Other Religion Commons^™

What Our Hearts Crave For: An Examination Of The Paradoxical Attraction To Dante’S Inferno, Ketzalt E. Marquez

Honors Projects

This paper serves to analyze and explain why audiences are attracted to stories with elements of Horror in them, using Dante’s Inferno as the vehicle for this conversation, as the Inferno’s setting is in the worse possible place imaginable. Horror narratives arise feelings of fear and disgust in its audiences through the use of monsters, as audiences relate to the fear and disgust the positive characters in the narratives are feeling because of the monster’s presence. Since these emotions arise in a safe space, such as in literature or film, where the source of the emotions is not endangering the …

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 …

The Vestal Virgins And The Transition From Republic To Principate Under Augustus C. 30 Bce - 14 Ce, Jamie R. Ditzel

University Honors Theses

For centuries, ancient historians have been intrigued by the Vestal Virgins, a priestess order older than Rome itself that was dedicated to Vesta, Roman goddess of the hearth. From our ancient sources we can glean that the cult, though shrouded in mystery, was regarded as playing an invaluable role in the prosperity of Rome and notions of what it meant to be Roman. Scholars such as Mary Beard and Ariadne Staples have been pioneers in studies of the Vestals, proposing the widely accepted theories that the Vestals served as physical embodiments of republican values, Roman people, and the city of …

Anthropomorphism In Architecture: An Investigation Into Anthropomorphism Through Ancient Greco-Roman Religious Structures, Emily Wilcox

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper will outline and detail an investigation into religious Greco-Roman structures of antiquity through the lens of anthropomorphism. Through defining anthropomorphism, three lenses of thought have presented themselves as means of inquiry: metaphor, scale and proportion, and ergonomics. Previous research into these structures and cultures has shown that there was indeed consideration for the human body in designing in construction; this project hopes to solidify these claims and present new supporting information regarding specific relationships to the body using anthropomorphism. Many contemporary buildings approach the relationship to the human body as a mask or an afterthought, disregarding what reflecting …

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.

Confucianism And Folklore In Vietnamese Fantasy Short Stories: The Case Of Ghost Stories , Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Truyền kỳ, which is a genre of fantasy short stories, was formed and developed in the historic period of medieval literature of Vietnam in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Despite being derived from a similar Chinese genre, the truyền kỳ of Vietnam was the work of the endogenous development of the national fantasy short story, which was closely associated with folk literature and historical prose. However, at the time of its inception, as well as at the glorious top of this genre, truyền kỳ had never been accepted as an official genre. It was rather a metaphor for unorthodox discourse …

Saga Beyond The Gate: Chapter One, The Coming Of The Gate Ghost, Tristan B. Miller

MSU Graduate Theses

“Saga Beyond the Gate: Chapter One, the Coming of the Gate Ghost” explores performance sculpture used as religious ritual. My work emphasizes ritual, creation myths, relics, physical manifestations of lived religion, and the power of narrative belief. One often turns to religion, science, or spirituality, to seek answers to questions about being a conscious entity, and one’s journey to the end. This saga uses scripts from all three of these schools of thought, placing the world of the Gate Ghost into tangible reality, as a play on a stage. Artefacts represent objects of power and mystery. Characters embody morality tales, …

Alexander The Great And The Rise Of Christianity, Stephen M. Girard

Honors Projects

Alexander the Great and the Rise of Christianity focuses on the political, mythical, and philosophical connection between Alexander the Great's life and the beginnings of early Christianity. The first chapter of the text focuses on an analysis of mythical conceptions of Alexander the Great as “Son of God” as well as cultural perceptions of him as “Philosopher King” and cosmopolitan, and how these portraits of Alexander were influential for Christianity. The second chapter analyzes Alexander’s relationship with the Jewish people, and his appearances in the Old Testament apocalyptic Book of Daniel. The last chapter discusses Alexander’s relationship with Christianity itself, …

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 …

Farmer, Priest, And Poet: Knowledge Transmission And Wisdom In Works And Days And Gelimu, Duoduo Xu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This paper aims at a comparison between a classic poem from ancient Greek literature, the Works and Days by Hesiod, and ancestral records of hemerology from Daba Culture, entitled Gelimu, collected during my fieldwork in South-West China. Both traditions use constellations to mark important dates throughout the year, providing similar instructions on how to deal with daily work in the fields. Moreover, their mnemonic strategies and formulaic verses reflect their origins from oral traditions passed down from generation to generation. Starting from these basic similarities, the author analyzed the roles of Daba priests, the calendars authors, and Hesiod, 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 …

