This thesis is the result of eighteen months fieldwork in western Greece. The study compares the interaction between a village community and two Greek Orthodox convents. This interaction however, is not examined along the lines of economic exchange but along the lines of symbolic interaction. Attention is centered on kinship, commensality, the symbolism of food, and on exchange and hospitality. It is seen that the nuns, by using images, relationships and symbols that have great significance within the secular world in order to create and portray their relationship with the divine, are able to posit their world as both an alternative to and superior from the lay world. The laity thus find themselves on the lowest rung of the religious hierarchy. They have to either reject the nuns' claims to spiritual superiority or accept their subordinate position. Most, as we shall see, do both, in an attempt to reconcile their beliefs as Orthodox and their need to justify their lives and world views. Underlying, then, the distinction between the convent and the lay world are two opposing world views. For the villagers, the supreme purpose of human life is marriage and procreation. It is through the birth of legitimate children that the house, the family and the individual may achieve a type of continuity. In contrast, for the nuns, the main aim in life is the achievement of eternal unity with the divine upon death. By willingly "sacrificing their youth" the nuns believe that salvation and eternal life after death may be assured. It is these two opposing world views which underlie the comparisons drawn and the understanding gained of the village and the convents.

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This thesis examines the sanctuaries of the Greek goddess Demeter in Western Asia Minor and on the islands off the coast through a comparative approach that analyses archaeological and written sources across time and space. The research encompasses the region on Western Asia Minor that includes Troas, Aeolis, Ionia, Caria and the islands off the coast, from the Late Archaic to Roman periods. The analyses focuses on the architectural features of the shrines, the iconography of the dedicated votives and the epigraphic evidence for the cults of Demeter, Persephone and Hades. Cultic activities are analysed on the basis of archaeological material and written sources. The comparative methodology employed aims to analyse the architectural features of the shrines of Demeter in Western Asia Minor and on the islands off the coast in comparison to mainland Greece and in Magna Graecia (including Sicily) in order to assess Pan-Hellenic and regional characteristics. Such an analysis is made for the first time in this thesis, building on similar analyses recently performed for other areas. A better understanding of the social context associated with the cultic activities performed at the shrines of Demeter in Western Asia Minor and on the islands off the coast is achieved through the analysis of the iconography of the clay votives dedicated at the shrines in connection with the epigraphic evidence, which provides insight into the social background of those worshippers who performed certain cultic activities, and evidence of festivals and polis involvement in the organisation of cultic activities. Considering in parallel the result obtained from these three types of evidence (architectural, iconographic and epigraphic) significantly deepens potential understanding and future research questions concerning the cult of Demeter in Western Asia Minor and on the islands off the coast.

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This thesis investigates the notion of diversity and unity, in the Greek Magical Papyri through a careful and detailed analysis of the ritual actions and spells. The issue of diversity and unity is examined in the manifold religious identities and identifications of the gods and deities in the PGM. The idea of diversity and unity is also examined in the various relationships described in the spells; the relationship of the individual to the divine in the concept of Ttäpcb. eoc; the relationship between the nd peb pos and the divine; the relationship between the individual and his/her personal daimon; and finally the erotic relationships of individuals. The aim of this thesis is to uncover the underlying philosophical, mainly Neo- Platonic, and mystical parallelisms and influences on the spells. I aim to show that the philosophical notion of diversity, plurality, and unity may apply to the religious identifications of the gods, thereby revealing significant religious tendencies. My intention is also to prove that the concept of diversity and unity may also apply to the various relationships described and developed in the PGM texts, between the humans and the divine, or between the various forms of divine, or in the most intimate human relationships, the erotic and sexual relationships, or even between humans and their inner selves. The common factor in all these relationships is unity in a strong mystical and philosophical sense.

Asclepius was worshipped in over 900 sanctuaries across the Graeco-Roman world. Although the cult had been disseminated across eastern Mediterranean from the 5th century onwards, it was only when the Romans took over the cult that it was dispersed all over the empire to become an empire-wide cult. This thesis looks at the impact of the Roman Empire on the cult, examining how Rome took over the existing cult, the ways in which Rome influenced it, and the relationship between the religion of Empire and local religion. The key questions that this thesis aims to ask are: How did the Roman Empire impact upon the cult of Asclepius? How were global and regional cult identities articulated in response to each other as a result of this impact? How did increased connectivity between areas play an important part in the creation and stimulation of cultic identities? Did Asclepius’ spheres of influence grow or adapt as a result of Roman benefactions? and What were provincial responses to Roman worship and dissemination of the cult? The timeframe for this thesis will be from 27 BC until Severus Alexander’s death in AD 235. Chapter One will introduce the scope of this thesis as well as the general theories which underpin this research. A survey of the cult before the Augustan period will be presented in Chapter Two. Further chapters will each examine a different aspect of the Roman impact on the cult, with the third focussing on imperial influences and the worship of the god by Roman and provincial elites; the fourth on how the Roman army influenced the cult; the fifth how multiple forms of the god were worshipped side-by-side in North Africa.