Thesis (M.A.)--Guo li zheng zhi da xue. / Reproduced from typescript. Bibliography: p. 349-357.

This dissertation examines the hero-cults in Sparta in the Archaic and Classical periods on the basis of the archaeological and literary sources. The aim is to explore the local idiosyncrasies of a pan-Hellenic phenomenon, which itself can help us understand the place and function of heroes in Greek religion. Although it has long been noted that hero-cult was especially popular in Sparta, there is little known about the cults, both in terms of material evidence and the historical context for their popularity. The first, second and third chapters query the origin and development of herocults and challenge the traditional assumption that Helen, Menelaos and Hyakinthos were 'faded gods‘. They also question the Dorian Spartan adaptation of Achaian heroes for political propaganda. Instead, the evidence at the Menelaion and the worship of Agamemnon and Alexandra/Kassandra, Orestes and others who remain anonymous to us, are viewed as a local phenomenon reflective of the developing communal and social consciousness in Archaic and Classical Sparta. The fourth chapter deals with the heroisation of the recently dead in the context of the possible posthumous heroisation of the Spartan kings and other important communal personalities. Thus, hero-cults are explained and interpreted as a changing phenomenon, which are influenced and shaped by societal dynamics at any given time. It is concluded that in Sparta the boundaries of the divine/heroic/mortal were fluid, which allowed a great variation in the expression of cults. The fifth and sixth chapters study the more intimate relationship of the individual to the hero through a survey of the votive deposits dedicated to heroes and an iconographical analysis of the votives, such as the stone and terracotta reliefs. The study of the archaeological record permits an analysis of the kinds of offerings to hero cults and an evaluation of the architecture that housed such cults. Because of the material and spatial distribution of the votive deposits, I conclude that Sparta had a large number of hero shrines scattered throughout the polis which attests to an enthusiastic and long-lasting local votive practice at a popular level.

In recent years, archaeologists have proven that Roman provinces such as Gaul successfully underwent the process of Romanization, where the archaeological evidence showed that native populations culturally assimilated to Roman life. Likewise, Romans accepted local populations into Roman life and oftentimes syncretized aspects of their own culture with that of the locals. This process was usually stimulated by the creation of Roman cities throughout the province from which Roman culture emanated. However, Dacia's capital city, Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa, which was founded in 106 CE under Trajan after the Second Dacian War (105-6 CE), doesn't exhibit these qualities of Romanization. The material culture, including architecture, ceramics, inscriptions on stelae, and other artifacts, expresses a purely Roman aesthetic in terms of style and construction. The evidence suggests that native Dacians were not successfully Romanized, either because of a conscious rejection of Roman life or a refusal by the Romans to successfully incorporate the locals into the new Roman province. Due to the violence of the two Dacian Wars and the speed with which Rome begins to colonize the province, I suggest that both scenarios are possible for why Romanization failed in Dacia and if Romanization did occur, it didn't emanate from the capital city but from rural settlements closer to the limes, many of which have not yet been excavated extensively.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this thesis is to understand and evaluate, in the context of his monism, the meaning and implications of Fragment Three of Parmenides' poem. This fragment, itself incomplete, reads as follows: ... tò γáp αùtò voεîV εótiv tε Kαi εîvαi Which can be translated as: . . . for this is the same, to think and to be There is no disagreement that in Fragment Three Parmenides is in some way relating voεîv ("thinking") to εîvαi ("being"). The primary, but not the only problem which it poses is this: in the identification between thinking and being, are these words a mere statement that being is intelligible, or are they an assertion that Being is intelligent? Most modern commentators side with the former interpretation which accords with the view that reality/being is ultimately objective and impersonal. To maintain this position they are forced to construe the active infinitive voεîv as passive in meaning, with the further corollary that this verb-form implies mere possibility. The first proponent of this interpretation, Eduard Zeller, provided no justification for it. Post factum attempts by John Brunet and Uvo Holsher to provide the needed justification have proven to be groundless. The linguistic and literary evidence points overwhelmingly to the active meaning. Further, the prima facie interpretation of the parallel texts within the poem, as well as all the extant ancient testimonia (Clement of Alexandria, Plotinus, Proclus) support the active meaning. This thesis differs, then, from those interpretations which assume that Fragment Three distinguishes (thinking) subject from (inanimate) object; as well as from the view adopted by Heidegger that it means merely that being is the only possible object of knowledge. The conclusion of this thesis is that for Parmenides "to think" is identical with "to be" absolutely, that Being is not only one, but is alive and the center of consciousness, i.e. is Mind. Hence the fundamental question which Parmenides' poem answers is not "What is being?" but rather, "What is the way to the One-Who-Is?" / 2031-01-01

