Digital Commons Network^™

Timeless Teachings & Unbridled Possibilities, Ruijie Tai

Masters Theses

I am looking at is process of TRANSLATING AND BRIDGING.

Qi, traditionally understood as the vital force that flows through and animates living beings and the environment, lies at the edge of our perceptual capabilities.

The notion that what we cannot "see" holds significant influence over our world suggests that there are aspects of reality and forces at play beyond our direct sensory experience. AI, with its capacity for analyzing vast amounts of data and recognizing patterns beyond human capability, offers a unique tool for exploring these unseen forces.

The potential of AI to perceive and understand Qi could open …

Biblical Literacy And The Creative Mind, Michael Farrell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biblical Literacy and the Creative Mind will explore interpretation tracing the history of English literature back to biblical aspirations and its continued profound influence on Western human perspectives. It will examine the decline in adults reading literary texts and the diminishing number of English majors among prospective students. I am arguing for poetic interpretations over hermeneutic ones, which analyze what is structurally in a sentence to make a reader feel a certain way. I will use the theory of intertextuality, meaning a text comprises the consumption of past texts, to aid my argument. This theory underscores the importance of celebrated …

Mythos And Meaning: Medieval Appropriations Of Mythological Types In The Consolation Of Philosophy And Later Western Literatures, Francis J. Hunter

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Often referred to as the last Roman and first medieval, Boethius, author of The Consolation of Philosophy, has been widely received as an unoriginal philosopher who sought to preserve Platonic thought as the Western Roman Empire fell. However, this essay features an investigation into the literary originality of Boethius who initiates a line of Christian and Platonic literatures to follow in the medieval European tradition. Boethius demonstrates himself to be a poet who makes great use of philosophy rather than as a philosopher writing poetry. Boethius’ poetic influence is felt most strongly in major aspects of Dante’s Divine Comedy and …

The Metaphor Of Ekphrasis: Or Why Does Your Ekphrasis Look Different From Mine?, William Butler

Student Research Submissions

Will Butler

Professor Kennedy

ENGL_445K_01

Seminar: Epic Tradition

The Metaphor of Ekphrasis:

or Why does your Ekphrasis look different from mine?

Ekphrasis is the ultimate extrapolation of symbols and metaphors. It is a set of words purported to describe a physical object that carries its own symbolism and, sometimes, portrays allusions to other narratives. Like the idea of a sign, words represent ekphrasis but, like a metaphor, ekphrasis represents something other than itself. This paper illustrates how a narrative description of an object can be filled with emotion and imagery, while being interpreted in distinctly diverse ways by individuals reading …

In Her Own Voice: Examining The Portrayal Of Briseis Across Ancient Sources And Modern Retellings, Paige Phillips

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis attempts to reconcile the modern perspective on the Iliad with that of the ancient material through translation, utilizing two translations of the Iliad from its original Greek to English, from 1951 and 2023, Ovid’s letter from Briseis to Achilles in translation from Latin to English, and two modern novels published in 2012 and 2018.

Archaic Burials In The Necropolis Of Aigai And The Manufacturing Of Significance In Archaeology, Abigail Chapman

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The excavation of Ancient Aigai, modern Vergina in Greece, has unearthed a wealth of archaeological treasures, including Macedonian tombs attributed to Philip II and Alexander the Great. However, the manufactured significance imposed on these excavations has shaped the contemporary understanding of Archaic burial practices in Aigai. This paper aims to understand how the constructed narratives surrounding these excavations influence current ideas on burial customs in Aigai during the Archaic period. By analyzing the layout of the city and its necropolis, scholarship can gain valuable insights into the social structure of Archaic Macedonia. This can help to develop a more complete …

From Stone To Silicone: Interdisciplinary Insights Into The Co-Evolution Of Humans, Tools And Technologies, Mahnoor Zahid '24

Honor Scholar Theses

Excerpt: "The following thesis then explores how we as a species evolved in accordance to our tool technology. My initial hypothesis was that humans evolved because our tool technology made us smarter: the more we engaged with our tools, the more our brains found different ways to challenge themselves. This hypothesis stemmed from the initial observation I, as a modern human, have made: the more enriched our environment is as a human, the more our brains are able to grow. As children we are taught that exercise, books, and problem solving activities help the successful development and maturation of our …

The Display Of Egyptian And Egyptianizing Antiquities In The Vatican Museums: The Papacy And The Public Perception Of Classical Antiquity, Andrew Conarty '24

