Dr. M. Willis Monroe

I am a historian of the ancient Near East and scholar of Cuneiform Studies with a focus on the science and scholarship of first millennium Mesopotamia. I am an associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of New Brunswick. At UNB I teach courses on Ancient History and quantitative methods in historical research.

My research investigates the role of layout and structure of material text and their relation to the transmission and receptions of scientific knowledge. Most of my primary sources are Astronomical and Astrological cuneiform texts from ancient Iraq.

I am currently writing a book entitled The Micro-zodiac Texts from Seleucid Babylonia with translations of a number of cuneiform tablets from southern Iraq dating to the Hellenistic period (4th-2nd c. BCE). The book investigates the changing nature of astrology during the end of cuneiform culture.

I am also the co-director of the Database of Religious History. The DRH is a qualitative and quantitative encyclopedic database of the history of global religion.