This dissertation analyzes the struggle between the imperial court and the periphery in the context of Justinian’s reforms in the early A.D. 530s. The reforms targeting select Roman provinces sought to reduce the size of the imperial bureaucracy while simultaneously attempting to maintain imperial vertical authority. The reforms epitomize the imperial court’s struggle to rein in the imperial bureaucracy in the provinces of the Roman Empire. The analysis is framed within the cultural, social, political and economic evolution occurring in Late Antiquity. It shall be proposed that the reforms are one example of the imperial court’s attempt to limit the distance between itself and its provincial resources, particularly with regard to fiscality. The reforms also embody the political dynamics between the emperor and his bureaucracy, which is composed of the Roman elite. Roughly two centuries earlier, the Tetrarchic reforms fundamentally changed the relationship between both parties. Specifically, the upper stratum of the aristocracy saw the balance of power tilt in its favor substantially.

This dissertation focuses on images of Christ that date from the first half of Late Antiquity, defined as the three centuries between AD 200 and 500. The cultural dynamics of this period left a distinct impression on Christian art, and this dissertation traces that impact. Unlike other studies that attempt to resolve ambiguity within the corpus of Christ images, the argument here maintains that ambiguity was a key component in the creation and subsequent interpretation of the Late Antique Christian iconography. The dissertation proceeds in three parts, each comprising two chapters. In the first section, the history and historiography of the image of Christ is explored, and a methodology capable of accommodating the diverse meanings assigned to the Christ’s discrepant and ambiguous iconographies is developed. In order to better understand the socio-religious environment in which the first images of Christ were produced and interpreted, the second section of the dissertation moves away from material culture and towards method and theory. The notion that interpretation is a group level phenomenon is critiqued, and a model explaining how individuals in Late Antiquity could have made sense of ambiguous images of Christ is advanced. The final section turns back to the material culture and applies the framework developed in the second section to two artworks: (1) the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus and (2) the floor mosaic from the Hinton St. Mary Roman Villa now in the British Museum. By complementing the standard analyses of Christian art with interpretations grounded in the diverse interactions viewers had with artworks, new perspectives will emerge that provide a fuller picture of Late Antique Christianity and the iconography of its godhead alike.

This thesis explores the archaeology of late antique Sicily from the time of Theodosius I (347–95) to the reign of Constans II (630–68). Analysing published data from urban and rural contexts I aim to define three research subjects that are: 1 – The potential different phases of Sicilian Late Antiquity; 2 – The part played by the Church and the impact of Christianity in this transitional period, and, finally, 3 – The definition of a regional economic pattern. During the centuries here investigated, Sicily went through three main phases named: the fall of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine conquest of the 6th century and the process of Byzantinization of the Sicilian society and culture. The Church played a key role in all these three phases initially negotiating with local elite and cultural background its presence within the urban walls. But after the Byzantine conquest and until the Arab occupation of Sicily, the Church imposed its authority through the building of churches, monasteries and chapels transforming the urban and rural landscape. After the Vandal invasion of North Africa, Sicily became the only food supply for Italy and this deeply impacted the provincial economy increasing production and trade with Italy resulting in a period of economical prosperity and cultural liveliness.

This study examines the expression and patterns of alternate history in nineteenth-century Britain and France. “Alternate history” refers to the presentation of events that did not happen in order to consider historical trajectories that might have been and the consequent displacements of present and future. The central chapters of this thesis correspond to the three fields of writing in which these texts are clustered: in narratives of undefeated and resurgent Napoleons, which I trace from the rival journalistic claims made about Napoleon and his historical significance; in accounts that re-imagine the transition from antiquity to modernity, for example by delaying the passage of Christianity from the Middle East to western Europe; and, as part of the plurality-of-worlds debate, in the popular-astronomical imagination of variant versions of human history upon other planets. Three patterns of alternate history are discernible: the romantic-utopian, the critical-reflexive and the linear-chronological. I attach to these patterns the figures of the garden, the map and the dial. These models do not correspond to the three temporal fields of the recent, antique and planetary past, and there is not a straightforward development of these patterns or modes across the nineteenth century; they rather represent a spectrum of purposes for the fictional alteration of the past which occur at various moments and contexts in the century. Alternate history in this period has never been the subject of in-depth analysis. The approach of this study will not absorb such transformations of history into a tradition of futurist writing, as some critics have done. Maintaining alternate history’s distinctness from futurism makes it possible to avoid framing the texts as precursors to science fiction’s historical anticipations. This study will argue that alternate history should instead be recognised as a category of writing that is aware of and concerned with the way that history is written and received, in particular with history’s interactions with other literary forms and the relationships between writing history and other disciplinary fields. More broadly, alternate history should be interpreted in the context of the often described formation of History as a positivist discipline by the late nineteenth century; but far from indicating a steady progression toward scientific historiography, alternate-historical texts reflect upon that transformation and its consequences in other literary fields (journalism, political theory, popular Astronomy, the romance novel) in the century whose “great obsession” is said to have been history.