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis examines the Popes' influence on the public's understanding of Ancient Egypt through their display of Egyptian and Egyptianizing antiquities in the Vatican Museums, the Pope's public art collections in the Vatican. The Vatican Museums exhibit not only Egyptian and Egyptianizing antiquities but also internationally famous Greco-Roman antiquities (such as the Laocoon and Belvedere Torso), the Sistine Chapel and all of its paintings, and Ancient Near Eastern artifacts. Since the Vatican Museums, the Pope's public art collections in the Vatican, receive over six million visitors per year, the Pope's ability to affect how the general population views the Classical …

Priestesshoods As Expressions Of Civic Identity, Isabella Kershner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis offers a comprehensive examination of the role of priestesshoods in shaping the civic identity of women in Classical Athens. It challenges the traditional narrative that confines Athenian women to the domestic sphere by highlighting their public and influential roles in religious practices. Through a meticulous analysis of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic evidence, the study traces the journey of Athenian females from childhood rituals to the esteemed positions of the High Priestess of Athena Nike and Athena Polias, revealing how these religious roles served as both a spiritual passage and a civic curriculum.

The thesis argues that these priestesshoods …

Iuno… Saevissima: Patriarchy, Divinity, And Villainy In Imperial Roman Epic, Nolan Michael Cicci

Honors Theses

Juno is a Roman deity with a significant amount of scholarship around her impact on Roman literature and Roman social life. Her divine department is as the protector of motherhood, banks, family order, marriage, and women in general. Many Roman temples still exist that immortalize her. However, there is another aspect to her character that is at odds to her portrayal in day-to-day Roman life, mainly her portrayal in the Roman epics of Virgil's Aeneid and Silius Italicus' Punica. Virgil (fl. ~26. B.C.) and Silius Italicus (b. ~26 A.D.) wrote, respectively, examples of epic literature, both which detail the myths …

Pompeiian Mill-Bakeries: Spatial Organization And Social Interaction, Madeleine Rubin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines bread production and the daily lives of those who worked in mill-bakeries during the first century CE. Bread was the staple food across the ancient Mediterranean; however, there is little textual evidence about those who produced the bread that fed the Roman Empire. The most significant body of evidence relating to the lives of mill-bakers is the archaeological remains of mill-bakeries from the city of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. This thesis analyzes the spatial organization of bread production within these mill-bakeries and applies the methodologies of spatial syntax – a …

The Dependent Nature Of Enlightenment And Capitalism: Discourse On How Civilization Needs Capitalism To Curb The Effects Of Enlightenment, Katriel Lee

Student Research Submissions

This paper examines the interplay between the intellectual movements of enlightenment, the economic system of capitalism, and the manifestation of violent racist ideologies like antisemitism and anti-black racism. The core argument is that while the enlightenment ideals of reason, universality, and human dominance over nature inherently set the stage for categorizing and objectifying groups seen as deviating from the desired uniformity, the emergence of extreme racist violence like the Holocaust requires the additional factors of a failing capitalist economy and the rise of totalitarian governments. In the modern American context, racist thought persists in the more covert form of color-blindness. …

From Never Enough To Nothing At All: An Investigation Of Political Commentary In Euripides' Medea, Eleanor Clark

Student Research Submissions

When studying the plays of Euripides, scholars have often focused on the playwright’s social commentary while paying less attention to the relationship between the plays’ plots and the political environment in Greece at the time of their production. Furthermore, although many of Euripides’ plays have been identified as referencing contemporary political events, scholars have made no such assertions regarding the Medea. Through an examination of Euripides’ Medea and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, this study seeks to address this gap in scholarship by taking into account the political context at the time which it was written and first produced. …

Coming Out Of The Coffin: The History And Present Of Queerness In The Vampire Genre., Bailey Drummond

Honors Projects

This essay delves into the captivating and lasting influence of vampires on popular culture since their creation. The fascination with vampires can be traced back to literary works such as John Polidori's "The Vampyre" and Bram Stoker's classic "Dracula," which have served as foundations for vampire mythology across different media platforms. Despite the evolution of media and cultural contexts, certain themes surrounding vampires have persisted throughout history. Notably, vampires have been portrayed as symbols of sexuality and queerness, reflecting societal fears and desires from past eras to the present day. These themes have been critically analyzed and dissected in various …

Creating Legitimacy: The Dyarchy In Spartan Social Memory, Stephanie J. Dennie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Scholars of the constitutional development of Archaic Sparta and its dyarchy (or dual kingship) have long considered Tyrtaios’ Eunomia contemporary evidence for the mysterious lawgiver Lykourgos, whose alleged reforms have largely been reconstructed from late-Classical and Roman sources. According to orthodox narratives of Lykourgos, seventh-century Sparta enjoyed internal stability and good governance, but Tyrtaios’ seventh-century poem strongly suggests the continued existence of civil strife. Drawing on social memory studies and archaeological survey data, this dissertation questions the Lykourgan grand narrative and explores the capacity of Tyrtaios’ Eunomia to help us recontextualize Sparta’s socio-political development in the seventh century BCE.

