<p>By the early fourth century Rome was more than a thousand years old and the historical <em>caput mundi</em> was, accordingly, steeped in long established traditions. It was these historical traditions and memories that served as paradigms for understanding present circumstances. One such paradigm was the relationship between Rome and her emperors. Traditionally, monarchical power was the antithesis of the Roman Republican model, yet Augustus uniquely altered this model and established a new acceptable paradigm wherein the emperor was the <em>princeps civitatis</em> and the patron to all Romans. This imperial patronage was characterized primarily by the commissioning of public buildings in the <em>Urbs</em> and the maintenance of Rome’s cults and traditions. Therefore, Rome was inextricably intertwined with the legitimacy, success (or failure), and longevity of an emperor’s reign. Throughout the third century, however, Rome was plagued by manifold crises and the paradigmatic relationship between Rome and her rulers began to break down, such that some scholars have suggested that from 293 CE and the establishment of the tetrarchy Rome became increasingly manifest wherever the emperors were, with the city itself becoming nothing more than a peripheral concern. The former line of argumentation, however, is often advanced with the belief that Rome’s diminishing importance was uninterrupted and invariable, often disregarding the evidence within the city itself and focusing on monumental evidence outside of Rome and across the empire. This thesis, then, by examining the evidence within the city of Rome and that pertaining to it, demonstrates that between 293 and 324 CE Rome’s marginalization was anything but consistent and that the city, with all its symbolic and actual power, was integral to Maxentius’ and Constantine’s legitimation policies. Moreover, this thesis also elucidates how Rome functioned in imperial thought for each regime, with old paradigms becoming malleable to accommodate new imperial policy.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

This article consists of a close examination of one of four Late Archaic-era tumular monuments that were excavated in the mid-1950s in the Northern Necropolis of the Pontic Greek settlement of Istros. The exploration of this monument, Tumulus XVII (circa 550-525 BCE), yielded several features that were immediately compared with heroic cremation burials as described in epic poetry (particularly the funeral of Patroklos in Homer’s Iliad). Most striking among these features were the remains of three human sacrificial victims. Despite the early connection drawn with Homeric epic, for the next three decades Tumulus XVII was classified as a non-Greek (Thracian) monument, principally due to the presence of human sacrifice. That is, human sacrifice was regarded as too primitive and thus foreign to the more ‘advanced’ Greek culture. For this reason, the evidence from Istros has not figured prominently in synthetic studies of Greek human sacrifice. Yet, the growing body of research into Greek and indigenous settlements and cemeteries in the western Black Sea, along with the more recent discovery of a bound and ritually decapitated man alongside Pyre A at Orthi Petra (circa 700 BCE; Eleutherna, Crete), has occasioned a reconsideration of the original barbarian characterization of Tumulus XVII. The funerary rituals and resulting tumular monument rather appear to have been developed by an elite subset of the Greek colonial community as a means to distinguish and elevate themselves among the ever-growing population of the city. While epic may have lent general inspiration and significance to the particular rituals performed, a more immediate model for the tumular form may have been taken from the ‘heroon’ (late 7th cent. BCE) in the necropolis of the nearby Greek settlement of Orgame. Although the precise circumstances surrounding the funerary human sacrifices elude us, this short-lived ritual phenomenon seems rather to have been introduced to the region by Greek settlers.

<p>The epic hero Diomedes is, in my opinion, considered a marginal hero, as he is relegated to a backbench in ancient Greek thought and ideology. I examine why this is the case, considering his role and impact in Homer's <em>Iliad</em>. Greek society valued its epic heroes beyond the words of the poets, yet some heroes received much more attention that others as central characters in tragedy and iconography, consequently regarded as favourites by mass audiences. I believe that examining a marginal hero like Diomedes is important in order to understand why Greek culture generally disregarded some warriors in favour of others, especially in the case of Diomedes, who displays heroic virtues more evidently than several other heroes who have received more attention. Overall Greek attitudes toward him offer an intriguing perspective on the epic heroes and the ways in which the Greeks idealized them. An examination of Greek literary, visual, and religious spheres of influence effectively aid in determining the reasons behind this phenomenon. In summary, this work attempts to understand Greek attitudes towards a hero who has received very little scholarly attention. The concept of the epic hero requires analysis of even the most neglected characters; one cannot understand Odysseus, Achilles, or Hector without examining Diomedes, who has a notable role in the very same tradition as the aforementioned heroes.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis is concerned with the representation of children on sculptural funerary commemoration, with a focus on freedmen panel reliefs and funerary altars. Although there is evidence found from all regions of the Empire, the majority of the material discussed here is from the city of Rome itself. Representations of young children first appear on freedmen panel reliefs, which date to the end of the Republic and were produced into the first century of the Empire. When this genre declined in popularity at the end of the first century AD, funerary altars emerged as the new, preferred form of commemoration. The goal of this thesis is to show that these two types of funerary monuments reveal much about the children themselves, but also provide insight into the social and cultural identity of their parents. Due to the family relationships expressed on these commemorations, I also evaluate the degree of affect demonstrated by the parents or the dedicator towards the children present on these monuments. The first chapter provides a socio-cultural background on the role of children in the family and Roman society as well as the importance of funerary commemoration. In this chapter I also discuss the likelihood of high infant and child mortality rates and explore reactions towards the death of children in literary evidence and social conventions. In the second chapter I provide a background on the significance of the freedman family, followed by an examination of the panel reliefs. The third chapter examines funerary altars that commemorate young children. The material discussed in this chapter is analyzed through a case study approach of nine altars, examining both the epigraphic elements and the sculptural components.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

The purpose of this thesis was to study the efforts of ten Utah artists who played significant roles in formulating early Utah art history.