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

Mouthpieces Of The God: On Translating Bacchae, Finnegan N. Beaty

Honors Theses

Euripides’ Bacchae is one of the most well-known and most frequently performed Greek tragedies. However, it is too often distanced from its origins in the Dionysia, a religious festival celebrated in honor of the god Dionysus, at which it was performed as part of tragic ritual. This paper analyzes the specific translation choices of three authors, Anne Carson, Gilbert Murray, and Emily Wilson, and how they affect the meanings of their different translations as a whole. These choices are broken down according to three domains, inspired by Aristotle’s definition of tragedy in Poetics. The religious, cathartic effect of each play …

Bias And The Writing Process In Adaptations And Retellings Of Mythology, Haley Sanderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis is an examination of how adaptations and retellings of mythology are written and affected by readership and reception of mythology. I compare American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood and how they are written as adaptations and retellings of mythology. As seen in both novels, the presence of the mythological source material in adaptations and retellings of mythology is equally influenced by authors’ perception and the influence of readership. Approaching the ideological positions of Atwood and Gaiman through the similarities and differences of The Penelopiad and American Gods provides a deeper insight on the …

A Detestable Nation Of Orcs: Echoes Of Eurasian Nomads In Early Fantasy And The Literary Ecosystem Behind Them, Axel Hansen

Journal of Tolkien Research

It is well known that Orcs and Easterlings in J.R.R. Tolkien's works share features with Eurasian nomadic peoples such as Huns and Mongols. The same is true for Tolkien's literary predecessor William Morris' Dusky Men in The Roots of the Mountains. This article will provide an examination of these features from a historical viewpoint, on how interactions with and subsequent records about various steppe nomads in European history can be tied to villains in early modern Fantasy literature. It will then present a short review of how a network of historic accounts, academic theories and pop cultural works – …

The Tomb Of Andraemon And Colophonian Burial Culture, Emily Brophy

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The ancient city of Colophon is surrounded by extensive necropoleis from the Mycenaean, Geometric, and Classical periods of Greek history. Long before the necropoleis’ modern rediscovery, Pausanias described his encounter with the tomb of Andraemon in the 2nd century CE. Searching for Andraemon’s tomb using specific details from Pausanias’s Descriptions of Greece, as well as geographic and archaeological evidence, firmly places the tomb within a complex burial culture surrounding the site of ancient Colophon in modern-day Izmir, Turkey.

The Expanse: Exploring Comparative Mythology In The Mediterranean Through Video Game Development, Michael A. Davis

Senior Theses

This web application, titled The Expanse, explores the arguments surrounding comparative mythology, specifically regarding those in the Mediterranean region. The Expanse is a turn-based role-playing game using the characters and gameplay format of the Shin Megami Tensei video game series. The game depicts the conflict between comparativists and particularists using mythological characters, creating situations in which the player takes sides in a debate that permeates the real world. This story seeks to inform players of the subjective nature of sciences by tying moral dilemmas into an overarching metanarrative specific to comparative mythology.

Contextualizing Egyptian-Themed Art In Pompeiian Shops, Kelsey Myers

The Ozark Historical Review

This project focuses on the art historical, architectural, and archaeological evidence outside the domus to investigate the multivalent messaging communicated by Egyptian imagery in Pompeii’s civic and commercial spaces. By examining the artifacts and images commissioned by traders and craftsmen in their production and shop spaces, this research offers a bottom-up approach to Roman culture and society to balance the textual based top-down perspective that has dominated the discipline. Focusing on foreign-themed objects and images in these spaces, this study also explores the reception and adoption of foreign/eastern influences by the lower social strata of Romans in a multiethnic empire.

My Achilles Years., Ash William Bittner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a historically and rhetorically grounded creative project exploring the traumas of war. This project is divided into three broad chapters, each using a different (and relevant) approach to cover the content contained within that chapter. The first chapter relies on that historical grounding, exploring the history of PTSD as it is currently understood, before exploring ancient Greek poetry and theater and both the historical and military contexts for each, before finally discussing modern warfare and the “Forever War” of the American War on Terror that lasted for nineteen years. With the historical grounding set, it moves into …

The Arch And The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsitǎ, Ana Popescu

Masters Theses

The Arch and The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsită (You Are Walking Around with a Painted Crow)

A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics in the Department of Ceramics of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.

By Ana Popescu, 2025

Approved by Master’s Examination Committee:

Lesley Baker, Shoji Satake (Chair), Heather Bhandari, Tucker Houlihan

Date: May 17th, 2025

Location: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

To be opened for self-reflection in 10 years, on May 17th, 2035:

I’ve been mulling over how to make …

A Reconstruction Of The Homeric Tradition In Early Greece, Aidan F. Hoey

Student Theses

This thesis discusses the centuries-long historiographical debate that is known to us as the Homeric Question. The identity of Homer, the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the dating from when the Homeric epic poems were composed, the Homeric diction, and the historicity of the Trojan War has puzzled scholars since Antiquity. Only by the twentieth century, scholars Milman Parry and Albert Lord proved that the Iliad and Odyssey were orally composed. How the written form of the Homeric epic poems came about has become even more of a historiographic puzzle than it has been previously. Building off the …

The Unicorn And Christ – Metamorphosis And Symbology, Luis Mendonça De Carvalho, Francisca Maria Fernandes, Maria Fátima Nunes, Ana Maria Costa, Paula Nozes, Ana Paula Figueira