Book Of The Dead (Leaf), Hollins University

Broadsides, Maps, & Misc. (non-Hollins)

• Country of Origin: Egypt
• Date: 1100-950 B.C.E.
• Material: papyrus
• Provenance: Samuel H. McVitty
• Text for Item no. 7 from from Dawson's Catalog 114 (Nov. 1926): "The Book of the Dead. Papyrus Leaf, measuring 8 3/8 inches wide and 7 3/4 inches tall, from a Hieratic Copy of the Book of the Dead, made for a nobleman, Pen-Amen-Apt. Dating about XXI Dynasty (1100-950 B. C.). Characters in red and black. Mounted on blue cardboard, protected by cellophane."

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.

The Tao Te Ching [Laozi] /Lao-Tzu Metaphysics (What Is Existence?), A. Amon Greene

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

As Chinese philosophies enter the global marketplace, Taoist ideas are emerging with greater frequency. In order to make Zhou Dynastic Taoist ideas accessible to Western acculturated readers a more conventionally “Western” examination of a key Taoist text the "Tao te ching/Dao de jing" by Lao Tzu/Laozi is presented in this paper. I examine the foundational metaphysics presented in the Tao te ching. Lao Tzu contends that the Tao transcends all conditions, all conceptualization and naming, presenting an inherent conundrum. I argue that by evoking a-rational and experiential discourse the Tao te ching attempts to impart impressions of The Tao. By …

Women In Power: The Unique Position Of Vestal Virgins In Ancient Rome, Elizabeth D. Walker

Young Historians Conference

The Vestal Virgins, priestesses in Ancient Rome, were placed in an atypical position of power. They were given many religious responsibilities that replaced the traditional expectations for women of Antiquity. This cult of the goddess Vesta lasted for the majority of Roman civilization, seemingly serving as an argument for an advancement in the rights of ancient women. Though the Vestal Virgins seem to be an outstanding exception to the rule of female oppression throughout history, further examination suggests that the role of Vestal priestess was simply another mode through which Roman men could control their female counterparts.

Constructing Abe No Seimei: Integrating Genre And Disparate Narratives In Yumemakura Baku's Onmyōji, Devin T. Recchio

Masters Theses

The Onmyōji series has had an incredible impact on Japanese fiction. It has created an entire genre of material called onmyōjimono and sold 5 million copies counting only the novel series. Despite this, it has been woefully understudied by both Japanese and English speaking scholars. The Japanese scholars that do acknowledge it use it as a springboard to launch a survey of Abe no Seimei in written and performed media throughout history, and the English speaking scholars have limited their analyses to the form that oni take in the narrative. My research has revealed that Yumemakura Baku utilizes a complex …

The Neglected Heavens: Gender And The Cults Of Helios, Selene, And Eos In Bronze Age And Historical Greece, Katherine A. Rea

Classics: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Why is it that the sun and moon held such a small place in cults of the Greeks, and is it that the sun is male and the moon is female in Greek myth? Aristophanes in Peace 406-413 claims that “we sacrifice to you [the Olympians], the barbarians sacrifice to them [the sun and moon]”. But if we look at nearby or related civilizations, the situation is quite different. In Ugaritic, Minoan, and Hittite religion (as well as among other Indo-European speaking people), the sun and other celestial deities have much more prominence. However, while the Greeks acknowledged the divinity …

Proto-Feminism In Ancient Global Texts, Jody A. Dammann-Matthews

Global Honors Theses

This paper was written to explore the patriarchal interpretations of ancient global texts and to uncover erroneous interpretations of the texts highlighted. Two texts were chosen, the biblical story of Deborah and Jael and the story of Shaharazad. They were both analyzed and compared. In this work the stories were scrutinized through the lens of proto-feminism and the patriarchal interpretations that have been accepted through history. The interpretation of these texts have downplayed the proto-feminist aspects of the protagonists and the patriarchal interpretations applied to these texts have subverted and portrayed women in a negative rather than a positive light. …

The Politics Media Equation:Exposing Two Faces Of Old Nexus Through Study Of General Elections,Wikileaks And Radia Tapes, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

