The thesis explores themes of settlement location, settlement form and settlement mobility from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age in north-east Powys and Shropshire. The study utilises existing finds and monument data, and incorporates new data from targeted field survey and excavation. It incorporates comparative evidence from other regions of Britain and detailed comparative data from studies in neighbouring regions. The study examines the evidence for settlement sites, the distribution of lithics in the landscape and the potential relationship between round barrows and settlement. The relationship between metalwork and settlement is examined as is the evidence for the presence of land division. A potential greater frequency of activity in the vicinity of lowland ring ditches is suggested through lithic distributions within a transitory pattern of occupation. This is supported with new excavation evidence for ephemeral settlement activity. At a broader level a greater intensity of activity is apparent in lowland gravel terraces than in neighbouring wetland areas of Shropshire and that the study area is part of a wider region characterised by low lithic densities in contrast to neighbouring regions to the south. Subtle spatial separations may have existed between settlement activity and monuments and the siting of monuments may have reflected existing axes of movement through the landscape. The distribution of upland monuments suggests that activities may have been relatively focussed and localised, whilst close conceptual links may have been maintained with lowland and distant landscapes. The distribution of metalwork emphasises rivers, floodplains and wetland contexts which may have been at the margins of settlement space. At a broader level the presence of metalwork in lowland landscapes serves to complement limited evidence for Middle Bronze Age occupation and places Late Bronze Age hilltop enclosures into a wider context. Targeted excavation has provided new dating evidence from pit alignment features in the study area which may indicate localised areas of land division closely post-dated ring ditch monuments in the Early Bronze Age. This may have implications for the interpretation of similar land divisions in other regions.

This thesis explores the composition and arrangement of Martial’s twelve-book series, the Epigrams. I investigate the way in which key themes combine to create a pseudo-narrative for the reader to follow which connects not only individual books but the series as a whole. This twelve-book series creates an ’anti-epic’, something which is meant to be considered as a whole and read, and reread, as such. In the course of investigating the inter- and intratextual links within the Epigrams, we see how Martial’s corpus instructs its reader on how (and even where) to read the text. In doing so Martial is engaging with a literary discourse at the end of the first century on different patterns of reading. The key themes explored, oral sex and os impurum, food and dining, and a literary theme comprised of reading and writing, all form part of this programmatic literary instruction to the reader. I have identified the importance of ’orality’ within the Epigrams as part of the defined method of reading. Applying concepts from Reader-Response theory,and thinking about the way readers read, we can see that Martial’s books of epigrams are more than the sum of their parts.

This thesis discussed the morphological patterns of Ottomanization performed in the southern Balkans through the comparative study of four mainland cities, Dimetoka, Gümülcine, Siroz, Yenice-i Vardar spread along the multicultural Via Egnatia. Through the cross-disciplinary application of morphological and defterological concepts, we were able to trace existing and reconstructed forms back to their formative processes (as evident in a series of reconstructive maps) and to interpret them within the theoretical framework of structural rationalism. The advanced argument disproves the orientalistic reading of the Ottoman (Islamic) city as an irrational and chaotic morpheme and reconfirms Veinstein’s theory on the existence of a normative type for the Ottoman town that lays in the morphology of the Balkan cities. This thesis’ main contribution lies in defining that the identifier of ‘originality’ or ‘purity’ for this type derives from its particular geographical divisions. Accordingly, the coining of the type that we extended was reflective of these particular geographical divisions, as an obvious functional and formal analogy amongst the towns of this group. We thus concluded that the typological identification of the ‘original’ Ottoman town can be encapsulated in the Balkan-Anatolian type with a Byzantine kernel and an Ottoman fringe belt. This consists of a highly rationalized system of axes, with pivotal being that of the çarşıya, which functioned as the vehicle of infrastructural development.

This thesis is about organizations working in the field of British civil liberties between 1934 and 1989. It examines the relationship between the concepts of civil liberties and human rights within a British context, and discusses the forms of political activism that have accompanied this subject. At the centre of this work is an examination of the politics of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), an organization that has played a key role in the protection and promotion of civil liberties from its formation in 1934. It also examines the activities of a range of other organizations that considered themselves to be active on such a subject. The thesis argues that thinking about civil liberties has been extended throughout the twentieth century to incorporate a more positive and broader conceptualization of rights. However, for all the increased importance of the politics of human rights, a tradition of civil liberties has remained crucial to organizations working within such a field. The thesis also seeks to demonstrate that concerns about civil liberties have often reflected the political ideologies of those acting on such issues. Whilst a large amount of conceptual agreement has existed over the importance of the subject within Britain, this has consistently been met with disagreement over what this means. NGOs have played crucial roles as mediators of such a conflict. In performing such a role, the civil liberties lobby has been characterised by a set of professional, expert activists that have, at times, been able and will to engage with radical political ideas.

The Roman period is well represented in Kent’s long history of excavation and discovery and it has some prominent sites. Nevertheless, there has been relatively little in the way of up-to-date synthesis or the application of current theoretical approaches. In common with many other areas of the country, rural settlement, especially ‘non-villa’ settlement, has received scant attention, whilst even its villas are mostly poorly understood. Since the advent of PPG 16 many more such rural sites have been excavated and there has been a corresponding rise, both qualitative and quantitative, in associated data, much of which remains unpublished. This thesis aims to reassess the Roman period of Kent from a rural standpoint, using a wide range of materials to construct a more nuanced and theoretically informed narrative. The basis of the study is the Kent HER. The archaeological data are combined with a number of landscape resources in order to reveal the influence of Kent’s highly varied terrain and the ways in which it was understood and exploited. Aspects of building and settlement morphology are examined and the potential of artefactual and ecofactual data for adding refinement to our understanding is explored. In its use of unpublished (‘grey’) literature, it is in line with current research priorities at national level. Results indicate that strongly patterned distributions of evidence were influenced both by Kent’s physical landscape and by human landscapes of tradition and culture. The county’s archaeological record has features that distinguish it from other southern counties and from the received trajectory of Roman Britain as a whole. This thesis places Romano-British Kent within its wider chronological and geographical context, noting its particular characteristics and finding that it is an eastern, rather than a southern county, following a trajectory very similar to that of northern Gaul.