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The unicorn is a legendary chimaera that, for centuries, has been present in the mindset of Euro-Mediterranean cultures. Although its morphological description changed, tradition identifies it as an animal like a horse, albeit smaller and with a spiralling horn on its head pointing forward. The unicorn has been known since Antiquity, with references by authors such as Ctesias and Pliny. However, its relevance for medieval Europeans began with the Biblical references to this animal in several Old Testament verses. These verses gave legitimacy to the unicorn, and it was accepted as a tangible animal. During the Middle Ages and early …

Ritual And Revolution: Rethinking Roman Women’S Influence On Religion, Katlin Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis challenges the long-standing portrayal of Roman women as passive figures. Focusing on the mid-to-late Roman Republic and early Empire (264 B.C.E.–180 C.E.), it argues that women were active participants in Roman society, particularly through their engagement in religious life. Drawing on the theory of “lived religion,” this study highlights how religion offered Roman women opportunity to interact with both domestic and public spheres in socially acceptable means. Religion allowed women to exercise influence, power, and autonomy otherwise denied to them in political or legal contexts. Through a combination of textual analysis and material evidence, such as inscriptions and …

Tetradrachms, Shekels, And Denarii: Cross-Cultural Exchange In Money At The Edges Of Greece And Rome, Miles Thompson

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the coin collection of the University of Mississippi Museum. I cataloged ancient coins in its collection through consulting online databases and reference books, and designed an exhibition to display some of the notable examples. This exhibition was based around the theme of cross-cultural interaction between Greek and Roman cultures and other ones towards the edges. It had both a physical and virtual component, and was displayed in Bryant Hall, and the museum’s website. I provide greater historical depth and research on some of the coins I cataloged that illustrate these cross-cultural interactions well. This exhibition successfully …

C. S. Lewis And The Process Of Sanctification: A Literary Analysis Of Till We Have Faces, Samantha Fullmer

Student Research

This article analyzes C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces as a mythical representation of the Christian process of sanctification. Through the main character, Orual, and her transformation, Lewis portrays the Christian journey from pride to love through submission to divine intervention. This tale reveals how pride and self-deception can prevent humanity from recognizing the truth of the Divine. Orual’s story illustrates that the barriers between humanity and the Divine often come placed there by humanity themselves. By examining the process of transforming from hubris to love through sanctification, and by comparing this narrative to other works by Lewis, such …

Unam Magnum Scutellam De Onichio: The Many Lives Of The Tazza Farnese, Merrick L. Gormley

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

The Tazza Farnese is a large-scale sardonyx phiale (a shallow bowl) with a diameter of about 22 centimeters. The Tazza has caught the attention of numerous historical figures throughout antiquity, but despite how coveted the object may have been, records of its provenance before the 1400s are dissatisfactory or entirely nonexistent. This project seeks to shape a number of clear, thorough timelines for the object, as a synthesis of the many conflicting scholarly theories for its chronology. Furthermore, it examines the Tazza in the contexts of the cultures it was immersed in and investigates the way it was interpreted by …

Fan Art, Jacob Lay

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the work of artists like Vincent van Gogh, Donald Baechelor, and Cezanne in their relationship to my work and contemporary painting. Drawing from personal letters, interviews, and essays on these artists, the paper places painting and drawing from the thesis exhibition in a history as well as relates them to current pop culture relics. The paper also includes a process-based analyses of how each painting is made and with what materials.

Know Thyself: A History Of Ancient Neuroscience, Alex Delano

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Neuroscience is often described as one of the youngest bodies of science, but documented study of the brain begins as early as the Neolithic period. The ancient Mediterranean was a hub for science, mathematics, philosophy, and literature, all disciplines necessary for the study of the brain. Evidence of neurosurgical procedures like trepanation and craniotomy began in the Neolithic period and were practiced and improved upon throughout the ancient Mediterranean. The first detailed studies on brain anatomy were carried out in the 3^rd century BCE in Greece which created a necessary structure for future scientists to build on. While many …

Aristotle And Aquinas: Nature As An Ethical Principle In Law, Jimmy J. Grumich

Honors Bachelor of Arts

No abstract provided.

Medusa's Metamorphosis: Art, Mythology, And The Changing Perception Of Female Power, Elizabeth Kehr

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

The evolution of Medusa’s iconography in ancient Greek art mirrors societal and cultural transformations. As attitudes shifted in relation to gender roles, power relationships, and morality changed, so too did images of the Gorgon. Following the course of development of Medusa’s image allows one to discover details of the thoughts and struggles the ancient Greeks had with concepts of power, womanhood, and monstrosity and otherness. Previous art historical research on Medusa has largely examined her function and evolution of visual depictions from the Archaic monster to Classical ideal. Few, however, have explored how and why these changes may be indicative …

Ethical Pedagogy And Roman Political Identity, Luke D. Sherman

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Students often question the value of going to school. They certainly can mindlessly sit through courses for a passing grade and forget the material right after the test, but what value is that learning actually providing for them? The most apt answer one could give to this is that education molds us into model citizens, ones who can utilize math, language, logic, and other foundational ideas as building blocks to operate and understand the world through. While the term “basic education” implies vastly different curricula across different cultures and time periods, one common thread between any basic education is the …

He's A Pirate: Greco-Roman Pirates In The Eastern Mediterranean, Nathan Hill

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

For as long as people have traveled by sea, pirates have looked to rob and steal from them. This danger was especially true for travelers in Ancient Greece and Rome. While many ancient sources mention pirates, it is usually just in passing. However, even those few small references allude to a far more important role in history. Through the use of the ancient written sources, inscriptions, and archeological evidence, it becomes apparent that the pirates were an integral part of local economies and politics. Many city-states employed their own sailors in piratical raids against their enemies in and out of …