Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons^™

Curses, Oracles, And Omens—Oh My! A Board Game About Ancient Greek Religion, Amy Whitcombe

2013 AHS Capstone Projects

Religion was such a fundamental component of life within ancient Greece that there was no word for it in the Greek language. In this project, I developed a board game targeted to help undergraduate-level students learn about Greek religion and the extent to which religion pervaded Greek society. By encouraging players to win by applying techniques used to gain the gods’ favor in ancient times, players will develop an improved understanding of ancient Greek religious practices.

Nietzsche’S Zarathustra And Parodic Style: On Lucian’S Hyperanthropos And Nietzsche’S Übermensch, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

It is well-known that as a term, Nietzsche’s Übermensch derives from Lucian of Samosata’s hyperanthropos. I argue that Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman acquires new resonances by reflecting on the context of that origination from Lucian’s Kataplous – literally, “sailing into port” – referring to the soul’s journey (ferried by Charon, guided by Hermes) into the afterlife. The Kataplous he tyrannos, usually translated Downward Journey or The Tyrant, is a Menippean satire of the “overman” who is imagined to be superior to others of “lesser” station in this-worldly life and the same tyrant after his (comically unwilling ...

Why I Am Not A Materialist, John Cramer Dr.

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

Materialism is a world view that insists the world is nothing but matter. My purpose here is to show it is not a viable world view. Its monism creates severe difficulties for it, centered on the nature of the human mind and the truth of beliefs. Nor is it fit for human consumption because it denies human uniqueness and denigrates human needs.

Cassius Dio's Agrippa-Maecenas Debate: An Operational Code Analysis, Eric Adler

Classics Faculty Publications

This article discusses Cassius Dio's political thought in his Agrippa-Maecenas debate (52.2-40) through the use of a form of content analysis developed by political scientists called "operational code analysis." It offers a description of operational code analysis, which demonstrates the value of this method to the debate. It then presents an examination of Dio's operational code, from which one can glean his philosophical and instrumental views on politics. It argues, inter alia, that the Agrippa address is based on the same epistemological foundations as the Maecenean corollary. Further, the article stresses that the Agrippa oration remains consistent ...

Democracy Through Multi-Body Sortition: Athenian Lessons For The Modern Day, Terrill G. Bouricius

Journal of Public Deliberation

Mature Classical Athenian democracy is presented as a representative system, rather than the commonly described form of “direct democracy.” When viewed in this way, the commonly assumed problem of scale in applying Athenian democracy to modern nation states is solved, and principles and practices of the Athenian model of democracy continue to have relevance today. The key role of sortition (selection by lot) to form multiple deliberative bodies is explained. Five dilemmas faced by modern proposals for the use of sortition are examined. Finally, a new model of lawmaking using multiple allotted bodies is presented, which resolves these dilemmas and ...

The Experience Of Battle In The Sicilian Expedition: From The Great Harbour To The River Assinarus, Frank D. D'Earmo

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Drawing on John Keegan’s Face of Battle approach, this MA thesis reconstructs the soldiers’ experience during the final phase of the Athenians’ Sicilian Expedition (415-413 BC).

By integrating a thorough analysis of the extant historiographical sources (Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch’s Life of Nicias) with the intrinsic aspects of ancient Greek naval and land warfare, the topography around Syracuse, and the Athenian soldiers’ psychological condition, I seek to improve our understanding of how and why the Athenians and their allies lost the decisive naval engagement in the Great Harbour and failed to escape the Syracusans during their final retreat ...

The Application Of Second Language Acquisition Theory To New Testament Greek Pedagogy, Josiah P. Wegner

Senior Honors Papers

The effect of outdated NT Greek pedagogy has left many seminary students ill-equipped to properly exegete using the NT Greek language. Many seminary students graduate with a firm knowledge of syntactic rules, but they are still unable to read the NT text without having to constantly consult a Greek grammar and dictionary. Even though the current style of teaching has been used for many years, research in second language acquisition has exposed that the traditional translation method has many flaws. One of these researchers, Stephen Krashen, has identified that the key to language competence is not learning vocabulary and grammar ...

