This dissertation is a study of the political and cultural unification of Italy during the period between the Social War and the Age of Augustus, focusing on four cities in the Arno River Valley of northern Etruria: Arretium, Faesulae, Florentia, and Pisae. This region provides an important case study for investigating socio-political change in late Republican and early Imperial Italy due to its prosperity and autonomy throughout the Republic while Rome was conquering most of peninsular Italy. After the Social War, Northern Etruria continued to fight against Roman hegemony well into the first century B.C.E. after which its territory was subject to repeated waves of colonization under Sulla, the Triumvirs, and Octavian, significantly altering patterns of land tenure and community demographics. These events appear on the surface to have caused a region-wide spike in economic production, urban building, and network ties during the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E. A great deal of attention in previous studies of the history and archaeology of the late Roman Republic has focused on explaining Italy's process of political and cultural unification under Rome which is thought to have been set in motion during the early first century B.C.E. and completed during the reign of the emperor Augustus (31 B.C.E. - 14 C.E.). A fundamental assumption of past scholarship has stressed the importance of Roman colonization in accelerating Italians' voluntary convergence toward a superior Roman state, a process sometimes referred to as "Romanization." My work reconsiders this scholarly agenda by contributing evidence from a region that has been previously marginalized in larger syntheses of socio-political change during the Roman Republic. This study aims to establish the degree to which the presence of veteran colonists at the cities along the Arno River altered the existing socio-political demographic into a homogeneous Roman society, and, in so doing, to contribute to the larger debate on the existence of an Italy unified under Rome during the course of the first century B.C.E. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2013. / December 10, 2012. / Arretium, Etruria, Faesulae, Florentia, Pisae, Roman / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. de Grummond, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; David Stone, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Jack Freiberg, University Representative; Trevor Luke, Committee Member; Tim Stover, Committee Member.

This dissertation questions the dominant paradigm of a 'cultural revolution' in ancient Rome and Italy, as a product of the Augustan age. It also calls into consideration the notions that aristocratic elites were cultural trend-setters during the last two centuries BCE and that the majority of ancient Italians were largely passive as the sweeping changes of the period unfolded. Breaking new ground with sophisticated quantitative analyses, the dissertation conducts a long-term comparative study of food consumption among the mass society throughout Italy to see whether popular cultural habits come toward any point of homogeneity in the Augustan age. It illustrates how macroregional groups (Etruria, Apulia, and Latium) reveal a distinct tendency toward Italian homogeneity that transpires slowly over time starting around the mid-second century BCE. Apulian sites moreover begin to diverge from this trend starting in the first century CE, showing that the maximum point of cultural unification occurred under Augustus but that it was not permanent. These results thus not only complicate the narrative of Italian unification and illustrate the different levels into which culture can be particularized, but they also provide a context for the agency of Augustus and the members of his regime, in terms of their ability to exact or perpetrate cultural change: leaders and the elites of a social order are granted their authority, to a degree, through their own making, but the maintenance of that power depends upon a concession of power on the part of the rest of society. The way in which the proliferation of the symbols of power found common purchase within Italy corresponds with an era of a shared culture reflected in the habits of mass consumption. The success of the Augustan age, therefore, and its proliferation of symbols of power, should be considered in light of this preexisting long-term sociohistorical trend. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / April 3, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. de Grummond, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Levenson, University Representative; John Marincola, Committee Member; Daniel Pullen, Committee Member; Debajyoti Sinha, Committee Member; David Stone, Committee Member.

