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This rhetorical study applies Clare W. Graves' "Level of Existence" or value systems theory to the English Neo-Classic and Romantic Movements. Graves' framework, which focuses on sacrificial (Tribalistic, Absolutistic, and Sociocentric) systems and expressive (Egocentric, Achievist, and Individualistic) systems~was utilized in analyzing the politics, society, religion, philosophy, and literature of the two periods. The Neo-Classic Period was dominated by sacrificial systems, especially Absolutistic, while the Romantic Movement was dominated by expressive systems, especially Achievist. This thesis suggests that man's cultural development, like his psychological development, appears to evolve in a spiraling, pendular motion between sacrificial and expressive systems.

Early modern Lutherans, as is well known, worshipped in decorated churches. They adopted a path of reform that neither disposed of all ornament nor retained all the material trappings of the Catholic church. This thesis studies the fortunes of ecclesiastical art in the Duchy of Württemberg after its Reformation in 1534 and the place images found for themselves in the devotional lives of Lutherans up to c. 1700. The territory was shaped not just by Lutheranism, but initially by Zwinglianism too. The early years of reform thus saw moments of iconoclasm. The Zwinglian influence was responsible for a simple liturgy that distinguished Württemberg Lutheranism from its confessional allies in the north. This study considers the variety of uses to which Lutheran art was put in this context. It addresses the different ways in which Lutherans used the visual setting of the church to define their relationships with their God, their church, and each other. The Dukes of Württemberg used their stance on images to communicate their political and confessional allegiances; pastors used images to define the parameters of worship and of the church space itself; parishioners used images, funerary monuments, and church adornment to express their Lutheran identity and establish their position within social hierarchies. As Lutheranism developed in the seventeenth century, so too did Lutheran art, becoming more suited to fostering contemplative devotion. While diverse in their aims, many Lutherans appreciated the importance of regular investment in the visual. Ducal pronouncements, archives held centrally and locally, surviving artefacts and decoration in churches, and printed sources enable the distinctive visual character of Lutheranism in Württemberg to be identified here.

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First appearing on potsherds around 3300 BC, the Indus script was primarily in use during the Mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-1900 BC) in the Indus Valley region, centred in the north-western region of the Indian Subcontinent. It is one of the last remaining undeciphered scripts of the ancient world. A great number of Indus inscriptions, however, have been uncovered at many archaeological sites in the Persian Gulf, discoveries that corroborate the inclusion of the Indus civilization as an active participant in the Mesopotamian-dominated Gulf trade of the 3rd millennium. In addition to exploring the current state of research surrounding the Indus decipherment attempts, the thesis will examine new perspectives on ancient history, arguing in favour of various possibilities of Mesopotamian, Elamite, and/or pre-dynastic Egyptian (North East African) cultural presences or influences in the ancient Indus River basin.

First appearing on potsherds around 3300 BC, the Indus script was primarily in use during the Mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-1900 BC) in the Indus Valley region, centred in the north-western region of the Indian Subcontinent. It is one of the last remaining undeciphered scripts of the ancient world. A great number of Indus inscriptions, however, have been uncovered at many archaeological sites in the Persian Gulf, discoveries that corroborate the inclusion of the Indus civilization as an active participant in the Mesopotamian-dominated Gulf trade of the 3rd millennium. In addition to exploring the current state of research surrounding the Indus decipherment attempts, the thesis will examine new perspectives on ancient history, arguing in favour of various possibilities of Mesopotamian, Elamite, and/or pre-dynastic Egyptian (North East African) cultural presences or influences in the ancient Indus River basin.

