History from the University of North Carolina, his M.A. in Biblical Archaeology from Wheaton College, and his Ph.D in History at Columbia University. Prior to coming to Union in 2023, he taught at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE) at the University of Helsinki in Finland. His research interests include imperial administration, cultural responses to living under empire, trade and international connections, and the influence of the Neo-Assyrian empire on the world of the Bible. He is currently working on a book titled The Structure of the Late Assyrian State, which explores the changing structure and internal politics of the Assyrian Empire in its final century before its collapse.

Education

  • Ph.D in History, Columbia University

  • M.A. in Biblical Archaeology, Wheaton College

  • B.A. in Peace, War, & Defense; History, University of North Carolina

Scholarship

Articles

Presentations

  • The Case for Global Assyria. (2023)

    American Society of Overseas Research Annual Meeting

  • Power and Elite Competition in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Towards a Social Network-Based Model. (2023)

    American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting

  • The Haters who Hate Assyria’: Empire, Propaganda, and Identity Formation in Babylonia during the 7th-6th Centuries BC. (2023)

    Finnish Conference on Ancient Studies

  • Neo-Babylonian Imperial Propaganda and the ‘Evil Empire’ of Assyria. (2022)

    American Society of Overseas Research Annual Meeting

  • The Rise and Fall of the Assyrian Court Scholar. (2022)

    Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting

  • The Decline and Fall of the Assyrian Empire in Babylonia: An Organizational Communication Perspective. (2021)

    American Society of Overseas Research Annual Meeting

  • The Neo-Assyrian Background of Genesis 10:1-4 and its Implications for Dating the Priestly Source. (2021)

    Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting

  • A Great King Without Rival: The Literary Memory of Sargon of Akkad in 8th-7th Century Assyria as a Background for Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-12. (2019)

    Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting

  • Removing shirk and jahiliyyah: ISIS’s Destruction of the Pre-Islamic Past as a Rejection of Nationalism. (2017)

    Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting

Dissertations

  • Power and Elite Competition in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 745-612 B.C. (2024)

    Columbia University · DOI: 10.7916/d8-ffhm-q044

Awards

  • International Association for Assyriology Prize for Best First Article (2024)

    Awarded for “Failed Coup: The Assassination of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon’s Struggle for the Throne, 681-680 B.C.”