Jesse Torgesson is a professor in the College of Letters department at Wesleyan University, focusing on the exchange and interaction between European societies and cultures of the Mediterranean basin throughout the Middle Ages. He received his BA from Biola University, and both his MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. His recent publication offers a new perspective on ninth-century history, analyzing the Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes as a call to rebellion against the Roman emperor, available as a (a free e-book!). Additionally, he has authored articles exploring novel terminology for historical practice in the digital age, and collaborative projects with Wesleyan students on such as the Constantinople as Palimpsest project which resulted in a three-week bilingual unit for AP World History).
Torgesson’s academic journey stems from a deep fascination with the complexities of human existence. He obtained his doctorate in Byzantine Empire history, expanding his focus to transdisciplinary studies in the Medieval West and Late Antiquity, as well as cross-disciplinary research in History of Art and Manuscript Studies. He finds intellectual fulfillment within Wesleyan’s College of Letters (COL), drawing on his current scholarship and undergraduate experiences at the Torrey Honors Institute and the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies for collaborative pedagogy.
You can engage with his digital history lab, explore further insights into teaching and research, or arrange a drop-in appointment.
The Ends of Time: the Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes in Ninth-Century Constantinople (Open Access via brill.com), Brill Series on the Early Middle Ages (Brill: Leiden, 2022)
- 2015 – Torgerson – From the Many One, the Shared Manuscripts of the Chronicle of Theophanes and the Chronography of Synkellos:
PDF link - 2016 – Torgerson – Would Isidore Have Delighted Cicero:
PDF link - 2021 – Humphreys et al. – Exploring Byzantine Iconoclasm: Chronicles, Histories, and Letters Brill Companion (pp. 191-229): PDF link
- 2021 – Torgerson et al – Archiving Dossier Narrative Constantinople as Palimpsest Wesleyan University, Traveler’s Lab:
PDF link - 2021 – Torgerson and Humphreys – Chronicles Histories and Letters:
PDF link - 2022 – Torgerson – Historical Practice In the Era of Digital History:
PDF link - 2022 – Torgerson – Teaching Constantinople as a (Pixelated) Palimpsest:
PDF link - 2023 – Torgerson and Gengler – The Significance of Eusebius in the Byzantine Chronographic Tradition:
PDF link - 2023 – Torgerson et al – Visualization, mapping, and the history of mobility in the Middle Ages:
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