The purpose of my thesis is to study the lament in ancient Greek culture, and to show how its ritual meaning is interpreted by literature. The terms goos, oimoge, threnos and linos not only indicate the presence of different ritual attitudes to death but also the existence of different interpretations for each of them. The goos and the oimoge mirror an archaic religiosity and consist of sinister utterances aimed at summoning ghosts, requesting for divine revenge, etc. Aeschylus introduces them as aischrologic acts as he implies the presence of a god or a daimon. Sophocles and Euripides use them as dysphemic elements and censure an approach to death which implies that gods are vindictive, deceitful and unjust. However, they also introduce an euphemic goos consisting in an expression of feelings. The threnos only appears in funerary contexts in Homer while is often introduced as dysphemic in drama. The linos-song is mentioned as a vintage-song in Homer, it appears as a lament and then as a song for some hero’s apotheosis or return to life in drama. The poetic use of these terms serves to understand how the social and political meaning of the ritual was understood and codified by literature.

This thesis demonstrates the significance of Food Vessel pottery and burial in Northern England during the Early Bronze Age (c.2200 to 1800 cal BC). It represents the first original and sustained study of this burial tradition for several decades. It is argued that the interwoven relationships between Food Vessels, other ceramic types, and trade and exchange networks are both a reason why the tradition has posed interpretative problems for prehistorians, and a central component of its significance during the Early Bronze Age. The chronological relationships between British Food Vessels and other ceramic and funerary traditions are reviewed using the first comprehensive and critically assessed dataset of radiocarbon determinations. Previous approaches to Food Vessel typology are critically reviewed and a new approach based on the ‘potter’s perspective’ and contextual studies is proposed. A contextual approach is applied to Food Vessels from three regions of Northern England: the Northern Counties; North-East Yorkshire, the central lowlands and North-West England; and South-East Yorkshire. Each study reveals significant inter- and intra-regional similarities and differences in how Food Vessels were used and understood. The significance of Food Vessel pottery and burial is then discussed at a national scale.

This work discusses change and continuities taking place in the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Ages in Greece. The geographical range will cover the eastern mainland (including Euboea), Naxos and Knossos, in a period starting from the final palatial culture of LH IIIB2/13th century and ending with the Proto-Geometric/10th century burial evidence. In order to collect and observe the archaeological evidence several tombs assemblages have been researched from both original reports and visits to relevant Greek museums. Finds have been tabulated, and continuities, innovations and losses have been identified. The major categories of material evidence analysed included pottery, metalwork and jewellery but also the form of the tombs and the manner of the burials were considered. The final analysis of these categories of evidence refutes theories of major and or abrupt change, whether caused by invasion or natural phenomena. It rather indicates social modifications following the loss of the palatial centres and their administration and culminating in their gradual replacement by new forms of social structure. Although not directly demonstrable from the existing evidence, a possible scenario is proposed to explain the frequent indications of influence from SE and Central Europe during this transition.

When an ancient Near Eastern city was besieged and looted the statues and cultic appurtenances of the gods were often confiscated by the conquerors. Their loss was more than a heavy blow to the defeated people: the statue was the god‘s representation on earth and watched over and protected the city so his abandonment of his city was thought to have a lasting devastating effect. From the point of view of the conqueror the statue could be used not only as a tool of intimidation but for bribery and a crude form of diplomacy and as propaganda for his might and glory. In this thesis the history of the phenomenon of godnap is explored for the first time and there is also an investigation of related problems in religion and cultural history. At the outset a detailed investigation of the numinous character of an ancient Mesopotamian statue is given including an account of the ritual that imbued it with this divine quality. Special attention is given to Marduk of Babylon and the episodes in which even he found himself the victim of theft. The thesis includes an excursus on evocatio and parallels between Hittite and ancient Roman practices are drawn.

This dissertation demonstrates that the presence of Latin basilissai, Catholic wives of the Byzantine despots of Morea, in Mystras between 1349, when the city became the seat of the Despotate, and 1460, when it was surrendered to the Turks, had an impact on the artistic and cultural production at court. These foreign women were agents of the ruling political and economic elites of Italian and Frankish courts, and expressed their agency by mediating their specific cultural and artistic traditions into the production of their adopted city. Art and cultural historical approaches, in which attention is focused on painted and sculpted details, inscriptions, archaeological remains, architectural design, and urban planning, are used to show that the Latin women were historical agents, whose presence can be detected in Mystras. A multidisciplinary analysis of case studies reveals cross-cultural motifs in the artistic production, demonstrating the relationship between pieces of evidence. The production of the workshops of Mystras expressed features that were, in some cases, responses to Constantinopolitan and Byzantine models, while, in others, autonomous and innovative, revealing complex cross-cultural references. Ultimately, this study shows that the particular cultural and artistic landscape of Mystras is indebted to exogenous cultures linked to these women.