Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons^™

The Iconography Of The Honey Bee In Western Art, Maura Wilson

Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Theses 1936 - 2022

This master’s thesis studies the ways in which the honey bee is used as a symbol in Western art, specifically between the 1^st century AD and the 17^th century. Artists have had a close relationship with honey bees since they first drew scenes of life on cave walls; since then, honey bees have been a recurring image featured in artworks spanning centuries, cultures, and religions. During the Renaissance in Europe, the honey bee was adapted from a symbol associated with fertility and polytheistic cult rituals to become a symbol of eloquence in Christianity. The community-based, diligent nature of …

Romanization Through Mosaics: Transition At Fishbourne And Colchester, Elizabeth Kurtulik Mercuri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Romanization has been discussed extensively by scholars as a way to describe the acculturation of providences under the Roman Empire. This thesis will look at mosaics from two early sites in southeast Britain and examine their connection to the Roman Empire. Fishbourne, Roman Palace presents us with a detailed view of a private villa from the first century. The city of Colchester provides a non-elite, urban perspective from the second century. Both sites contain surviving mosaics that provide a lasting imprint of the visual and material culture that was valued in Britain during its early years under Roman occupation.

In …

The Iconography Of The Gold And Silver Coinage Of Philip Ii Of Macedon And Alexander The Great, Nisha N. Ramracha

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The history of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great has been tremendously studied through ancient sources and archaeology. One approach has been through numismatics: a comprehensive study of currency in the form of coins and additional media for transactions, trade, payment and otherwise. This form of research gives scholars an economic perspective on the lives and campaigns of these renowned Macedonian Argead kings through statistical calculations in the form of weights, di-axes, ascertaining inauguration dates as well as appraisal of metals such as gold, silver and bronze in ancient economies, and deducing the locations of mints and various …

“I See” Said The Blind Man; “I Know” Said Oedipus: An Analysis Of Physical And Metaphysical Sight Through Greek Tragedy And Philosophy, Emma Barlow

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Sight in the ancient world is best understood through Greek tragedy and philosophy. There is a certain duality of sight that is present in tragedy – physical and metaphysical. Physical sight is represented through “vision” and “sight” itself. Metaphysical sight is represented through “knowing” and “understanding”. Physical and metaphysical sight do not necessarily need each other, but the combination of the two results in higher wisdom, something that is sought by one of the most prominent figures in Greek tragedy, Oedipus. In fact, Oedipus Tyrannus, Heracles, and Prometheus Bound best exemplify the duality of sight in tragedy. The seers in …

Reevaluating The Nika Riot & Placing It In Conversation With The Antioch Riot Of 387, Ty A. Richer

Honors Bachelor of Arts

The reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, from 527 to 565, despite its many high points and achievements, was a struggle for him and his people. One of his most famous, or infamous, challenges was during the Nika riots. During this time Justinian sees the people of Constantinople attempt to crown a usurper as emperor instead of him. As Justinian convened with his advisors, hiding from the mob in his palace, one question must have rung true in his mind: how did this happen? This presentation answers this question while also giving an overview to the time and the people …

Bringing The Past Into The Future: The Digitization Of Classical Archaeology And The Trasimeno Archaeology Digital Site Museum, Rebecca Kerns

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Comparing Ancient To Modern: How Ancient Greece And Rome Provide Insight For Citizenship And Immigration In The 21st Century, Viktoria Schumacher

Honors Bachelor of Arts

I believe that when searching for solutions to current migration crises and problems with the US immigration system, we must turn to ancient examples. The Ancient Greeks provided examples of both what not to do and what to do when faced with mass migration and a sudden increase in the population of citizens. Additionally, Ancient Rome demonstrated a necessity for a clear definition of citizenship and multiple mechanisms for its extension. The United States has struggled to establish a system which retains exclusivity while still providing assistance in the wake of large groups of displaced people. Ideas from Ancient Greece …

The Transactions Of Mortal Coil: Hellenic Meaning In The Suffering Of The Iliad And The Oresteia, Stephen L. Bothwell

Honors Bachelor of Arts

The meaning of suffering is enigmatic. To grasp at it cosmologically, I examine both Archaic and Classical Greek views of suffering via their primary literature and culture. Homer’s Iliad reveals the transactionality of suffering as it is embedded in the heroic code through an analysis of the Glaucus-Diomedes exchange. An investigation of Achilles’ development portrays both the Homeric system that equates honor and suffering and the unquantifiable suffering that critiques said system. Meanwhile, a study of Aeschylus’ Oresteia exhibits the interrelation of suffering and learning in Zeus’ law. The progression of the trilogy displays an accruement of wisdom by means …

Learning Church: Catechisms And Lay Participation In Early New England Congregationalism, Roberto O. Flores De Apodaca

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes catechisms and catechizing in New England religious culture from 1628-1662. These question and answer documents were intended for comprehensive religious instruction of both children and adults, and thus provide a direct window into the worldview of New England laity. In the hands of ordinary men and women, catechisms became a profound tool of religious and ecclesiastical empowerment. This thesis argues that catechisms held an indispensable role in equipping early New England men and women to participate in the government and rituals of their nascent Congregational churches. Ministers wrote catechisms to equip laity for their responsibilities of structuring …

Reevaluating The Nika Riot & Placing It In Conversation With The Antioch Riot Of 387, Ty Richer

Honors Bachelor of Arts

The reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, from 527 to 565, despite its many high points and achievements, was a struggle for him and his people. One of his most famous, or infamous, challenges was during the Nika riots. During this time Justinian sees the people of Constantinople attempt to crown a usurper as emperor instead of him. As Justinian convened with his advisors, hiding from the mob in his palace, one question must have rung true in his mind: how did this happen? This presentation answers this question while also giving an overview to the time and the people …

