Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Moralizing The Rape Of Philomela In Late Medieval Commentary, Daniel M. Armenti

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the reception of the Philomela narrative from Ovid’s Metamorphoses 6.424-674 by medieval commentators and authors, and how European academics during the 12^th-14^th centuries interpreted its central theme of rape. Through their engagement with the story of Philomela’s rape and her ingenuity in expressing her experience, medieval commentators and writers constructed a space in which they could propose diverse approaches to sexual violence, justice, and victimhood and survival. The commentaries, translations, and adaptions of Philomela’s narrative produced by medieval writers found their precedent in the episode from Ovid’s text, in which he dismantled the erotic …

Catch Me If You Can: Henri Matisse’S Chase For Symbolic Capital In The New York Art Market Of The Early Twentieth Century, Monica M. Mitchell-Werp

Theses

This paper analyzes how the development and consequence of symbolic capital influences an art market. This comprehensive, qualitative analysis examines the early twentieth century New York modern art market activated by French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and the 1913 Armory Show. This examination derived from the French sociologist, philosopher, and anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu’s (1930-2002) theories provides evidence of the use of symbolic capital by Matisse. The evidence points to the twofold function that symbolic capital holds within the emerging modern art market. The first function of symbolic capital manifests through the nonmonetary value Matisse received from the intangible qualities of …

Native Activism And Materiality Through The Work Of Cannupa Hanska Luger: A 21st Century Indigenous Artist, Rachel Daniela Vera

Theses

This thesis focuses on a specific work by Cannupa Hanska Luger called This is Not a Snake. This project examines the materiality of the artwork, including beads, crochet, sewing, ceramics, and non-traditional materials. The materials used in this work address 21st-century indigenous issues while also promoting activism from the Water is Life movement, which is centered at Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota. The materials of this work are relative to Luger’s 21st-century contemporary style. The use of repurposed heavily merchandized inorganic materials refers to the protests in Standing Rock. This is Not a Snake was inspired by these events, activism …

Discourse And Discography: The Pushback Of Female Writers, Characters, And Pop Stars, Amara D. Stroud

Honors College Theses

In my senior thesis, I will be analyzing and comparing early modern literature and “pop” music in order to follow the development of women’s ability to gain power. Throughout history, there has been an ongoing struggle for women’s equity in education, publishing, and socially acceptable actions. While it may seem that comparing literature from the 17^th Century to current pop lyrics, there are major connections that show a consistent female struggle - the inability to voice one’s true feelings due to the reaction of an educated man or an unchanging society. My thesis will focus on literary works such …

Discourse And Discography: The Pushback Of Female Writers, Characters, And Pop Stars, Amara D. Stroud

Honors College Theses

In my senior thesis, I will be analyzing and comparing early modern literature and contemporary popular music in order to follow the development of women’s ability to gain power. Throughout history, there has been an ongoing struggle for women’s equity in education, publishing, and socially acceptable actions. Though the connection between literature and pop music is unordinary, there are major connections that show a consistent female struggle - the inability to voice one’s true feelings due to the reaction of an educated man or an unchanging society. Overall, the response of female characters, authors, and artists is to show their …

The Exemplary Spartacus: Reception, Adaptation, And Reconstruction, Benjamin Franklin Howland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My project, “The Exemplary Spartacus: Reception, Adaptation, and Reconstruction,” focusses on various representations of the gladiator Spartacus. I assert that Spartacus has almost exclusively been and continues to be an exemplary figure, with an extensive and connected literary tradition, working as an empty signifier in differing temporalities and localities. I draw specific attention to a core issue in the study of Spartacus, namely, the plethora of modern representations of Spartacus in various genres, and the continuing influence these representations exert through their blurring of the historical figure with local themes and ideologies. Each draw from the same ancient sources, infusing …

Challenging The Traditional Narrative: A Discussion On Ntzake Shange’S For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf And Beyoncé’S Lemonadex, Nadia Yonan

Canterbury Scholars

This paper discusses Beyonce’s Lemonade, a visual album released in 2016, and Ntzake Shange’s famous choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. The paper will seek to put in conversation the two works and analyze their commentary on redefining the traditional narrative while also working to understand Black Womanhood and the pain, trauma, reconciliation, and healing that comes with it. My Canterbury project will look at the ways in which Shange’s For Colored Girls and Beyonce’s visual text Lemonade merge arts and literature to create a space of healing and renewal for Black women today.