The important identity of a responsible media is playing an unbiased role in reporting a matter without giving unnecessary hype to attract the attention of the gullible public with the object of making money and money only.After reporting properly the media can educate the public to form their own opinion in the matters of public interest. Throughout the centuries, the world has never existed without information and communication, hence the inexhaustible essence of mass media. The government has the power to either make or reject whatever that will exist within its environment. It also determines how free the mass media …

Museo De Aguas De Alicante El Agua En El Origen De Alicante Una Visión Histórico-Arqueológica Desde La Prehistoria Hasta La Época Moderna, Pablo Rosser

pablo rosser

A partir de restos arqueológicos, de documentación de archivo y de cartografía histórica, se hace una evolución sobre cómo el agua y su uso permitió el asentamiento de población en Alicante desde el neolítico hasta época contemporánea.

Wiki Leaks Revelations In Global Context—The War Between ‘Right To Publish’ And ‘Ethical Code Of Conduct, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. WikiLeaks describes its founders as a mix of Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its director. The site was originally launched as a user-editable wiki, but has progressively moved towards …

A Critical Study Of Organizational Communication And Organizational Communication Theories- A Historical Perspective, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Organizational Communication is the study that looks at human communication within and outside the organization. Conrad and Poole (1998) break the definition of organizational communication in parts, by first defining communication and then analyses the organization. These researchers define communication as “a process through which people, acting together, create, sustain, and manage meanings through the use of verbal and nonverbal signs and symbols within a particular context” (Conrad and Poole, 1998, p. 5). In the context of this book, Kenyans and their leaders are communicating their views and final decision through the ballot box to elect their third president, during …

Public Accountability And Media : Its Success And Failure In Performing The Role As A Force For Public Accountability, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Media accountability is a phrase that refers to the general (especially western) belief that mass media has to be accountable in the public’s interest - that is, they are expected to behave in certain ways that contribute to the public good. The concept is not clearly defined, and often collides with commercial interests of media owners; legal issues, such as the constitutional right to the freedom of the press in the U.S.; and governmental concerns about public security and order. Several international organizations, like International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Freedom House, International Press Institute, World Press Freedom Committee and the …

The Penetration Of Social Media In Governance,Political Reforms And Building Public Perception, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. While we know that social media can play an important role in publicizing political activities such as protests, do we have evidence that such actions have led to substantive political change? Is it possible to develop a set of indicators to more effectively gauge the impact of new technologies and media on questions of political change? That social media can help coordinate large and discrete activities, such as protests and …

Two Faces Of Media While Covering Human Right Activities In India, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

The situation of human rights in India is a complex one, as a result of the country's large size and tremendous diversity, its status as a developing country and a sovereign, secular, democratic republic, and its history as a former colonial territory. The Constitution of India provides for Fundamental rights, which include freedom of religion. Clauses also provide for Freedom of Speech, as well as separation of executive and judiciary and freedom of movement within the country and abroad. In its report on human rights in India during 2010, Human Rights Watch stated India had "significant human rights problems". They …

Language Discourse- A Critical Analysis Of Michel Focault's Work On Language Discourse With Special Reference To His Masterpiece "The Archeology Of Knowledge", Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication or debate". The following are three more specific definitions: (1) In semantics and discourse analysis: A generalization of the concept of conversation to all modalities and contexts. (2) "The totality of codified linguistic usages attached to a given type of social practice. (E.g.: legal discourse, medical discourse, religious discourse.)" (3) In the work of Michel Foucault, and social theorists inspired by him: "an entity of sequences of signs in that they are enouncements (enoncés)" (Foucault 1969: 141). An enouncement (often translated as "statement") is not a unity of signs, but an abstract …

Challenges Before Traditional Media In The Age Of Digital Media-How To Integrate It With Digital Media-The Way Ahead, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

You may have heard of digital media, but you may have no idea what it is and how it can help you out when it comes to marketing. It's definitely important that you get up to speed so you can use this to benefit your business. Basically digital media refers to any type of electronic media out there. Today media can be accessed in many ways, including with hand held devices like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, mp3 players, and more.Digital media must be stored in an electronic way, so there is a lot of digital content on the internet today, …

Artículo Político Campaña Electoral 2011 B, Pablo Rosser

pablo rosser

No abstract provided.

Artículo Político Campaña Electoral 2011 C, Pablo Rosser

pablo rosser

No abstract provided.