The medieval castle is one of the most popular topics in medieval historiography and interest in this structure has institutionalized it in modern medieval scholarship. Unfortunately, this does not mean that modern historians understand it. The problem lies in the narrow and isolationist definition used by many scholars who see it as simply a fortified private residence representing and defending power. This thesis will demonstrate that the castle’s contemporaries understood it as an identifiable and distinguishable structure and symbol with a singular yet multi-dimensional characteristics as a fortified, personal, and multifunctional resource. The twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm has been chosen as a focus for this thesis because of the specific differences between the reigns of Henry I, Stephen, and Henry II. This period, particularly the nineteen years of Stephen’s reign, experienced significant castle warfare, which provides a great deal of material for this study. In chapters 1-3, each of the above characteristics and their corresponding details will be analysed individually. In chapter 4, three case studies will be presented to demonstrate how these independent characteristics were perceived of as acting simultaneously. Chapter 5 will compare perceptions of castles to other medieval buildings. Finally, chapter 6 will test the definition’s legitimacy by applying it beyond the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm. This dissertation will demonstrate that there was a contemporary understanding of the castle which encompassed its fortified nature, its personal possession, and its multifunctional resourcefulness. If we are to understand this phenomenon as its contemporaries did, then we need to alter our modern definition and expand our understanding in order to come to a truer and more complete appreciation of this essential resource in the Middle Ages.

This thesis examines the relationship between human will and divine will as mediated through state divination in the Roman Middle and Late Republic. The nature of ancient evidence for incidents involving state divination, and for divinatory ‘rules’, is scrutinized: the historicity of many divinatory incidents recorded in Roman tradition is defended, and the existence of a body of basic divinatory ‘rules’ posited. Current models of the relationship between human and divine will in Roman divination are examined; the thesis challenges the ‘alignment’ model wherein the outcomes of state divination are assumed routinely to have aligned with the will of their recipients. Cases where divinatory outcomes do not appear to have aligned with recipients’ will are identified in Cicero, Livy, and Cassius Dio. The modern view that state divinatory techniques (auspication, haruspicy in sacrifice, and prodigy-interpretation) routinely generated desired results is called into question. The thesis then re-evaluates the canon of ancient ‘rule-statements’ generally cited as evidence for augural ‘principles’ that the report of a sign was considered as valid as an actual sign, and that it was acceptable for individuals to fabricate or to reject signs at will. Instead, it is suggested that a real sign was preferable to a reported one, and that the validity of an oblative sign depended on the individual’s awareness of it. Finally, the thesis proposes an alternative to the currently-accepted understanding of the auspicial procedure ‘servare de caelo’, arguing that even this procedure need not be seen as invariably generating signs in alignment with human will and as countenancing sign-falsification. These conclusions are held to encourage a re-consideration of the modern understanding of the nature of Roman state divination and of Roman religion.

Within a few centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, the descendants of Romans who had envisioned the world in terms of moral, civilized Romans and the savage barbarian ‘other’ had come to identify with those very barbarians. This thesis explores this shift from ‘Roman’ to ‘Gothic’ and ‘Frankish’ identities in sixth- and seventh-century Spain and Gaul through an examination of the ways ethnonyms were used in contemporary sources. Within the first section on Visigothic Spain, chapter one discusses the ‘Romans’ of the East—that is, the Byzantines—as portrayed by Isidore of Seville and John of Biclar. Chapter two covers ‘Romans’ of the West—the Hispano-Romans—who appear in John of Biclar’s Chronicle, a hagiographical Life, and civil and canon law. Chapter three discusses the use of ‘Goth’ as an ethnic descriptor, a religious identifier, and a political term. Chapter four begins the Gaul section with an examination of Gregory of Tours’ writings, showing that he wrote with a Roman mindset. Chapter five illustrates that Gregory’s contemporary, Venantius Fortunatus, selected ethnic labels like ‘Roman’ and ‘barbarian’ in his poems as rhetorical tools to allude and flatter. Chapter six shows how Fredegar, in the seventh century, employed ‘Frank’ as a political term more than his predecessors had, suggesting a change in mindset. Chapter seven confirms this change in hagiographical texts across the two centuries. Chapter eight examines the contemporary expectation that separate law codes should be written for each ethnic group and concludes that, while this encouraged ethnic diversity, it did not prevent individuals from identifying with the Franks politically. By distinguishing among different modes of identification these ethnonyms represented, we see that changes in political language facilitated changes in more traditionally ethnic language, and the shift from ‘Roman’ to other ethnic identities.