Orpheus And Women On 5th Century Bce Vases, Samantha Burton

Honors Thesis

In Greek myth, Orpheus is a musician with incredible talent, his music so beautiful that it charmed the beasts and guardians of the Underworld, and eventually Persephone and Hades themselves, into allowing his dead wife Eurydice to returning to the living realm. When he defied their singular rule of not turning to look back at her and she was then banished to the Underworld forever, Orpheus returned to the mortal realm, began to worship Helios instead of Dionysus, and was promptly killed by Thracian women sent by Dionysus. Alternatively, it has been told that Orpheus, wrought with heartbreak, could not …

A Typological And Iconographic Analysis Of Macedonian Burials In The Classical And Early Hellenistic Period (5th-Mid 3rd Centuries Bce), Ann Haverkost

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Much of what we know of ancient cultures comes from burials, and this is also true in Macedonia. Yet, little is known about Classical Macedonian culture outside of the nobility, and even less is known about what they thought of death. This project analyzes funerary images from Macedonia during the Classical and early Hellenistic periods (5^th- mid 3^rd century BCE) with three questions in mind. First, are there specific motifs that are more prevalent? Second, is there a change in motifs over time? Third, how are these images similar to and different from images in Greece and …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey: Report Of The 2008 Season, Nicholas K. Rauh

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project, 1996-2011

The 2008 season of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project was conducted between July 18 and August 5, 2008. The research agenda of the 2008 season consisted of off-site pedestrian survey in the highland canyon of the Biçkici River, more specifically, the terraced agricultural terrain in the village of Karatepe. The scattered communities (mahalleler) of Karatepe extend along the lower slopes of the semicircular canyon (approximately 8 km across) that encloses the Biçkici watershed. At Sugozu Yayla the crest of the canyon stands at 1700m above sea level (asl). At the base of canyon lies a long flat alluvial terrace, …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey: Report Of The 2007 Season, Nicholas K. Rauh, Hülya Caner, Ünal Akkemik

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project, 1996-2011

The 2007 season of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project was directed by Nicholas Rauh of Purdue University. Dr. Hulya Caner of the Institute for Marine Science Management at Istanbul University supervised the work of our highland pollen trench excavations. Dr. Unal Akkemik of the Department of Forest Botany, School of Forestry, at Istanbul University conducted the dendrochronological research. These scholars were assisted by graduate student, Margaret Bloome, of Arizona University, and undergraduate students Phillip Ramirez (Purdue University), Aaron Fettgather (American University), Alexander Jillions (American University) and Charlotte Rose (Brown University). Due to permit complications the field season lasted one …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey: Report Of The 2011 Season, Part Two, Nicholas K. Rauh, Matthew Dillon

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project, 1996-2011

The 2011 season of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project was conducted between July 21 and August 12 2011. During the 2011 season of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey, pedestrian survey was secondary to the main task of obtaining pollen and carbon samples from geormorphic trenches in the Taseli Plateau. If time allowed, the team walked limited transects in the vicinity of the trenches themselves. Toward the end of our stay at Gökgözlük Yayla we devoted one full day of pedestrian survey in the vicinity of Sugözü Yayla where sherd scatters had been observed in 2007, when the team excavated …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey: Report Of The 2011 Season, Part One, Nicholas K. Rauh, Ünal Akkemik, Grace Conyers, Nargul Karlioğlu, Lawrence Theller

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project, 1996-2011

The 2011 season of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project was conducted between July 21 and August 12 2011. The research agenda of the 2011 was to investigate the degraded character of highland cedar forests in the Taşeli Plateau in the Taurus Mts behind Gazipaşa (Antalya Province, Gazipaşa District, Taseli Plateau). We worked in the Taseli plateau highland region from July 25 to Aug. 5, collecting tree, pollen, and carbon samples of the highland forest; we then relocated to the Baysal Hotel in Gazipaşa to conduct archaeological survey in the midlands (mesogeia) between Aug. 6 and 12. We explain the …

Classicizing Identity: The Alt-Right, Art, And Archaeology, Nina Angileri

Senior Honors and Award-Winning Theses

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Report On The 2016 Field Season Of The American Excavations At Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (Cap), Randall Souza, Alex Walthall, Jared Benton, Elizabeth Wueste, Andrew Tharler, Benjamin Crowther, Christy Schirmer

Art Faculty Publications

In its fourth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeological investigations inside a modest house of Hellenistic date located near the western edge of the ancient urban center at Morgantina. Previous CAP excavations, conducted between 2013 and 2015, had verified the presence of an adaptive urban grid in this portion of the ancient city and, moreover, revealed much of the northern part of the building that occupied Lot 1 of insula W13/14S. Following the 2015 excavations, we came to identify this building as a modestly-appointed house that had been occupied for roughly 50 to 75 …

Gender, Dress, And Franciscan Tradition In The Mary Magdalen Chapel At San Francesco, Assisi, Penny Howell Jolly

Art History

Through the inclusion of newly invented scenes, innovative handling of established narratives, and symbolic use of clothing and hair, the Magdalen Chapel at San Francesco in Assisi (ca. 1305–19) presents a Magdalen who successfully models Franciscan values of renunciation, penitence, and caritas, her images thus resonating throughout the Upper and Lower Churches. Yet her position at San Francesco remains equivocal. As a New Testament saint, she logically functions as a model for St. Francis. His vita, however, anachronistically transforms her life, inspiring new narrative episodes—for example, her receipt of a garment—or reshaping established scenes, as at her conversion when demons …

Art History Course Texts, Don Wightman

Course Content

Information on the course readings for the topics covered in an art and art history course.