I …

See The Tears And Hear The Tales: Ancient Lessons From The Odyssey To Address Timeless Human Needs For Recovery, Aimee M. Smith

Master of Arts in Classical Studies

The ancient text of the Odyssey reveals a timeless truth that remains significant in modern days: people need to be seen and heard in order to recover from life’s difficulties. Scholarship from literary trauma theorists during the past several decades has provided insights into the recovery process from traumatic experiences. Combat trauma theory, in particular, has provided a foundation for analysis of the ancient Greek epics for exploration of the universality of the experience of human trauma and suffering. Through analysis of the nostos or homecoming process of Odysseus, the reader recognizes the importance of offering opportunity through xenia of …

Naturalist Thomas Hardy's Inadvertent Support Of The Gospel Narrative When Portraying Sexual Abuse And Shame In Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Hannah Carmichael

Master of Arts in Classical Studies

In his novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the naturalist author Thomas Hardy attempts to critique the 19th-century Christian perspective on sexual abuse. Instead, he inadvertently critiques legalism, exposing it as the antithesis of true Christianity. Secular scholars believe that Hardy’s novel is blaming the Victorian era’s sexual ignorance for the stigma and shame surrounding sexual abuse. Christian scholars believe that Hardy’s naturalistic worldview simply lacks a moral standard. However, I believe that Hardy’s novel exposes an issue far deeper than sexual ignorance and lacks something far more substantive than a moral standard; his novel addresses the devastating consequences of …

Dispelling Delusion And Seeing Nature: A Comparative Analysis Of Lucretius’ _De Rerum Natura_ And Hui-Neng’S _Platform Sutra_, Isaac Raymond

Honors Theses

Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura and Hui-neng’s Platform Sutra have never been compared in a scholarly context; as such, this paper builds a new bridge between Western and Eastern philosophical literature, examining language, narrative, ethics, teleology, theology, and departures from orthodox philosophies in order to synthesize a clear and complete view of the two works in dialogue. De Rerum Natura, or On the Nature of Things, is a first-century BC epic poem composed in Latin by Titus Lucretius Carus which explains Epicurean philosophy in great detail through verse. The Platform Sutra is an eighth-century AD Chinese Zen (Ch’an) Buddhist sermon, …

Laurel: Narrative Poems Of A Life, Rebecca Arabian

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Visualizing Ancient Empire In Tudor England: Imperial Monarchy, Reformation, And The Antique Soldier In The Title Page To Richard Grafton’S Large Chronicle (1569), Peter Nicholas Otis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the iconography and visual sources of the title page to the first volume of A chronicle at large and meere history of the affayres of Englande (1569) by the Tudor author Richard Grafton. Representing the visual synthesis of several distinct but interrelated currents that developed in the preceding century, the title page to the Large Chronicle offers a rare glimpse into a transitional moment in the middle Tudor perception and visual representation of the British past. These currents include imperializing royal iconography, with origins in antecedent representations in the late fifteenth century; the entry of the ‘classicizing’ …

The Nature Of Albanian Nasal-Stop Sequences: Phonetic, Phonological, Sociolinguistic & Historical Behavior, Patrick A. Gehringer

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

The Albanian language is relatively unique among the Indo-European languages with its word initial nasal-stop sequences. Despite broad characterizations, the phonetic, phonological, and sociolinguistic properties of these sequences have not been analyzed with the same rigor as languages with similar sequences. I employ phonetic, perceptual dialectological and historical methods to examine not only how these clusters are employed by speakers in today’s Albanian linguistic landscape, but also to the historical mechanisms and timing of the development of these clusters and their variants within Albanian. With a combined spectral and aerodynamic analysis, I have identified that these clusters are phonemically composed …

The Merit Of Adaptation: An Exploration Of Adaptation In Regard To Sophocles’ Theban Plays And The Role Of Antigone Within The Story, Hogan T. Holt

Theses and Dissertations

The creation of an adaptation is extremely challenging and time-consuming, but with the right tools and inspiration, that task of creation can be eased. By looking at three different adaptations of the Theban plays, the goal of creating a new adaptation of this series of plays can be achieved. At the same time, this adaptation can achieve a goal of highlighting an important character from the original set of plays, Antigone, and give her a role that elevates her to the main protagonist across all three plays, thus allowing the Theban plays to become a more feminine piece that works …

Judicial Rhetoric And The Rhetoric Of Myth In "Till We Have Faces", Maria Wilkening