Cette thèse de doctorat se compose de deux parties distinctes. L’examen détaillé de la professionambiguë de l’antiquité postclassique du φωνασκός (lat. phonascus), maître de déclamation, maître dechant ou entraîneur de voix occupe toute la première partie. Nous en reconsidérons les interprétationsproposées dans le passé. Toutes les sources relatives à ce sujet, littéraires, médicales et épigraphiques,ont été interrogées. Une prosopographia phonascorum est aussi présentée. La deuxième partie porte surla question plus générale de l’art vocal. Bien que nos remarques concernent l’ensemble desprofessionnels de la voix (orateurs, acteurs, hérauts, maîtres de voix, rhapsodes etc.), notre attention seporte plus particulièrement sur le métier du chanteur. Nous déchiffrons le sens d’un certain nombre determes relatifs à la vocalité (un lexique spécialisé des métiers de la voix), ainsi que les exercices vocauxles plus importants attestés dans l’antiquité gréco-romaine (8e siècle av. notre ère - fin du 3e siècle denotre ère). Enfin, les questions de l’eunuque musicien, du « trac » éprouvé par les artistes de voix ainsique celle du métier de chanteur professionnel des thrènes (θρηνῳδός) y sont aussi discutées. / In this dissertation, divided in two distinct parts, I examine firstly the ambiguousdefinition/interpretation of the term φωνασκός (lat. phonascus) which we commonly understand tomean a teacher of singing or recitation or declamation, or simply, a voice coach. This term first appearsin Latin texts that date from the second half of the 1st century A.D. In Greek, it emerges some yearslater, at the very beginning of the 2nd century. Unfortunately, we do not possess an ancient definition ofthis term. All the relevant sources, literary, medical and inscriptional are studied closely in order toundertake a presentation of the historical evolution of this term/profession. A prosopographiaphonascorum is also provided. The second part of this dissertation concerns generally the vocal art andmore precisely the profession of the singer. In addition, I propose an interpretation of some terms relatedto the human voice, which probably constituted a special vocabulary (slang) of the professionalmusicians, as well as the most important attested vocal exercises of the Greco-Roman antiquity. Thecases of eunuch-musician, of the stage fright as well as of the profession of the professionalmourner (θρηνῳδός) are also discussed.

Mystický výstup v textu Ma'ase merkava - anotace Tato práce se zabývá pozdně starověkým židovským mystickým textem Ma'ase merkava. Zaměřuje se na tu část textu, která se zabývá mystickým výstupem sedmi nebeskými paláci. V úvodní kapitole se snažím zasadit text Ma'ase merkava do širšího kontextu hejchalotické literatury. Druhá kapitola shrnuje dosavadní bádání týkající se textu Ma'ase merkava. Popisuji zde různé rukopisné verze a dosavadní vydání textu. Dále uvádím a hodnotím odborné práce, věnující se tomuto textu. Třetí kapitola představuje vlastní překlad části textu zabývající se mystickým výstupem podle hebrejského originálu ve zvolené rukopisné verzi (Oxford 1531). Jádro práce představuje čtvrtá kapitola, kde text analyzuji. První část analýzy je věnována funkci a charakteru textu. Uvádím názory různých badatelů na funkci textu a zdůvodňuji svůj názor, že se původně jednalo o krátké záznamy z mystických cest. Poté, co byly tyto krátké záznamy sestaveny do většího textového celku, nabyl text sekundárně také charakter instruktážní příručky. Ve druhé části analýzy zkoumám jednotlivé prvky textu, jako je popis sedmi paláců a sedmi nebes, popis Božích vlastností, Boží jména nebo tzv. nesmyslná slova v textu. Závěr pak představuje krátké shrnutí a zhodnocení práce. Mystic Ascent in the Ma'ase Merkava text -...

A pesquisa ter por objetivo analisar a escrita da história na Antigüidade Tardia à luz de dois dos mais importantes autores do período: Gregório de Tours e Isidoro de Sevilha. Desta forma, esperamos compreender as razões que levaram os autores a escolher o gênero histórico para narrar os acontecimentos que tomavam curso na Gália e na Hispânia. Defendemos que é só mediante a análise do papel outorgado pelos bispos aos francos e visigodos que é possível compreender efetivamente as intenções que motivaram a produção dos Decem Libri Historiarum e da Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum et Sueborum. / The objective of our research is analyze the writing of history in Late Antiquity in the light of the two most important authors of the period: Gregory of Tours and Isidore os Seville. Thereby, we aim to understand the reasons which made they choose the historical narrative gender to describe the events which took course in Gaul and Hispania. We advocate that it is only through the studing of the role awarded by the bishops to the Franks and Visigoths that is possible to appreciate the intentions which motivated the production of the Decem Libri Historiarum and the Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum et Sueborum.