Changing Public Policy And The Evolution Of Roman Civil And Criminal Law On Gambling, Suzanne B. Faris

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

In Ancient Rome, gambling, at least in the form of dice games, was generally considered a vice, yet the only known criminal statutes prohibiting it were only sporadically and selectively enforced. Otherwise, aside from a legal prohibition on the enforceability of gambling debts and some limited private rights of action, the Roman state as a whole displayed what can only be described as a “laissez faire” policy toward all forms of gambling. What we would now call “sports betting” was exempted from the statutory prohibition altogether. This remained the case well into the Christian period, when a general crackdown might ...

A Life Unlived: The Roman Funerary Commemoration Of Children From The First Century Bc To The Mid-Second Century Ad, Barbara N. Scarfo

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is concerned with the representation of children on sculptural funerary commemoration, with a focus on freedmen panel reliefs and funerary altars. Although there is evidence found from all regions of the Empire, the majority of the material discussed here is from the city of Rome itself. Representations of young children first appear on freedmen panel reliefs, which date to the end of the Republic and were produced into the first century of the Empire. When this genre declined in popularity at the end of the first century AD, funerary altars emerged as the new, preferred form of commemoration ...

The Deinomenids Of Sicily: The Appearance And Representation Of A Greek Dynastic Tyranny In The Western Colonies, Louise M. Savocchia

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

The aim of this thesis has been to investigate and analyze the tyranny of the Deinomenids (491 – 466 BC), a family who controlled several Greek colonies located on the island of Sicily. Modern classical scholarship has often ignored the history and contributions this family has made to the Greek world or has taken a limited view of the family.

I intend to present a comprehensive account of the Deinomenids and to demonstrate how this family, which has received little attention, played a major role in the Greek world. I will look into several aspects regarding their tyranny that have often ...

A Marginal Hero: The Representations Of Diomedes In The Greek World, Telmo C. Medeiros

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

The epic hero Diomedes is, in my opinion, considered a marginal hero, as he is relegated to a backbench in ancient Greek thought and ideology. I examine why this is the case, considering his role and impact in Homer's Iliad. Greek society valued its epic heroes beyond the words of the poets, yet some heroes received much more attention that others as central characters in tragedy and iconography, consequently regarded as favourites by mass audiences. I believe that examining a marginal hero like Diomedes is important in order to understand why Greek culture generally disregarded some warriors in favour ...

Moral Revision In Latin Ethnography: A Reassessment Of Tacitus’ Germania And Caesar’S Bellum Gallicum, Joseph D. Davis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

ABSTRACT

The preponderance of interest in the Roman frontier and its peripheral non-Roman cultures has manifested itself in all aspects of the discipline of Classical Studies: from material archaeology to the social historian’s inquiry into the voiceless minorities in antiquity. Consequently, scholarship pertaining to the ethnography of those who inhabited the frontier has been made intrinsically more important. Nevertheless, outdated modes of inquiry and overly positivistic interpretations have dictated their study and, in some cases, stripped texts of their underlying significance. Tacitus’ Germania is one such text.

Within the ethnographic tradition, the Germania exists as a series of puzzling ...

Whitlow, Ruth, 1886-1962 (Sc 2556), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2556. Notebook of Ruth Whitlow, kept while she was a student at Vanderbilt Training School, containing translations of the Roman poet Virgil.

Athena In The Mediterranean: A Comparative Analysis Of The Evidence For Cult Worship Of Athena In Athens And The South Italian City-States Of Magna Graecia, Annette Goldmacher

Colgate Academic Review

As a Summer Research Project for the Classics Division of the Humanities Department, I studied the worship of the Greek goddess, Athena. As the Greeks spread to inhabit large portions of modern-day Italy, bringing to these lands their religion. Of course, the physical separation from their ancestral land led to variations in lifestyle. Different religious needs and altered priorities led the Greeks to change their habits of devotion. In this paper, I explore how these cultural differences impacted the worship of Athena in Magna Graecia, as compared to that in her home-city, Athens.

'Predicting' The Future Of Library Opac: Assistive Technologies For Everyone, Danielle K.L. Lee-Muma

Danielle K.L. Lee-Muma

Word prediction, unlike the broader area of predictive text which can include T9 language for cellphones without full keyboards, is intended to make typing easier in augmentative and alternative communication for individuals with cognitive and physical impediments (Garay-Vitoria and Abascal 2006, pg 188). While word prediction is intended for AAC, it has potential to alleviate or eliminate the disconnection between library patrons and the Library of Congress Subject Headings used by librarians in cataloguing. Library users often use keywords instead of subject headings because they do not understand the use and syntax of the Library of Congress Subject Headings. By ...