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

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

Quid Multa?: What More? A Translation And Digital Annotation Of Selected Letters From Cicero To Atticus, Kelly Zach

Honors Theses

Modern Classicists are modernizing and digitizing the field of Classical Studies with great success. Philology, translation, and annotation are all aspects that have been evolved using techniques from the Digital Humanities. This project is a foray into the intersection between Classics and Digital Humanities combining traditional Classical work with a digital aspect. This digital aspect of annotation using a dependency grammar-based approach and intuitive software enhances the understanding and translation of selected letters from Cicero to Atticus.

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 …

Mythos Series (Mythos: The Greek Myths Reimagined, Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined, And Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined) By Stephen Fry, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

Book review of Stephen Fry's Mythos series, reviewed by Phillip Fitzsimmons.

Hubris And The Protection Of The Citizen Body, Lillyan Uhlmann

Honors Theses

The Classical Greek notion of hubris, which relates most closely to a modern form of disrespect, was an important form of protection for the citizen body. The law of hubris fell under the public sphere of graphai, which allowed for any individual in the community to bring up a charge. The law of hubris protected not only male citizens, but also women and slaves, which emphasizes the protection of the society as a whole. Hubris was a way to check those of power in society and charges of hubris, if proven, could result in the revoking of citizenship or political …

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 Political Power Of Roman Empress Julia Domna, 193-217 C.E., Abigail Sanchez

Whittier Scholars Program

This research paper aims to analyze the extent of Roman Empress Julia Domna’s political power and how her power would have influenced the Roman empire. Roman women faced many limitations in the political world, including being unable to be elected to public office; however, Roman imperial women were in the unique position of being able to take up space in the political world. Empress Julia Domna’s role was symbolic and active, putting her nearly in equal standing to her husband, Emperor Septimius Severus, and her son, Emperor Caracalla. When considering the political limitations of Roman women, analyzing the extent of …

Redefining Female Power And Influence In The Early Roman Empire, Jacqueline Elia

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Jacqueline Elia ’23
Majors: History and Classics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Melissa Huber, History and Classics

Women are often absent from the ancient Roman literary historical record. Jackie’s research turns to the inscriptional, archaeological remains to add to our larger understanding of the lives of women in the Early Roman Empire. Through a series of case studies on the public contributions of women in cities around the Empire, including GIS maps to track the visibility of female benefactions, Jackie convincingly shows that women in the Early Roman Empire possessed more agency and societal influence than the literary history records.

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 …

The Formation Of A Hellenic Identity: The Impact Of Herodotus On The Ancient Greek And The Reception Of His Histories, Conor James

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The ethnic identity of the ancient Greek is a complicated idea that developed over hundreds of years unbeknownst to the communities that would one day be identified as ‘Hellenes.’ The advent of the polis in the Archaic era was followed by nearly three hundred years of rapid development within the scattered communities of ancient Greece before conflict with the Persian Empire necessitated inter-polis cooperation. This phenomenon prompted a movement in which the aspects of life that were once viewed as mere similarities between different societies were clung to and presented as proof of a common ethnic identity that called for …

Redefining Roman Women: Powerful Benefactresses & Patrons Of The Early Roman Empire, Jacqueline Elia

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The history of the Roman Empire has thus far been largely dominated by male narratives. With ancient literary sources predominantly having been written by and for wealthy male audiences, a dangerously limited scope of the Roman Empire has been perpetuated as marginalized groups such as women have been left out of the historical record. Despite what mainstream history has been led to believe by authors such as Livy and Tacitus, Roman women were not simply one-dimensional, domestic creatures who acted as passive witnesses to male dominance. Rather, middle-elite women throughout the empire frequently existed outside the bounds of the domestic …

Bibliography, Eric Kondratieff

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Eric Kondratieff.

Kerameikos: Death, Life, And The Vessel, Allison Rebecca Yarbrough

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This literature review is an examination of the Kerameikos district of ancient Athens as a center of life reconciling with death in the Panathenaic tradition. All at once a graveyard, ceramics district, and crossroads, the Kerameikos was a site of community; the domestic aspect of this public space directs a lens of how Athenians processed death communally. Stele from the site offer fascinating insight on Athenian female renown in antiquity; the site acted as the processional origin towards the Eleusinian Mysteries, honoring the relationship between death and life.

