Greco-Roman religion in the ancient Mediterranean permeated aspects of everyday life, including seafaring. Besides cargo, ships transported mariners' religious beliefs from port to port, thus disseminating religious culture. Shipboard ritual, however, remains largely inferred from Latin and Greek texts, iconography, and isolated archaeological finds. Several accounts record that tutelary statues were carried on board to deliver a ship from peril. These accounts are supported by iconographic representations of deities on the hull and a relief scene which shows the use of altars and incense in shipboard ritual. Moreover, ritual objects, including altars, small statuary, incense burners, and lustral basins, have been found among shipwrecks, but prior archaeological research has been particularistic, singling out ritual objects in shipwrecks. Their presence, however, does not necessitate shipboard ritual since these items may have been cargo. To distinguish between personal items and cargo on board ancient shipwrecks, I analyze such objects both objectively and subjectively: first focusing on an object to discern a potential purpose and then again within a spatial context to define its actual purpose. Additionally, I develop religious and social space theories for shipboard analysis, identifying ritual at the bow and stern and concluding that the stern in particular served as an axis mundi, a central location for divine communication. Furthermore, because of this comprehensive approach, large ritual objects such as altars and lustral basins often can be identified primarily as cargo. Ultimately, applying social space theory to shipwrecks can redefine our interpretation of religious activity on board the ship, an intermediary in the dissemination of culture.

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Although the earliest known literary evidence for a dual-sexed divinity on Cyprus dates to the fifth century BCE, archaeological evidence indicates there was a tradition on the island of sexually ambiguous imagery which predates the literary sources. This information prompted the present research, which traces the tradition back to the earliest known examples on Late Neolithic Cyprus, and tracks its evolution through to the Cypro-Archaic period. Rather than rely upon descriptions, photographs and drawings presented in consulted publications, the various international museums that house the figures were visited by the writer in order to physically examine the images. Controversial aspects of these figures were discussed with senior museum staff and/or curators. If figurines were unavailable for viewing, where possible, photographs were acquired from the relevant museums, and controversial aspects of the figures discussed by email. As a result, the majority of the images discussed in this thesis have been examined and photographed by the author. A catalogue of the sexually ambiguous imagery for Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period has been compiled and is included in this work. It is proposed that the imagery is of Cypriot innovation, and consists of proto-anthropomorphic, anthropomorphic and half-animal, half-human representations. The genre is influenced from its earliest period by the figurative art of the Syro-Anatolian mainland, but from the Late Bronze Age onwards, influences from the western Mediterranean and Aegean are also evident. Despite the periods in which there is little evidence for figurine production, sexually ambivalent imagery re-emerges when figurative evidence is once more apparent in the archaeological records. Furthermore, stylistic continuity of the genre from one period to the next is also apparent. This continuity is regardless of the cultural changes which occur intermittently during the seven millennia period relevant to this study. Although it is not until the Cypro-Geometric period that there is firm evidence to support a religious interpretation of sexually equivocal imagery, it is suggested that the genre from the earliest period was at least associated with fertility, and perhaps religious cult.

Although the earliest known literary evidence for a dual-sexed divinity on Cyprus dates to the fifth century BCE, archaeological evidence indicates there was a tradition on the island of sexually ambiguous imagery which predates the literary sources. This information prompted the present research, which traces the tradition back to the earliest known examples on Late Neolithic Cyprus, and tracks its evolution through to the Cypro-Archaic period. Rather than rely upon descriptions, photographs and drawings presented in consulted publications, the various international museums that house the figures were visited by the writer in order to physically examine the images. Controversial aspects of these figures were discussed with senior museum staff and/or curators. If figurines were unavailable for viewing, where possible, photographs were acquired from the relevant museums, and controversial aspects of the figures discussed by email. As a result, the majority of the images discussed in this thesis have been examined and photographed by the author. A catalogue of the sexually ambiguous imagery for Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period has been compiled and is included in this work. It is proposed that the imagery is of Cypriot innovation, and consists of proto-anthropomorphic, anthropomorphic and half-animal, half-human representations. The genre is influenced from its earliest period by the figurative art of the Syro-Anatolian mainland, but from the Late Bronze Age onwards, influences from the western Mediterranean and Aegean are also evident. Despite the periods in which there is little evidence for figurine production, sexually ambivalent imagery re-emerges when figurative evidence is once more apparent in the archaeological records. Furthermore, stylistic continuity of the genre from one period to the next is also apparent. This continuity is regardless of the cultural changes which occur intermittently during the seven millennia period relevant to this study. Although it is not until the Cypro-Geometric period that there is firm evidence to support a religious interpretation of sexually equivocal imagery, it is suggested that the genre from the earliest period was at least associated with fertility, and perhaps religious cult.

