Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons^™

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 …

Athenian Graffiti And The Right To The City: The Illegal Practice Of Public Space Reclamation, Lillia Schmidt

Senior Theses and Projects

Graffiti is not often thought of as a positive tool for change, especially in the era of urban neoliberalism. Rather, it is regarded by such forces as harmful to the urban fabric, a signifier of urban decline and a crime progenitor. While neoliberalization threatens the authenticity of the urban through privatization and appropriation, graffiti has the potential to reclaim and reappropriate public urban spaces. How can graffiti be used as a tool to enforce Lefebvre’s theory of authentic urban space? Simultaneously, how does graffiti combat the processes of urban homogenization and commodification at the hands of the state and the …

Captives & Spoils In Chicago: Examining The Columbian Exposition’S Triumphal Procession Of 1893, Kazandra Zelaya

CMC Senior Theses

Daniel Burnham’s vision of a classical revival in the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 brought ancient Roman triumph with its captives and spoils to Chicago, Illinois. Burnham’s restorative urban utopia used Beaux-Arts architecture in the exposition’s White City that evoked the image of Roman triumphal processions. Beaux-Arts architecture did not extend into the Midway Plaisance, however, the model of Roman triumph extended into the ethnographic exhibits. By examining the ethnographic exhibits of the Midway as a version of a Roman triumphal procession, the exhibits highlighted novel types of captivity through sponsorships, wages, and erasure. Illustrations of American imperialism in the …

A Bridge Between Earth & Sky: How The Natural World Shaped The Civilizations Of Ancient And Early-Modern Persia, Sophia Cabana

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project seeks to investigate the ways in which nature shaped the culture of ancient Persia through technology, architecture, agriculture, and art. Furthermore, this project investigates how the symbols and mentalities of ancient Persia were carried forward into the early-modern period. Achaemenid Persia and Babylon are studied as societies which influenced one another and combined to create the foundation of Persian culture as it is currently understood, which then combined in later centuries with other Middle Eastern and Central Asian cultural movements to produce the Safavid and Mughal Empires. The Safavids and Mughals imitated and revived Persian culture in order …

Adoration And Art: Ancient Egypt, Greece, And Rome, Fiona Wirth

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

"Adoration and Art" focuses upon religious artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean and explores what these artifacts reveal about the religious practices and sacred spaces of their cultures. This Honors College capstone consisted of an exhibition through the Lisanby Museum utilizing artifacts from the Madison Art Collection. This text is the full exhibition catalog compiled by the student through her research as an intern for the Lisanby Museum.

Buying Time: Consuming Urban Pasts In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Dory Agazarian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is about how historical narratives developed in the context of a modern marketplace in nineteenth-century Britain. In particular, it explores British historicism through urban space with a focus on Rome and London. Both cities were invested with complex political, religious and cultural meanings central to the British imagination. These were favorite tourist destinations and the subjects of popular and professional history writing. Both cities operated as palimpsests, offering a variety of histories to be “tried on” across the span of time. In Rome, British consumers struggled when traditional histories were problematized by emerging scholarship and archaeology. In London, …

Victorious Athena: The Cult And The Temple Of Athena Nike, Brynlie-Sage Johnston

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Ek Tou Homerou Ad Homerum: A Survey Of The Roman Imperial Iconography Of Homer, Juan Dopico

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the imagery of Homer in Roman imperial mosaics stemming from the 2^nd century AD to the 5^th century AD. In doing so, it will show that the Romans perhaps transformed the image of Homer in order that the patron may identify himself as an erudite and intellectual elite. This practice might have strong parallels with literary treatments with Homer during the Second Sophistic, especially among the Platonic philosophical tradition in the imperial period.

As a tool for those wishing to do a systematic analysis of figures in Roman art, mosaics contain some advantages that other …