Master of Arts in Classical Studies

C.S. Lewis is unquestionably one of the more enduring influences in the 20th century, due in part to his personal popularity during his lifetime, as well as to his prolific and approachable oeuvre in wide-ranging genres such as apologetics, fiction, and public debate and address. Lewis has only become more popular since his death, with continued interest building after the more recent development of movie interpretations depicting both his fiction and life. C.S. Lewis’s corpus is certainly vast, and even more has been written about C.S. Lewis and his writings since his death. Strong scholarship exists, particularly in the areas …

Penelope: Our Cunning Hero, Rossana Leal

CMC Senior Theses

In the literary world, Homer’s Odyssey has served as a fundamental text in the Western canon. It was influential to great writers such as Virgil and Dante, along with being a significant influence in Ancient Greek religion. The subject of both mystery and celebration, Homer remains one of the most prominent authors in literary history. His work has received several interpretations over the years. This thesis takes a feminist and modern approach to the epic poem, focusing on Penelope as the protagonist of the epic and argues for her status as not just an equal partner for her husband, but …

The Contested Exempla Of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Victoria Theresa White

Dissertations and Theses

In 82 BCE, Lucius Cornelius Sulla emerged the victor of his civil war against the supporters of Marius and Cinna. The brutal aftermath of this victory, characterized by the creation of the proscriptions, would brand Sulla as a cruel and immoderate victor. Still, his successes in Rome’s previous wars against foreign enemies had enshrined Sulla as a brilliant military commander within Roman memory. Previous scholarship about Sulla has focused on the dichotomy of Sulla’s actions, often in order to evaluate his clemency or cruelty and his aims of his political reforms. This thesis analyzes how ancient Roman and Greek authors …

Deconstructing Decapitation In Late Roman Gloucestershire And Oxfordshire, Uk, Shaheen M. Christie

Theses and Dissertations

The Roman conquest in Britain (AD 43) led to significant changes in indigenous settlements and agricultural systems, population diversity, social organization, economic activities, and funerary traditions. Archaeological investigations of burials from the first to fifth centuries AD in Britain have revealed a complex array of burial treatments and attitudes toward the dead, including decapitation burials, which are the most common form of differential burial represented in this period. Traditional interpretations of these burials have included infanticide, punitive execution, trophy taking, fear of the dead, and veneration practices. This project investigates a sample of decapitation burials from Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire dating …

Applying 3d Structured Light Scanning To Roman Leather Insoles From Vindolanda: A Novel Approach To Podiatric Data Collection, Maria Lorene Glanfield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis research introduces a novel 3D structured light scanning and digital, post-processing enhancement methodology influenced by digital approaches used in anthropological archaeology, ichnology, and forensic podiatry to the analysis of Roman leather insoles from Vindolanda. The primary objective was to capture 2D and 3D footprint impression evidence on the surface of 81 insoles for enhanced visualization and analysis in order to refine the quality of podiatric data that can be extracted from Roman footwear. I conducted three case studies (pointed toe, sandal, and children’s insoles) based on a set of distinct, but related research questions concerning the refinement of …

Shoe Modifications And Foot Health: A Case Study From Roman Britain, Casey Elizabeth Kay Boettinger

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, I undertake an examination of foot care practices in Antiquity. The majority of the discussion surrounding foot care comes from evidence of shoe modifications at Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort located in northern Britain. I provide a general discussion about herbal and non-herbal remedies for foot conditions, as recorded by medical authors. This discussion precedes a case study of selected shoes from Vindolanda, where I write about five modification types that demonstrate the sort of knowledge that existed at Vindolanda. The findings from this thesis suggest that podiatric knowledge and foot care existed as early as the …

Music As A Tool For Ecstatic Space Design, Pranav Amin

Masters Theses

Music and architecture share a sacred bond across cultures. Their histories intertwine and together, they shape ritualistic, religious, and popular practices. As one of the few remaining avenues of universal transcendental experiences that have been so integral to humans, music’s ability to create ecstatic spaces is ever more necessary for the modern human. This thesis uses spatial, artificial intelligence, visual, and aural tools—while engaging in a dialogue between rationalist architecture and shamanic conceptions of spaces—to create an ecstatic space that seeks to reimagine the union of music and architecture. It reveals new ways in which this union can be experienced …

Life Styles, Death Styles, And Posthumous Portraiture: Elite Female Burials In Iron Age Europe, Emily Ryan Stanton

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the grave good assemblages in 222 burial contexts from HallstattD (c. 600-400 BCE) tumulus cemeteries in west-central Europe to test the hypothesis that certain combinations of grave goods were associated with particular categories of persons based on an intersectional marking of gender, status, age and social role. The primary data set consists of high-status graves – male, female, ungendered/pre-gendered subadults, and those of indeterminate gender – in the Heuneburg interaction sphere in southwest Germany. The results of this analysis are compared to a secondary data set of comparable burials from other west-central European locations, to determine whether …