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Divine healing has been often seen in opposition to human healing. The two spheres, have been considered as separate, both in space and in terms of elements involved. Asclepian sanctuaries have been mostly presented as domains of exclusively divine intervention, without any involvement of the human factor, possibly with the sole exception of dream interpretation. However, the written testimonies of temple cures, both those in the form of cure inscriptions dedicated in sanctuaries and the literary accounts of the incubation experience, give us reasons to suppose that the practical side of the functioning of the asklepieia could have assumed the involvement of human medicine, with the extent of this involvement differing in various epochs. Regardless of physicians' participation or its lack in the procedure, the methods applied in sanctuary healing appear to have evolved in parallel to the developments in medicine and their popular perception. Archaeological finds as well as the image of Asclepius as the god of medicine itself seem to confirm this. Nevertheless, by no means should these connections between the two spheres be treated as transforming the space of religious meaning into hospitals functioning under the auspices of a powerful god. Although acknowledging them does entail inclusion of human medicine within the space dedicated to Asclepius, it does not thereby deny the procedure of incubation its religious and metaphysical dimension. On the contrary, it shows that to the Greek mind divine and human healing were not mutually exclusive, but overlapped and coincided with each other, proving that the Greek sense of rationality was quite different from the modern and could comprise far more than what we call today "scientific thinking".

Les dieux de l'Orage sont des divinités universelles. Cela, E.O. James, J.G. Frazer mais aussi M. Eliade en ont fait la démonstration. L'objet de ce travail s'inscrit dans les études comparatistes indo-européennes. Cette expérience de religion comparé a pour objet de dégager des structures communes à deux d'entre eux : Jupiter et le dieu de l'Orage hittite. Il s'agit ici de poursuivre les études comparatistes à partir d'un champ jamais étudié : une communauté hittito-latine. Ces structures communes s'organisent autour de trois piliers, l'héritage indo-européen, la communauté civilisationnelle en Méditerranée, et les constructions originales à ces cultures. Nous détachons ces structures par une étude de l'héritage linguistique indo-européen, par les transferts civilisationnels et enfin par un travail sur les particularités locales hittites et romaines. Ce travail commence par l'étude des théonymes, le vocabulaire de l'orage ainsi que les structures théologiques fondées sur le vocabulaire et les jeux poétiques. Cette poétique sert à construire des formulaires, qui dans un second temps forment des mythèmes et des mythologies. A partir de cela, des panthéons se construisent et se structurent, en particulier autour de deux paires de dieux. L'une formée par l'aspect solaire et orageux de la souveraineté cosmique, l'autre par le dieu de l'Orage et sa parèdre terrestre. Enfin il s'agit d'étudier l'influence des structures dégagées dans les sociétés et les religions hittites et romaines. Cette partie est consacrée aux relations des dieux de l'Orage avec la politique, la guerre, l'économie et le culte. / The thundergods are universal deities. This fact was demonstrated by E.O. James, J.G Frazer and M. Eliade. The aim of this dissertation is to pursue the work of the indo-european comparatists in a study of the the common structures of Jupiter and the hittite thundergod. So, we work on a new type of comparatism : the latin-hittite community. These structures are drawn from three historical sources : the indo-european heritage, the Mediterranean civilizational community, and the original creations formulated by Hittites and Romans. In order to study these sources, three types of work. A philological one : the indo-european studies. A second one is the historical Mediterranean crossover. The last one is the hittites et romans particularities. This dissertation begins on the work of the theonyms, the vocabulary related to weather and also the theological structures based on the vocabulary and the poetry. This poetry created formulary which are bricks to build mythems and mythologies. The mythology explains how the pantheon is organized in the religion. Two pairs of gods stand out. One is formed with the solar and the thundery parts of the cosmical sovereignty. The other is formed by the thundergod and a chthonian goddess. The aim of the last part of our work is to study the influence of these structures in the hittite and roman societies in four sections : politic, war, economy and religion.