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The goal of this thesis is to show how the Roman elegists Horace and Propertius adapted the poetic theme of the paraclausithyron (the lament of the locked-out lover) to be a humorous criticism of other elegiac poets and lovers by employing inversions, reversals and parody into their poems. At the time of writing, this was a topic not covered adequately by commentators of the works, if discussed at all. Humour in particular has been greatly overlooked by the academic community in regards to these poems. The work is based upon my own close readings of the primary texts in addition to secondary scholarship. My hope is that this helps to change the way these poems are viewed: instead of seeing them as serious outpourings of emotion, they should be viewed as light-hearted, comedic works. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

All available evidence for architecture of the Neolithic Period in Thessaly, Greece, is assembled and synthesized. The traditional house-type concept used in previous studies is reviewed and shown to contain a number of theoretical and methodological weaknesses. A new theoretical approach is developed, which treats Neolithic architecture as an integral component of the overall cultural system, reflecting climatic conditions, building technology, social organization, household structure, religion and ideology. The existence of a separate Aceramic phase in Thessaly is questioned; the "pithouse" architecture of that phase is rejected for lack of evidence. The earliest Early Neolithic architecture appears to be a local development of rectilinear houses of wood and clay; pise, mud brick, and stone foundations were also used. Evidence for Middle Neolithic architecture is more abundant, and takes the form of house remains and clay house models. MN settlements consist of detached but closely grouped houses separated by lanes and common courts. Houses are typically small, one-room structures of square or slightly elongated plan. Mud brick on stone foundations, and pitched roofs, are typical. Households probably consisted of nuclear families. The so-called "megara" of the MN period are shown to be locally developed parched houses. The identification of the "Tsangli houses" with similar structures from Can Hasan 2B in Anatolia, and the posited migration from there into Thessaly, are rejected on the basis of an archaeological comparison of the architecture of the two sites. Limited data for the LN period suggest a shift to smaller, more nucleated settlements. Houses seem to be larger now than in the MN period; this may reflect either occupation by extended families or the existence of status distinctions. The traditional interpretation of LN Dimini as the fortified palace of a king is reconsidered in light of a discussion of the ''Homeric model" implicit in the original excavator's reasoning, and on the basis of recent excavations at that site. Remains of the Final Neolithic are extremely limited; the existence of an apsidal house at Rakhmani suggests affinities with the architecture of the early phases of the Early Bronze Age in the region.

Augustan propaganda surrounding Apollo provided the perfect literary device through which Augustan poets could express their sentiments about the new regime. Augustus transformed Apollo from a relatively insignificant god in the Roman pantheon to his own multi-faceted god whose various attributes were meant to legitimize his new position within the Roman Empire. In this thesis I discuss how Ovid uses Augustus’ political affiliation with Apollo to comment on Augustan marriage legislation in two of his texts. In Ovid’s manual on seduction, the Ars Amatoria, he denies poetic inspiration from Apollo at the beginning of his work, preferring instead to draw from his own experiences. However, Ovid seemingly contradicts himself by having Apollo appear later on to offer him advice. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid ridicules Apollo’s failed pursuit of Daphne. However, Apollo is seemingly victorious after all, since he uses Daphne’s laurel as his perpetual victory symbol. In both these instances, Ovid veils his political commentary by initially ridiculing Apollo in matters of love, only to seemingly glorify him shortly after. By excluding Apollo from matters of love, Ovid indirectly is disapproving of Augustus’ involvement in social affairs in Rome. Ovid proves to be a master of language yet again as he plays with the literary tradition and political implication of Apollo in these two texts to convey his discontent regarding Augustan marriage legislation.

