Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of Tales Of Dionysus: The Dionysiaca Of Nonnus Of Panopolis, Dominic Greenlee

Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Egyptianization: Tackling Faulty Narratives With Respect To Ancient Nubian And Ancient Egyptian Relationships, Antony Schultz

Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

The study of Ancient Nubia has been beset by barriers to accurate information. One such barrier, Egyptocentrism, negatively impacts the narrative of Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Nubian relationships by solely placing focus on Egypt without regard to Nubia. Egyptocentric thought, such as the idea of “Egyptianization”, and the theory of Egypt in a vacuum are two of the most poignant narratives perpetrated by scholars. Egyptianization implies the assimilation of Egyptian traits and downplays Nubian identity, agency, and culture. It suggests that Nubians lacked a distinct culture of their own and relied upon Egypt for their identity and ability to nation …

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 …

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 …

Orpheus And The Harrowing Of Hell In The Tale Of Beren And Lúthien, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Critics have observed that Beren and Lúthien’s tale is a Christian retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The “Harrowing of Hell” tradition is widespread in Italy as attested by the mosaic of San Marco among others, but it is in France that the Ovid Moralized reconnects it to Orpheus who descended into the Underworld to save Eurydice (an already late antique parallel) and therefore attests a happy ending version of the story that can be found in medieval England and also in various classical sources, perhaps even in the original legend of Orpheus. The apocryphal Harrowing is also …

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 …

The Impact Of The Gut-Brain Axis On Alzheimer’S Disease, Elissa Wakim

Best Integrated Writing

Elissa’s review for the Graduate Biomedical Review focuses on the links between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain; the gut-brain axis and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. As a student in the Microbiology and Immunology Masters Program Elissa was particularly interested in the gut microbiota and their connection to neurodegenerative disease. She tidily reviewed the literature and wrote a fascinating and compelling piece of work.

Best Integrated Writing 2024 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University. This is the first issue after a 5 year hiatus.

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’ …

Digitizing Delphi: Educating Audiences Through Virtual Reconstruction, Kate Koury

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Implementing a 3D model into a virtual space allows the general public to engage critically with archaeological processes. There are many unseen decisions that go into reconstructing an ancient temple. Analysis of available materials and techniques, predictions of how objects were used, decisions of what sources to reference, puzzle piecing broken remains together, and even educated guesses used to fill gaps in information often go unobserved by the public. This work will educate users about those choices by allowing the side-by-side comparison of conflicting theories on the reconstruction of the Tholos at Delphi, which is an ideal site because of …

The Ktisis Of The Early Christian Kourion: The Cosmic Symbolism Of The Mosaics In The House Of Eustolios And The Emergence Of Christian Kourion, Clay Carpenter

Doctoral Dissertations

The fourth and fifth centuries AD comprise a crucial transitional period in the history of Western Civilization. With the legalization and triumph of Christianity, the Roman Imperial world was, in time, entirely transfigured in all sectors of human life – the religious, the social, the political, and the economic. For the archaeologist in particular, the changes to the configuration and orientation of the urban space of the classical cities that abundantly dotted the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean are high upon this list of transformations. During these centuries, the classical city or polis of antiquity would begin to fade, giving …

The Roman Language Policy: Its Parts, Presence, And Consequences, Lilianna Darnell

Honors Bachelor of Arts

No abstract provided.

The Pie Verb: A New Reconstruction, Percy Huffman

Honors Bachelor of Arts

No abstract provided.

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 …

Northeast Insulae Project: Context And Analysis (Revised Edition), Mark Schuler

The Final Report

This volume of the Final Report places the excavation of the northeast insulae into its historical and archaeological context and draws interpretive conclusions from the work done. Much of the material presented here is repeated in a second volume which recounts the history of the project sequentially. But the focus in this volume is on interpretation of the material remains in their context.