The Greco-Roman Influence On Early Christian Art, Tim Ganshirt

Honors Bachelor of Arts

It cannot be denied that early Christian communities used familiar Greco-Roman symbols, images, icons, and ideas in their own ways. For this reason, it will be necessary to examine why these communities in Rome took parts of Greco-Roman society that were familiar to them and used them in a different way, in addition to exploring the varying degrees of effect that these images had on the Christian communities themselves and on the society around them. By “early Christian communities,” I mean Christians living in Rome at the beginning of the third century until the late fifth century.[1] For these …

Plague And Devastation In Ancient Greece: Why Mourning Matters, Hannah Kallin

Honors Scholar Theses

In 430 BC, The Plague of Athens swept through the city and left tens of thousands dead. Ancient historian Thucydides gives his account of the plague, detailing the consequent breakdown of order in the capital. Bodies could not be buried or mourned in the ideal traditional ceremonies, leaving surviving citizens unmoored and terrified. This paper explores the impact of interrupted mourning on ancient Greek society. These interruptions range from war and changing laws to periods of plague and widespread devastation. The emotional wellbeing of individual citizens depends on their ability to process death and associated grief with freedom and support …

Imperator Novus: Charting The Transfer Of Rome’S Imperial Past To The Papacy’S Eighth Century Present, Henry R. Elsenpeter

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

When did Roman imperial iconography become part of the position of pope? This thesis will highlight the eighth century as a time of notable change in papal authority and identity. The developing papacy — in competition with rival contenders for Rome’s past — produced two key documents that portrayed the pope as an inheritor of the Roman Empire. In these sources, the bishop of Rome took on an entirely new identity as an imperator novus. While the eighth century continued, the pope gradually appeared increasingly imperial, concluding with a coronation that crowned emperor and pope, alike.

By The Power Vesta-Ed In Me: The Power Of The Vestal Virgins And Those Who Took Advantage Of It, Elena M. Stanley

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

Vestal Virgins were high ranking members of the Roman elite. Due to the priestesses’ elevated standing, Romans made use of their inherent privileges. Through analyses of case studies from ancient authors and archaeology, I identify three ways Romans wielded Vestal power: familial connections, financial and material resources, and political sway. I end by exploring cases of crimen incesti, the crime of unchastity, which highlight all three forms. The Vestals were influential women who shared access to power in different ways. The Vestals were active participants in the social and political world of Rome.

Humanity And Nature: From Vergil To Modernity, Aaron Ticknor

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Though ecology is a relatively new field of study, the human relationship to nature has shifted and changed throughout history. In antiquity, it has been understood by scholarly consensus that there was a more general understanding of nature as a living force with spirit, for example the Roman animist concept of numen, and humanity being one with nature. In modernity, however, under the influence of Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon, nature is seen as completely separate from humanity and devoid of any value beyond the economic value of resources. Later philosophers such as Nietzsche lamented this shift, advocating for …

A Roman Diary, Sarah Yebin Park

Montserrat Annual Writing Prize

This collection of diary entries uses historical fiction to capture a glimpse of Roman life in the year XV B.C. through the eyes of of a young man Felix who was visiting Rome with his father Julius, a libertus (or emanicapted slave).

Augustan War And Peace: Analyzing The Role Of The Military In Maintaining The Pax Augusta In The Augustan Age, Maxwell Hovasse

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The end of the Roman Republic was affected by decades of civil war, leaving the Roman population desperate for an end to the violence. Augustus’s rise to power was the solution for this violence. Augustus’s victory over Marc Antony both effectively ended the Roman Republic and the long period of civil unrest. As the new sole and undisputed ruler of the Roman world, Augustus sought to bring Rome into an era of peace, which would be known as the Pax Augusta, meaning the Augustan Peace. However, given that the Romans viewed peace as existing when an enemy had been completely …

Cultural Collapse Of The Seleucid Empire, John Paul Mastandrea

Honors Bachelor of Arts

This paper seeks to explore the causes for the collapse of the Seleucid Empire following the death of Alexander the Great. The reasons for this collapse were numerous, but primarily focus on the administrative difficulties inherited from the Persian empire, the vast cultural differences within the empire, and the priorities of the Seleucid rulers. In order to show a counter point of a Greek state that succeeded in ruling a foreign people, the exploration of Ptolemaic Egypt is put alongside the Seleucids. The Egyptian Greeks succeeded in all of the ways that the Seleucids failed. By putting these two states …

New Myths And My Religion, Pallas Lane Umbra

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

New Myths and My Religion
Pallas Lane Umbra
Faculty Advisor: Katie Mitchell

As every civilization has had its myth and legends, this creative thesis project introduces a new mythology. This world is born of our own, shaped by the experience of growing up queer in the Appalachian South. There is a specific exploration of love, rage, and spirituality. Inspired by Greco-Roman mythology while also reflecting on personal experience, this body of work shares a visual, symbolic language that is interpretable; one myth can tell many stories. Along with this new iconography, the work strips the viewer of ease and comfort …