The dissertation is intended to show whether it is possible for a Roman traveller to make a journey around the Roman world in the year C.E. 210, within 180 days, in a manner similar to that of Phileas Fogg, a character in Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1874). The Roman's 180-day adventure to complete the journey within the set time incorporates logistics and itinerary on ancient roads, canals and sea voyages, and quotes Horace, Juvenal, Pausanias, Ovid and Strabo. Verne linked the past, an ancient two thousand year old water system in Aden - with his traveller who also visited the site. The Roman traveller will link the past with the present, viewing ancient building and engineering works such as the Lyonnais aqueducts, and the Greek use of curvature in design when building the Parthenon. Parts of such construction remain in situ for the present-day traveller to view. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / (M.A. (Specialization in Ancient Languages and Cultures))

This dissertation will critically analyse a gilded bronze Osiris statuette from the Middle Kingdom Period. An attempt is made to verify its authenticity, provenance and probable date of origin, while also gathering information which will help in placing the artefact and others like it in their proper cultural context. Furthermore the value of several investigative techniques employed during the course of this research is also explored. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis takes Zygmunt Bauman’s book Modernity and the Holocaust as a point of departure in an attempt to show that genocides of the twentieth century are by-products of modernity, and not aberrations, as previously thought. Bauman’s work focuses on the distinctly modern nature of the Holocaust. Using the theory he develops in Modernity and the Holocaust, this thesis attempts to show, first and foremost, that the Holocaust is not the only example of modern genocide. By comparing and contrasting the Holocaust to another, more recent, genocide, namely the Rwandan genocide of 1994, it becomes clear that despite superficial differences between the two genocides, the Rwandan genocide is also a by-product of modernity. This conclusion has important implications, not only for the way in which we remember the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, but also for our understanding of evil and perpetrators of evil. Drawing on the work of Bauman and Hannah Arendt, especially with regard to the Eichmann case, chapter three investigates our traditional assumptions and expectations with regard to evil and perpetrators of evil and notes the unsettling differences between our assumptions and the modern reality. In order to truly understand the nature of perpetrators of modern genocide, it is important to look at the influence of morality on such perpetrators and the reasons why morality seems incompatible with modernity. In this regard, Haas’ book Morality after Auschwitz is of critical importance. Given the various failures and unexpected by-products of modernity, one has to wonder whether postmodernity would offer a better moral alternative to modernity. Chapter five investigates this supposition, and finds it wanting. Drawing yet again on Bauman, the notion of an ethics of responsibility is put forth as the only safeguard against modern evil. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis neem Zygmunt Bauman se boek Modernity and the Holocaust as ‘n beginpunt en probeer om te wys dat die volksmoorde van die twintigste eeu byprodukte, en nie afwykings, van moderniteit is nie. Bauman se werk fokus op die moderne eienskappe van die Holocaust. Deur gebruik te maak van die teorie wat hy in Modernity and the Holocaust ontwikkel, probeer hierdie tesis om, eerstens, te wys dat die Holocaust nie die enigste voorbeeld van ‘n moderne volksmoord is nie. Deur die Holocaust met ‘n ander, meer onlangse volksmoord, die Rwandese volksmoord van 1994, te vergelyk en te kontrasteer word dit duidelik dat ten spyte van die oppervlakkige verskille tussen die twee volksmoorde, die Rwandese volksmoord ook ‘n byproduk van moderniteit is. Hierdie gevolgtrekking het belangrike implikasies nie net vir die manier waarop ons die Holocaust en die Rwandese volksmoord onthou nie, maar ook vir die wyse waarop ons die kwaad (evil) en perpetrators of evil1 verstaan. Deur verder gebruik te maak van Bauman se werk sowel as die werk van Hannah Arendt, veral met betrekking tot die Eichmann saak, ondersoek hoofstuk drie ons tradisionele aannames en verwagtinge met betrekking tot die kwaad (evil) en perpetrators of evil en wys die onaangename verskille tussen ons aannames en die moderne realiteit uit. Ten einde werklik die aard van perpetrators van moderne volksmoord te verstaan, is dit belangirk om na die invloed van moraliteit op hierdie perpetrators of evil te kyk, asook die redes waarom moraliteit blykbaar teenstrydig is met moderniteit. Haas se belangrike boek, Morality after Auschwitz, word hier geraadpleeg. Gegewe die verskeie tekortkominge van moderniteit, moet ons wonder of postmoderniteit nie dalk ‘n beter morele alternatief bied nie. Hoofstuk vyf ondersoek hierdie stelling en vind dat postmoderniteit ook nie voldoende is nie. Laastens word Bauman weereens geraadpleeg en sy seining van ‘n etiek van verantwoordelikheid word voorgestel as die enigste beskerming teen moderne kwaad. / Harry Crossley Foundation