2023 Addendum To The Rough Cilicia Kiln Site Ceramics (Syedra, Delice, Biçkici, And Antiochia Ad Cragum): An Update To The Kiln Sites, Nicholas K. Rauh

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project, 1996-2011

This addendum summarizes the ceramic remains recovered by the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project at four posited amphora kiln sites in the survey area: the Syedra Kiln Site, the Biçkici Kiln site, the Antiochia ad Cragum Kiln Site, and the Delice Kiln Site. All four sites were identified early on during the survey (1995-1997). The survey team conducted grab collections and triaged dozens of sherds recovered by 1997, before returning the bulk of these fragments to the field. A representative sample of the amphora fragments together with context ceramics for each site was conserved at the Alanya Archaeological Museum. In …

Sexual Agency And Erotic Depictions Of Sexually Non-Normative Women In Ancient Roman Art, Laura Young

School of Art Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ancient Roman women, regardless of their status, were to some extent bound by the sexual norms of their time. Much of the textual and visual evidence constructs the ideal Roman woman as a chaste and sexually submissive matron figure, loyal to her husband and the bearer of his citizen descendants. These patriarchal norms appear to have given women little room to exercise their own agency in and out of their sexual relationships. Accepting these ideals of female sexuality, scholars have often characterized normative male-female sex in the ancient Roman world as a sexual act in which the woman is in …

A Typological And Chemical Analysis Of Roman Oil Lamps From Poggio Del Molino, Brandon Tejo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Terracotta lamps, known to the Romans as lucernae, are small, handheld, often decorated objects which provided ancient people light. To modern researchers, they serve as tools for dating stratigraphy and iconographic studies. Beyond their immediately apparent aesthetic and symbolic value, the chemical compositions of the clay of these lamps reflect their origin. This study complements archaeological typologies with chemometric analyses to describe 16 Late Republican and Imperial Roman lamps recovered from the villa at Poggio del Molino (PdM), Tuscany. These finds were recovered from the 2021 and 2022 PdM excavations. The combined approach of typology with X-ray Diffraction (XRD) …

Beyond Romanization: An Indigenous Study Of Cultural Change In Classical Britain, Brooke Prevedel

Student Research Submissions

The Roman Empire is among the best-known empires in the world, renowned for unifying vastly different peoples and lands. The process of these unifications was, at times, something resembling peaceful, but was at other times much more violent. Regardless of the method of acquisition, peoples brought into the Roman Empire always experienced some degree of cultural change. The modern study of this cultural change has most often been examined through the lens of Romanization, a mostly one-way transfer of Roman cultural practices onto the conquered territory and culture. Romanization, however, presents too narrow and too historically imperialist an approach to …

Androgynous Figures On Etruscan Cista Handles From Praeneste, Melanie Naples

LSU Master's Theses

Muscular women and effeminate men adorn the lids of Etruscan Cistae found in Praeneste (modern Palestrina, 23 miles southeast of Rome, Italy). Cistae (Latin plural of cista) are storage containers used by the Etruscans for women’s beauty items. This thesis focuses on the androgynous, mostly nude, figures that serve as handles and are often displayed in pairs. These pairs frequently depict a man and a woman together and androgynous qualities are usually emphasized on the female figures. Discussions of the androgynous body in the ancient world have centered around Greece and Rome. Only recently (Sandhoff 2007, 2009, 2011), scholarship has …

The Development And Adoption Of The Codex, Rutherford Allison

Honors Bachelor of Arts

One of the longest-lasting and least recognized changes that occurred under the Roman Empire is the transition from scrolls as a vessel for literature to codices, the format which, in some way, is still used today. Indeed, until the invention of the printing press, texts had not undergone as impactful a shift as was experienced during the period between 250 and 450 AD. This shift was tied closely to the spread of Christianity; the codex’s rise to dominance maps closely to the spread of Christianity, and this is no accident. As will become apparent, Christians possessed a strong and distinctive …

Spectacle In The Roman Imperial Funeral Procession, William Smith

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

From the legendary foresight of Augustus, to the scandalous escapades of Nero and Commodus to even the philosopher emperor, Marcus Aurelius, much has been written. This thesis does not concern itself with the deeds of emperors, but rather their funerals. Imperial funerals in some ways were quite similar to their Republican era antecedents. They differed in spectacular ways. This thesis investigates the spectacle evident in imperial funerals and argues that their inclusion is not to honor the deceased but rather cement their place in the cultural memory of Rome by means of this performance. In addition, it examines the role …

The Cult Of The Nymphs: Identity, Ritual, And Womanhood In Ancient Greece, Ivana Genov

