This thesis looks at the evolution of art collection in the middle to late Roman Republic. Through the examination of military triumphs, manubial structures, and the sculpture collection of the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, this paper investigates the social motivations for art collection. Art’s role in Roman society as both spolia and luxuria is discussed through use of ancient literary sources and archaeological evidence. The evolving role of collection is considered as an expression of national and social identity in a politically changing Rome.

This dissertation answers the question, "What are Halaf figurines?" In response to that question, this study examines a corpus of anthropomorphic figurines from archaeological sites dating to the Halaf period (Sixth Millennium cal BCE) known from excavations in Turkey and Syria. Included in this dissertation is a detailed catalog of 197 figurine examples, both whole and fragmented, and analysis of their excavated contexts from seven Halaf sites in Turkey and nine sites in Syria. The study also reviews and discusses existing literature on Halaf and figurine studies and examines and critiques modern biases, assumptions, and influences, especially as related to the interpretive concepts mother goddess and steatopygous. It proposes a different methodological approach to prehistoric figurines based upon morphology and typology rather than interpretation. It argues that this methodology of recording and analyzing figurine morphology, typology, and archaeological context brings the field closer to four points of human interaction in the object biographies of figurines including: conceptualization, making, use, and discard. This approach to the evidence, the dissertation suggests, can support theoretical ideas about how the lived body was conceptualized and adorned in the Halaf and allows consideration of ways that these embodied ideas and imagery were shared across settlements. A constructed typology consists of five overall types further divided by subtype and Halaf phase, based upon pose, technology, and morphology. Two appendices present the data associated with each figurine in catalog form. A final appendix presents the data condensed to 12 comparable elements. The results of this research are that the typology of Syrian and Anatolian Halaf figurine assemblages are quite different. While the well-known seated clay figurines are indeed most plentiful, they come from only a very tight geographic area in northeast Syria and only from late Halaf contexts. Standing figurines, by contrast, are known from all areas and phases but occur in lesser numbers and in great variety. Analysis of the archaeological contexts reveals that nearly all the figurines in the corpus were isolated finds amidst unremarkable fill contexts. Therefore, it can be concluded that, when Halaf figurines were no longer needed or wanted by the community, they were discarded without special circumstances amongst regular domestic refuse.

The Jiuquan tombs, on the western frontier of China and dated to the third and early fourth centuries, deploy architecture, paintings, and burial goods to redefine space and express new concepts in mortuary art. Constructed over a period of about fifty years, the consistent rendering of distinct areas across these eleven tombs reflects a consensus in the expectations related to commemorating the dead and the division of souls in the burial process. Aboveground features show that powerful families in Jiuquan disregarded imperial edicts for austere burials. Underground, each tomb features a “screen wall” that rearranges spatial compositions to situate the celestial realm in an iconic position near the bottom of a tall tower. The front chambers are presented as courtyards under an open sky, surrounded by an estate, farms, pastures and wildernesses. Here, tomb occupants are not portrayed in a grand cosmic setting or lauded as Confucian archetypes; instead they are dynamic agents at the center of the action. Pastoral peoples are displayed within a context of harmonious co-existence and cultural exchange. These images combine to reflect an optimistic outlook that ignores the upheavals in the Chinese heartland. By contrast, the rear chambers show a retreat to traditional styles and subject matters, creating a stillness that reinforces the solemnity of laying the corpse to rest. Jiuquan’s geographic location and topography made it both stable and prosperous while precipitating contact with migrants from the Chinese heartland, the northern steppes, and the Western Regions. The vibrancy and originality of the tombs at Jiuquan, as well as what they reveal about changes in beliefs, increase appreciation for the role of peripheral zones in shaping Chinese art and history.

Christian archaeology and art of the region under the jurisdiction of the Church of the East in the Late Antique and early Islamic period is an underresearched field of studies, which exists in between more developed disciplines such as Byzantine and Syriac studies as well as Early Christian, Sasanian and Islamic archaeology and art history. However, archaeological excavations of the last century, especially in southern Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf region, now allow research to be conducted on the most important medium of artistic expression of the region - stucco. Considered from the technological, stylistic and iconographic point of view and within the aforementioned cultural contexts, it reveals that the Christian stucco production of the region was shaped by Sasanian traditions and contemporary Byzantine and Islamic influences, but also that it developed an innovative and highly creative vocabulary of forms and motifs. It was especially among the Gulf communities of Sir Bani Yas, al-Qusur and other sites that this transformative approach towards traditional and contemporary artistic models manifested itself within a short period between the late seventh and the early ninth centuries. Slightly more conservative is the character of Christian art of southern Mesopotamia in the eighth and early ninth centuries. An interesting exception is a relief found at a church in Koke in the region of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, in which the Sasanian technique of deep relief is combined with the Byzantine dress of the person represented. This fusion of culturally divergent elements testifies to the double identity of the Christians living under the Sasanians - and later, in the early Islamic caliphate - who were recognized as a part of society but distinctive for their religion.

