This work is a detailed examination of pagan cults and deities in three settlements along the Pannonian section of the Drava river (Aquae Iasae ~ modem Varaidinske Toplice; Iovia-Bativa - modem Ludbreg; and Mursa - modern Osijek) situated within the present-day territory of Croatia. The evidence examined consists primarily of inscribed votive dedications in stone, dating from the Roman conquest of Pannonia to the late third century A.D. Evidence is examined within the theoretical framework of cultural change, taking into account recent theoretical developments in the concepts of "Romanisation", acculturation, identity expression and syncretisation in order to determine the extent of cultural and religious integration along the Drava. A thorough examination of evidence reveals the emergence of differing and flexible religious identities specific to each settlement although united by the larger prevailing trend of nature-divinity worship. Our Drava evidence also reveals that economic, social, political and geographic factors all produced an impact on the process and extent of cultural and religious integration, thus helping to form local, regional, provincial and imperial expressions of identity(ies).

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Employing a case study approach, this thesis provides a systematic analysis of the existence and importance of female patrons within the domus Aniciorum, as a means of accessing women's history in late antiquity. The domus Aniciorum was one of the pre-eminent senatorial aristocratic families of the later Roman empire. The Anicians' social and political involvement encompassed not only civil affairs but also the nascent church through their benefaction of and involvement with churches, saints' cults and the most prominent ecclesiastical figures of the day. Using the vehicle of the aristocracy, the evidence spans approximately 250 years, from 350 CE to 600 CE and encompasses different geographical regions including Rome, North Africa and Constantinople. Therefore, the diversity and depth of the evidence surrounding the Anician women provides an almost unprecedented opportunity in the area of women's history in late antiquity. The evidence includes prosopographic, epigraphic and textual material which attests to a documentable multigenerational Anician patronage dynasty. As such the examination of female patronage and the inter-dependant roles of identification within the context of an elite family provides access to women's history in the pan- Mediterranean context of the late Roman empire.

Evaluations of the stance of 1 Peter toward the Roman Empire have for the most part concluded that its author adopted a submissive or conformist posture toward imperial authority and influence. Recently, however, David Horrell and Travis Williams have argued that the letter engages in a subtle, calculated (“polite”) form of resistance to Rome that has often gone undetected. Nevertheless, discussion of the matter has remained largely focused on the letter’s stance toward specific Roman institutions, such as the emperor, household structures, and the imperial cults. Taking the conversation beyond these confines, the present work examines 1 Peter’s critique of the Empire from a wider angle, looking instead to the letter’s ideology or worldview. Using James Scott’s work to think about ideological resistance against domination, I consider how the imperial cults of Anatolia and 1 Peter offered distinct constructions of time and space—that is, how they envisioned reality differently. Insofar as these differences led to divergent ways of conceiving the social order, they acquired political valences and generated potential for conflict. 1 Peter, I argue, confronted Rome on a cosmic scale with its alternative construal of time and space. For each of the axes of time and space, I first investigate how it was constructed in cultic veneration of the emperor, and then read 1 Peter comparatively in light of the findings. Although both sides employed similar strategies in conceptualizing time and space, they parted ways on fundamental points. We have evidence that the Petrine author consciously, if cautiously, interrogated the imperial imagination at its most foundational levels, and set forth in its place a theocentric, Christological understanding of the world.