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Examining archeological and epigraphic evidence in its historical context, in this thesis I explore the Cult of the Nymphs venerated across ancient Greek poleis. I analyze the nymph’s profound cultural and historical impact that is often overlooked in the study of ancient Greece. Nymphs were female deities thought to embody ecological sites, such as fountains and springs, and became fundamental to polis identity. Their locations were often central to city plans, and their faces, depicted on coinage, became representative of the city itself. In the community, nymphs were integral to rituals for major life events, most often in the lives …

Demythologizing Homer: Investigating Religion In Minoan Crete, Elizabeth Rybarczyk

Student Research Submissions

The Minoan civilization of Bronze-Age Crete has, until recently, been obscured in mythological uncertainty. As a prehistoric civilization, the available evidence for historic analysis is sparse and ambiguous. This paper evaluates the material evidence for ritual activity to chart the religious developments of Minoan Crete. In the earliest periods of their civilization, the Minoans practiced animism, which reflected their ideals towards survival and cooperation. As their prosperity grew due to technological advancements, a social hierarchy formed. The emerging elite employed religion to justify their claim to power by appropriating religion, which culminated in a dual-monotheistic Knossian theocracy. This lasted until …

"Like A Shadow Or Even A Dream": Memory And Haptic Motifs On Classical Attic Funerary Stelai, Vonne Daszkilewicz

Student Research Submissions

During the third quarter of the fifth century BCE, Athens witnessed the revival of funerary stele reliefs. Sculpted motifs representing touch and interaction, often situated within familial scenes, characterized the grave monuments and contributed strongly to their tactility. Haptic stele motifs promoted the construction of memory by heightening the depiction of lasting bonds between living and deceased individuals. Grave reliefs provide a lasting representation of the deceased, while also serving as conspicuous reminders of the permanence of death. However, Attic funerary stelai provided a physical substitute for the departed towards which the living could direct their continued care and dedication. …

Musical Evidence For Low Boundary Tones In Ancient Greek, Dieter Gunkel

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

Several scholars have suggested that in ancient Greek there was a low boundary tone at the end of a relatively small prosodic constituent such as a clitic group or maximal prosodic word. The boundary tone may phonologically motivate some puzzling pitch-accentual phenomena in the language. One is the diachronic pitch-peak retraction that led to the circumflex pitch accent (HL) on penultimate syllables (the “sōtêra rule”). Another is the intonational phrase-internal downstepping or deletion of a word-final acute accent (H); that conversion of an acute to a grave accent is known as “lulling” or “koímēsis”. If such a low …

An Investigation Of The Galenic Influence On The Artistic Depiction Of Anatomical Concepts During The Renaissance, Fatima Amjad

Theses and Dissertations

The Renaissance era was a period marked by an intellectual and artistic resurgence in Europe, during which artists sought inspiration from Classical sources. This resulted in a move away from stylized medieval aesthetics and towards a renewed emphasis on accuracy and humanity in art. Renaissance artists developed art styles that emphasized perspective, proportion, and anatomy, creating more lifelike and naturalistic representations of the human figure and the natural world. The adoption of naturalism and individualism in the arts paired with the rediscovery and retranslation of ancient anatomical texts propelled artists and anatomists to deepen their understanding of the human body. …

From Derby Tracks To Surf Shacks: Reflections Of California’S Changing Cultural Landscape Through Artistic Renditions Of Recreation 1930s-1960s, David Walls

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to analyze works of art originating in the state of California during the 20^th century to better understand how sports and recreation were used as a subject matter to reflect upon the state’s changing cultural landscape. This changing landscape encompasses a wide range of social, cultural, economic, and political topics, however, the topics of race, migration, and economic strife are the most consistently reflected in the artistic production of this time and must be emphasized. Scholarship of art created within this region and timeframe has neglected the impact of recreational subject matter and …

The International Restitution Of Classical Antiquity: Creating Uniformity Within Museum Restitution Policy, Jacob Armentrout

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis will explore the scope of the restitution debate for Greek and Italian classical antiquities and how it has evolved over the past 70 years. Chapter 1 will focus on the scholarly works of well-known figures within the restitution debate, including John Henry Merryman, James (Jim) Cuno, and Patty Gerstenblith. Their work is crucial in developing the terminology that defines the debate and also for understanding their opinions on both sides of the debate. Chapter 2 will center on claims to cultural property and restitution efforts that have been made at both the international and national level. The three …