Digital Occult Library, Alexis Brandkamp

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project is a website, titled Digital Occult Library, hosted by the CUNY Commons and built with WordPress. The site address is:

digitaloccultlibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu

It features (in this iteration) twenty-five unique pages with information on and discussion of occult and esoteric topics. It also hosts a forum that can be accessed and utilized by anyone, not just those registered on the Commons. The purpose of the site is to inform three types of interested parties on the highlighted topics: a general audience with no current knowledge of the occult, practitioners of esoteric traditions, and academics. Not only is the …

Landscape And Lore: River Acheron And The Oracle Of The Dead, Lashante St. Fleur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In order to explore the cultural relationships between people, landscape, memory and ritual, this master’s thesis focuses on the Acheron River in Epirus, Greece, long believed to harbor an entrance into Hades, the Greek underworld. Various entrances into the chthonic, or subterranean land of the dead, are peppered throughout Greece, with each tied to their own local myths, legends, folklore and cults. According to those traditions, Hades could be accessed from several terrestrial rivers thought to be connected to Oceanus, the primordial world-encompassing river surrounding all of creation. Flowing forth from River Ocean were all above- and underground rivers and …

Euripides' 'Andromache' And Athenian Hegemonic Ideology, Alexandra H. Dawson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Scholarship on the political character of Athenian tragedy has increasingly turned its attention to the relationship between tragedy and empire. In Athenian panegyric, Athens’ rule is frequently portrayed as hegemonic, although historiographical sources reveal inconsistencies between the idealized image of the city and the historical realities of empire. Several recent approaches have concentrated especially on tragedies that feature an Athenian setting or character in the dramatic action as a means to explore the ways in which the plays engage with Athenian ideas on power and domination. In response, the primary aim of this analysis is an understanding of the way …

The Ins And Outs Of Plautus' Mostellaria: Representing Internal And External Space On And Around The Plautine Stage, Henry Schott

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

For Whom Is She Singing? The Songs Of Electra In Euripides’ And Sophocles’ Electra, Zixing Chen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Electra plays of both Euripides and Sophocles respond to Aeschylus’ Choephori. While Choephori belongs to the Oresteia trilogy that narrates an intergenerational curse sealed by divine forces, Euripides and Sophocles concentrate more on the characterization of human beings, especially Electra. In each play, Electra becomes helpless and despairing after Agamemnon’s death at the hands of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus; Orestes’ return and reunion with Electra liberate her from her desperation and signal the revenge against Clytemnestra and Aegisthus that takes place after the recognition. While Sophocles spends a larger portion of his Electra on the depiction of Orestes’ homecoming, …

Coffin Soul Portals Of The Female Xunren In Tomb Of Marquis Yi Of Zeng, Mary E. Blum

Theses and Dissertations

There is a significant void in scholarship concerning the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng’s (Zeng Hou Yi), Leigudun M1, Suizhou, Hubei Province, dated to 433 BCE during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BCE) of Bronze Age China, specifically on the lacquer coffins of the female xunren. There is extensive research dedicated to its well-preserved ritual bronze vessels, lacquer wares, and musical instruments, but this tomb is not known for the lacquer designs of portals present on twelve of the twenty-one female companion’s coffins. In this paper, I argue the xunren coffin designs in tomb Leigudun M1 of Zeng Hou …

Art As Alchemy: The Meaning Of Bartholomeus Spranger's Hermaphroditus And The Nymph Salmacis And Scylla And Glaucus, Peter Kos

Theses

The subject of this study is two paintings by Bartholomeus Spranger titled Glaucus and Scylla (Fig. 1) and Hermaphroditus and the Nymph Salmacis (Fig. 2). Building upon the work of scholars who have argued for a possible alchemical interpretation of at least one of the paintings in the context of its execution for Emperor Rudolf II, this study goes beyond merely suggesting an alchemical connection, and argues that the two paintings, forming a pendant pair, depict two attempts at the alchemist’s magnum opus—one a failure, the other a success. This study further argues that the paintings are not merely inert …

The Gift In The Iliad, Tyler Jordan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis I challenge the dominant conception of gift giving in the Iliad. In Chapter 1 I show that the textual evidence does not support the idea that different categories of gift giving are denoted by word choice. In Chapter 2, I show that modern theories are not able to explain perfectly the instances of gift giving in the Iliad. Furthermore, I show that the use or avoidance of gift-terms in the poem can carry meaning. In Chapter 3, I take the conclusions from the previous two chapters and apply them to a focused analysis of the …