The Power Of Mothers: A Comparison Of The Egyptian Goddess Isis And Virgin Mary During The Roman Empire Through Literature And Art, Katherine Burdick

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The Egyptian goddess Isis and the Virgin Mary are two mother figures that were an essential part of Roman culture. Isis rose to prominence in Roman religion when the Republic expanded into Egypt in 30 B.C. She was adopted into the Roman pantheon alongside many other deities from other cultures. Mary rose to prominence in a very different way. A majority of early Christian worship was heavily persecuted and not accepted by many Roman emperors. However, eventually, Christianity eclipsed cult worship of deities. Isis and Mary were both seen as comforting mother figures for not only their sons, Horus and …

The Name And Its Significance: An Examination Of Names In Aristotle’S And Plato’S Philosophy Of Language, Matthew Blain

Honors Bachelor of Arts

In the early 20th century, philosophy underwent a “linguistic turn,” in which philosophy, humanities, and even sciences made a redoubled focus on language itself. This turn was quite comprehensive, focusing on nearly every aspect of language such as meaning, reference, truth and falsity, logic, and the connection of language and reality. This renewed focus garnered a significant amount of attention and thought in the 20th century by some of its most prominent thinkers of both the analytic and even continental traditions. In the analytic tradition, Wittgenstein, in his Tractatus, saw language as the logical limit of our known world, out …

Faceless Man And Infinite God: Till We Have Faces A Subversion Of Greek Anthropocentrism, Hunter Hogsed

Senior Honors Theses

C. S. Lewis’s novel Till We Have Faces directly subverts the Greek anthropocentric view of both God and man. The Greek myths of Hesiod-Homer and platonic philosophy hold to a view of man being morally superior to the gods. The character of Orual in Till We Have Faces represents Greek anthropocentrism. Orual opens the story accusing the gods of stealing her beloved sister Psyche but, through an encounter with the madness of the divine, sees herself as the true destroyer of her sister’s face. The illusion of her own moral superiority crumbles away as she sees how her love is …

The Impact Of Women On The Life And Legacy Of Mark Antony, Lauren E. Yaple

Honors Theses

Throughout the life of Mark Antony, the women he became involved with had a large impact on his political career, life, and legacy. These women, such as Fulvia and Cleopatra, used Antony as a means to achieve their own political, economic, and personal goals and were able to gain power in a very anti-feminist society through their relationships with and manipulations of him, affecting the career of Antony in many ways including his politics and his actions as a military commander, as showcased by the examination of primary sources from the late Roman Republic and early Roman empire periods. This …

Introductory Guide To Ancient Greek Civilization, Helmut G. Loeffler

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Contingent Catastrophe Or Agonistic Advantage: The Rhetoric Of Violence In Classical Athenian Curses, Radcliffe Edmonds Iii

Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

The surprising absence of violent language from classical Athenian curses is best understood as a rhetorical strategy appropriate for getting the divine powers to enact the curser's desire to harm his or her enemies and to gain an advantage in the particular agonistic context. A contrast with the extravagantly violent language of other contemporary curses, which call for unmitigated catastrophe to befall their targets, shows that the fundamental difference between these curses is the audience that they primarily address, which shapes the nature of the request that is made in the imprecation. Whereas contingent curses primarily address the human community …

Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve: Expressing Hecuba’S Emotions In Artistic Retellings, Marie Gruver

Undergraduate Research Awards

Hecuba has famously been regarded as the secondary character of the Fall of Troy and not as the maternal symbol of the city’s downfall itself as she deserves. Forever the overlooked heroine, I argue that it is not Euripides’ Hecuba per se, but readings of her story by empathetic artists, creators, and scholars of different time periods are who create new interpretations of Hecuba’s role within her own myth. As artistic renditions have progressed through time, Hecuba’s grief itself has become the central focus of the illustrated retellings of her story.

Roman New Comedy In The Renaissance: The Influence Of Plautus In Shakespearean Comedy, Nick Minion

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Undoubtedly the most well-known playwright in the English language, Shakespeare’s influence can be felt in most every genre in most every era. Allusions to his work can be found anywhere, from horror novels to sci-fi. Beyond allusions, most strongly felt is his stylistic influence in theatre. Names, plot devices, and images have all been taken from Shakespeare’s greatest works and implemented and transformed in new art forms. However, not all elements of Shakespearean drama originated with the bard himself. Shakespeare drew inspiration from the dramatists that preceded him, especially Roman playwrights. In his earlier works, these similarities are apparent. The …