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The objective of my research is to explore Medici extravagance, power, and wealth through the multifaceted artistic form of tapestries vis-à-vis two particular tapestry cycles; the Acts of the Apostles and the Valois Fêtes. The cycles were commissioned by Pope Leo X (1475-1521), the first Medici pope, and Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589), queen, queen regent, and queen mother of France. The motivation for such a project lies in analyzing what is traditionally considered as two independent tapestry cycles by revealing their social, religious, political, and artistic significance through the powerful dynastic influence of the Medici. As Leo and Catherine were both aware of the contemporary social environment, their commission of the Acts of the Apostles and the Valois Fêtes exemplify the Medici streak for ambition, familial dependence, and triumphalism. As Leo X (r. 1513-1521) governed from Rome, Catherine de' Medici (r. 1547-1559) presided over the French throne for nearly fifty years in some capacity. Both Medici enjoyed access to the wealth associated with the Papal Curia and Valois royal household accounts, respectively, investing an enormous sum on the tapestry cycles, only one of the numerous artistic commissions procured during the sixteenth century. Heedless of their iconography and embellishment, the Acts of the Apostles and Valois Fêtestestify to the wealth and power wielded through their patron's accessibility and resourcefulness to procure an estimable and luxurious commission.

<p>Located in southeast Italy, the site of Vagnari has been explored archaeologically as a Roman <em>vicus</em> that once formed part of an imperial estate. After the discovery of a cemetery on the property in 2002, exploration has yielded important results for understanding the lives and deaths of individuals in rural Italy from the first to early fourth centuries AD. Within the sphere of funerary archaeology and commemoration, there has been a shift in recent scholarship away from the monuments and practices of imperial and senatorial families in urban cities towards those who were underrepresented in epigraphic and textual evidence, namely ordinary individuals. Funerary archaeology presents one medium of exploring both funerary and burial practices in previously understudied areas of Roman Italy.</p> <p>Previous studies of the Vagnari cemetery have been centered around a catalogue of burials, artifacts, and pathology, with more recent work focusing on stable isotopes and ancient DNA. This thesis focuses on the artifacts and patterns of distribution to understand how burial practices may have been shaped by social, economic and legal status. The primary focus is not the artifacts themselves, but the ways in which material culture can be interpreted to address issues of social status and prosperity within the cemetery. Within the wider realm of funerary practices, this study aims to understand funerals in a rural setting based on the burial record by incorporating archaeological, literary and historic evidence, in order to situate the site within our increasing knowledge of death and commemoration in the Roman Empire.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The aim of this thesis has been to consider how Philip II of Macedonia presented himself to the Greek peoples after the Battle of Chaeronea in 336 BC. It examines the context and program of the Philippeion at Olympia in order to determine how Philip II negotiated his royal status in response to Greek opinion. This study takes into account the traditional role of the Macedonian kings, how they typically portrayed themselves, and to what purpose. It also explores Philip's propaganda specifically and the differing responses of various Greek peoples. <p lang="en-CA">Although Philip's role as Hegemon of the League of Corinth seems to be at odds with the Philippeion's classification as a victory monument and a display of the king's authority, further examination reveals that the Philippeion conforms with Philip's program of propaganda. It's message is also adaptable to the various perceptions of the Greek peoples as well as any Macedonian viewers. <p lang="en-CA"></p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Sexually themed objects from ancient Greece and Rome have been present in debates about our relationship with the past and with sexuality since they were first brought to modern attention in large numbers in the Enlightenment period. However, modern engagement with this type of material has very often been characterised as problematic. This thesis pushes beyond the story of reactionary censorship of ancient depictions of sex to demonstrate how these images were meaningfully engaged with across intellectual life in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain and America. It makes a significant and timely contribution to our existing knowledge of a key historical period for the development of the modern understanding of sexuality and cultural representations of it, and the central role that antiquity played in negotiating this fundamental aspect of modernity. Crucially, this work demonstrates how sexual antiquities functioned as symbols of pre-Christian sexual, social and political mores, with which to think through, and to challenge, contemporary cultural constructions around sexuality, religion, gender roles and the development of culture itself. It presents evidence of the widespread and prolific acquisition of sexually themed artefacts throughout private and institutional collecting culture. This deliberate seeking out of ancient images of sex is shown to have been motivated by debates on the universal human connection between sex and religion, as part of wider constructions of notions such as ‘culture’ and ‘primitivism’, with Classical material maintaining a central position in these ideas, despite research into increasingly diverse cultures, past and present. The purposeful engagement with sexual imagery from antiquity is also revealed as having acted as a valuable new source of knowledge about ancient sexual life between men which gave new impetus to the negotiation, defence, celebration and promotion of homoerotic desire in contemporary turn of the twentieth century, Western society.