Embodying The Empire: Imperial Women And The Evolution Of Succession Ideologies In The Third Century, Christina Hotalen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation traces the creation and negotiation of dynastic succession ideologies between the emperors and their subject populations between 193 and 313 CE, particularly through the advertisement of imperial women. Julia Domna, Otacilia Severa, and Galeria Valeria occupy watersheds in the evolution of third century dynastic succession ideologies. The administrations of each emperor crafted propaganda designed to elicit support for their reigns and dynastic ambitions, each tailored to appeal to a particular audience. Images of the empresses in official media were carefully constructed to elicit a population’s support for the emperor’s legitimacy. Subjects responded to these messages, seeking to have …

Painting And Prosody: Robert Browning's (Re)Presentation Of Fra Lippo Lippi And Andrea Del Sarto, Ana Schnellmann

Theses

This paper examines the ways in which all art interpretation is revising and re-presenting the art and artists in question. When Robert Browning wrote Fra Lippo Lippi and Andrea del Sarto as part of his collection Men and Women, he drew on the histories provided of them by Giorgio Vasari. Browning used Vasari’s stories as a base from which to personify the artists and use them in a sense as synecdoches representing the ways religious art is received and viewed. Religious art is meant to elevate the soul. That elevation may take place through the artist’s rendering religious figures as …

This, Or Something Like It: Socrates And The Problem Of Authority, Simon Dutton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the intellectual practice of the Platonic character, Socrates, with emphasis on the presentation of dialectical engagement with authority. I argue that authority, conceptually and in practice, constitutes a serious problem for Socrates. On my reading, the problems of authority are indicative of an inappropriate understanding of the soul and the ailing condition of the sociopolitical practices of Athenian culture. I suggest that Plato’s Socrates is devoted to the personal and political improvement of his fellow citizens, and society at large, through dialectical engagement which seeks to undermine authority. I investigate Plato’s characterization of the …

Bernard Palissy: Early Career - Securing Patronage And Mimicking Nature In A Moment Of Crisis, Karissa Bailey

LSU Master's Theses

Early in 1562, France was experiencing a state of high religious tension between Protestants and Catholics that would precipitate the outbreak of the Religious Wars on March 1. A week before, Bernard Palissy, a Huguenot potter, wrote a letter to his Catholic patron from prison inBordeaux where he was being held on charges associated with an iconoclastic incident in his home city of Saintes. This letter would later be published as a dedication letter for the pamphlet Architecture et Ordonnance, which featured the description of a grotto commissioned by Anne de Montmorency, Palissy’s patron, seven years earlier. This thesis analyzes …

Bones, Burials, And The Riddle Of Truth: Reconstructing The Past Through What Has Been Left Behind, Jelena M. Begonja

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mortuary archaeology is known to be the study of human remains and burials. The primary focus of this work has been to study all of the elements associated in burials to learn more about the burial practices and rituals in a group’s culture, however, there is much more potential in studying burial sites than just learning about a group’s burial rituals and practices. This thesis will demonstrate that it is indeed possible to make different inferences about the rest of people’s daily lives, and the truth, based from materials found in studying burials alone. For some groups without much existing …

Bloodied Hearts And Bawdy Planets: Greco-Roman Astrology And The Regenerative Force Of The Feminine In Shakespeare’S The Winter’S Tale, Christina E. Farella

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis offers a new reading of William Shakespeare’s late play The Winter’s Tale (1623), positing that in order to understand this complex and eccentric work, we must read it with a complex and eccentric eye. In The Winter’s Tale, planets strike without warning, pulling at hearts, wombs, and blood, impacting the health and emotional experience of characters in the play. This work is renowned for its inconsistent formal structure; the first half is a tragedy set in winter, but abruptly shifts to a comedy set in spring/summer in its latter half. What’s more, is that planets, luminaries, and …

Political Culture In The Cities Of The Northern Black Sea Region In The "Long Hellenistic Age", Emyr Dakin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the political culture of the Greek North Pontic cities of Olbia and Chersonesos through a rhetorical analysis of the honorary decrees passed by their respective ekklesiai during the Long Hellenistic Age (third century BCE until the mid-third century CE). The study seeks to achieve two main goals: to examine these decrees to understand the political framework of the two cities; and to understand the relationship between the elite recipients of the honors and the demos that awarded them. This investigation employs evidence from early fourth century BCE until the incorporation of the …

Censorship And Book-Burning In Imperial Rome And Egypt, Susan Rahyab

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis considers censorship and book-burning in imperial Rome and Egypt from Augustus to Diocletian (31 BCE-305 CE). In considering this phenomenon comparatively, this paper analyzes literary treason, the impact of the rise of an imperial government on censorship, the role of emperors in this suppression, and changing notions of subversive behavior.