This thesis explores the relationship between the genre of Greek poetry called parôidia and parody as a literary mode. I argue that the poetics of parôidia as genre are inextricably linked to the poetics of parody as mode. This argument produces a new methodological approach to the concept of parody, which recognizes its idiosyncratic nature. Since everyone has different ideas about what parody is, there is no absolute definition of parody. Instead, I use approaches drawn from cognitive linguistics and poetics to illuminate the parodic script, a set of terms commonly used to explain parody’s effect but which in themselves do not define parody. This methodology is supported by an appendix that analyses the terminology of parody in Greek (!αρῳδία, !αρῳδή, etc.). I argue that the noun !αρῳδία is only ever found with a generic meaning before the first century BC. The main body of the thesis examines six poems from this genre, parôidia, to demonstrate how this genre influenced Greek ideas about parody. This thesis is the first literary study of all of the major poems belonging to the genre. Furthermore, it is the first study of parody to appreciate fully the importance of this genre for notions of parody. While most studies of parody have centred on Greek Comedy, I show that this genre, which has been almost entirely left out of discussions of parody, is essential for the development of parody as a mode. As the first detailed literary study of the genre parôidia, the central chapters provide new interpretations of the genre’s most important poems. In several of these, I show how the poems engage in different kinds of satire. For instance, Timon uses Sceptic philosophy against the dogmatic sophists, and Archestratus uses tropes drawn from the figure of the comic mageiros. In other chapters, I argue that the humour of the poems derives in part from their manipulation of the audience’s expectations. Thus the Batrachomyomachia leads us to anticipate divine intervention, but uses this expectation to create humorous reveals at the end of the poem. In each chapter, I aim to show specifically how the poem’s parody of epic contributes to its construction of meaning. The conclusion then brings these chapters together to present the bigger picture of Greek conceptions of parody that emerge from these discussions. What links the poetry of a Sceptic philosopher and a shit-stained nobody from Thasos? Are there any similarities between the espousal of fine cuisine in Archestratus and the absurdification of the Batrachomyomachia? I conclude by making three claims: 1) parody’s allusive form must be understood as multifaceted and can be approached through several frameworks; 2) parody is not inherently critical of the text it parodies, but can use the process of parody as a framework for satirizing other figures; 3) although frequently regarded as a “low” or “playful” form, parody incorporates its supposedly inferior literary position into its construction of meaning. Parôidia, I argue, is not only a product of its specific literary and cultural context but also contributes to the shaping of parody in Greek thought.

Domenichino (1581-1641), a Bolognese artist, painted a unique interpretation of Ovid's myth of the goddess Diana and mortal hunter Actaeon in 1616 titled, Archery Contest of Diana and her Nymphs. This image depicts the goddess and her nymphs actively engaged in various activities. This portrayal is drastically different from common depictions of the time period, in which the goddess is portrayed as vulnerable, weak, and subjected to male voyeurism. In contrast, Domenichino painted his female warriors as physically strong and empowered with their weapons in hand. Compared to the art of his contemporaries, Domenichino's painting clearly evidences that he was influenced and inspired by a well-established, protofeminist artistic tradition originating in Bologna. Bologna offered several contributing factors which created a receptive environment for female artists to thrive. Artists like Lavinia Fontana were able to create strong careers that were both profitable and competitive with those of their male contemporaries. Fontana's depictions of female subjects deliberately pushed against the stereotype of painting heroines as passive objects exposed to male voyeurism. In Archery Contest of Diana and her Nymphs, Domenichino approaches Diana and her nymphs in the same fashion as the Bolognese protofeminists. The women depicted are no longer passive objects to be gazed upon; rather they are actively engaged and have physically fit bodies. Domenichino and the protofeminist tradition redefined how heroines are depicted by empowering the women as dynamic participants in brave pursuits.