Protean Caves And Cyrenean Grottos: The Subterranean World Of Vergil's Fourth Georgic, Kirby Schoephoerster

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the studies and methodologies spearheaded by the burgeoning field of geomythology, this project aims to reevaluate one of the most famous works of ancient literature, the Georgics of Vergil, within the context of karst geology. In other words, I plan to critically investigate the famous myth of Aristaeus using a geomythological lens that focuses on how Vergil treats caves and cave systems as related to (his) myth. The didactic poem as a whole, and much less so the myth of Aristaeus, has been assessed relatively little by archaeologists, and by geomythologists not at all. Yet, book four contains an …

Etruscan Biophilia Viewed Through Magical Amber, Greta Rose Koshenina

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I explore the usage and purpose of amber objects in burials from Etruria, specifically from the late Villanovan Period (ca. 800-720 BCE) to the Orientalizing Period (ca. 720-580 BCE). I have followed a combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches as well as visual analysis of amber grave goods. While there has been extensive research on the medicinal and ritual purposes of amber grave goods from excavated Etruscan tombs, I show that there was likely a specific interest in amber that contains organic inclusions likely because of the Etruscans’ interest in nature. I examine the presence and …

Exploring Mythology Through Writing, Jayce Rubel

Honors Projects

The following work is a creative adaptation of a series of Greek myths found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. In the project I attempt to replicate the virtual idea of the original author in a retelling of each story. I also make use of stylistic elements known in the epic tradition as well as major themes found commonly found in these myths.

Tracing The Past, Drawing The Present, Sixue Yang

Graduate School of Art Theses

The group of work, Rising Water, Floating Islands is inspired by traditional Chinese scroll landscape paintings. Such landscape paintings combine meticulous technique, compositional complexity, and tension between representation and abstraction to reveal an alternative universe that waits discovery amid our mundane existence. In “Rising Water, Floating Islands,” I explore the political and social ramifications of the ongoing cultural conflict between traditional and emergent contemporary values. By combining traditional Chinese elements and techniques with my own markings and gestural adaptation in my painting, I give the audience the opportunity to contemplate the implications of our present digital condition through traditional esthetic …

The Evolution Of Hermes His Influences And Appearance From The Archaic To Classical Periods, Haley Lavach

Student Research Submissions

The ancient Greek deity Hermes has gone through many evolutions since his conception as an early, pre-Olympian god. One of these changes occurred between the Archaic and Classical periods of Ancient Greece. In the Archaic period, Hermes, the patron god of shepherds, thieves and merchants, appeared as a mature, bearded god in sculpture and vase paintings. As the Classical period began, Hermes began to appear as a young, un-bearded man in sculpture, while still being archaized in some vase painting, and in herms. This change occurred because of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (Homeric Hymn 4), which was written in …

The Reign Of Nero: A Delusional Journey To Suicide, Cayce Walker

Student Research Submissions

This paper follows the life of Emperor Nero from Ancient Rome. When he first became emperor, he hosted lavish celebrations and parties, even participating in performances and was praised by his people and the senate. However, he quickly turned into a tyrannical and murderous emperor, plagued with paranoia and delusion, and began murdering his family and citizens. This paper attempts to sort through Nero’s life and to match his experiences and actions with those of someone undergoing psychosis, a mental disorder where the victim loses sight of reason and the difference between right and wrong, often leading to delusion and …

Malaria Risk On Ancient Roman Roads: A Study And Application To Assessing Travel Decisions In Asia Minor By The Apostle Paul, Daniel C. Browning Jr

Master's Theses

This study models malaria risks for travelers on ancient Roman roads with the goal of providing a tool for historical assessment of travel accounts from antiquity. The project includes: identification of malaria risk factors and associated spatial datasets, malaria risk model construction, verification and validation against available pre-eradication data, overlay of ancient Roman road data, and an initial case-study application to the journeys of the Apostle Paul, as narrated in the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles (Acts). The project is intentionally cross-disciplinary in bringing the technical capabilities of GIS to the task of evaluating nuanced textual sources for …