Although many of Lucan's allusions to Ovid are well-known, studies which contextualize them with the care that has been done with, e.g., Lucan and Vergil are still few in number. My goal in this study is to make a substantial contribution to the growing understanding of Ovid's influence upon Lucan. In seeking to move beyond the emulation-alone model as a way of explaining their poetic interactions, I examine a number of intertextual links between Lucan's Bellum Civile and Ovid's Metamorphoses, and I demonstrate how Lucan appropriates Ovidian material to articulate and enhance his broader poetic goals and vision. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / March 15, 2012. / Allusion, Bellum Civile, Intertextuality, Lucan, Metamorphoses, Ovid / Includes bibliographical references. / Laurel Fulkerson, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Levenson, University Representative; Francis Cairns, Committee Member; Timothy Stover, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study is to make a preliminary classification of the black-gloss fabrics and forms from the 1999 excavation season at the Samnite/Roman settlement on Monte Pallano, a regional pagus center with a forum complex and a Hellenistic sanctuary, located within the middle Sangro River Valley. This study aims to offer a starting point to understand the production and consumption of black-gloss pottery on the site of the forum complex and to begin to identify the relationship between ceramic material culture, economic systems and identity construction from the Roman Republican/Early Imperial (ca. 50 B.C.E.-50 C.E.) public structures on Monte Pallano. The research in this dissertation represents the first systematic investigation of the black gloss pottery, a fine-ware ceramic that was circulated widely in the Mediterranean in the fourth-first centuries B.C.E. This dissertation, therefore, aids in laying the foundation for understanding how the people of the central- eastern coast of Italy produced, traded, and consumed fine wares. The research objective addresses the dearth of information on eastern black-gloss production as well as the need to study Monte Pallano's economy and identity through the black-gloss pottery. This project, in addition to establishing a traditional, though preliminary classification of the Monte Pallano black gloss, presents the preliminary chemical characterization of the black-gloss fabrics from the site using portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF). Finally, by developing the typology and chemical characterization of the black-gloss pottery, the project ultimately advances the knowledge of Monte Pallano's role as a pagus center during the first centuries B.C.E and C.E. when trade was increasing across the Mediterranean due to the expansion of Roman hegemony. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 31, 2014. / Black-gloss, Ceramic, Economy, Identity, Roman, Samnite / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. de Grummond, Professor Directing Dissertation; Holly Hanessian, University Representative; Daniel J. Pullen, Committee Member; Christopher A. Pfaff, Committee Member; Susan Kane, Committee Member.

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary examination of the human-animal hybrid divinities of ancient Italy and how their iconography, mythic narrative, and cult interrelate. The deities and demons collected in this text are organized into chapters based on their animal characteristics represented in both art and literature. These figures are imaged in theriomorphic (wholly animal) or therianthropic (a combination of human and animal anatomies or a human form wearing animal dress) forms in addition to their anthropomorphic representations. The deities and demons included in this study are Aesculapius, Charu(n), and the Genius Loci, who are depicted with ophidian imagery, Aita, Faunus, Silvanus, and Apollo Soranus with lupine imagery, Faunus (again), Pan, and Juno Sospita with caprid, the Minotaur and Achelous along with a discussion of the possible representation of Dionysos in taurine form, Picus and three unidentified divinities with avian. By examining these figures, one can see that previous scholarship concerning the Greco-Roman acceptance of animal worship and the appraisal of these figures as survivals of archaic religion needs revision. Other issues addressed by this work include the Etruscan and Roman importation and adoption of foreign gods, goddess and their mythic narratives, the mercurial nature of pagan deities, the tie between animal imagery and chthonic or liminal figures, the use of theriomorphic and therianthropic deities as apotropaic devices, and the relationship between literary and archaeological evidence. These problems are addressed by a close reading of literary sources and visual analysis of artistic representations of theriomorphic and therianthropic divinities. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Classics in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2007. / November 22, 2006. / Etruscan and Roman Religion, Etruscan and Roman Myth / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy de Grummond, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael Uzendoski, Outside Committee Member; Christopher Pfaff, Committee Member; Daniel J. Pullen, Committee Member.

Cetamura del Chianti is a small habitation site in the Chianti region of Tuscany which has yielded a number of bucchero pottery fragments. Bucchero is an Etruscan fineware, known for its characteristic burnished black surface, consistent black color throughout the paste, and smooth texture. Bucchero pottery, useful as a dating tool, ranges in date from the seventh to the fourth century BC, and is characteristic of Etruscan settlements and manufacture. In this thesis, I analyze the bucchero found at Cetamura del Chianti between 1978 and 2003, which I have surveyed and included in a catalog. Using the details and information that the catalog entries provide, this paper includes an overall examination of the pottery, noting especially the presence of various vessel forms; namely: miniature kyathos, small jug, plate cover, kantharos, plate, cup, chalice, and miniature bowl. It also examines the special features of some of the pottery, including a palmette stamp and incised graffiti and gives relevant comparanda for each item. This survey of the pottery fragments included in the catalog helps to show what kinds of vessels were being used at the site, the range in quality of the vessels, from very fine, smooth fragments to rough and poorer qualities of bucchero, and the likelihood that bucchero was being imported to the site from regional workshops, rather than being made by resident craftsmen. Finally, in this thesis I place these discussions in the context of the pottery and other material objects found at the site of Cetamura del Chianti. The pottery fragments show definite activity in the Etruscan habitation period on the site, especially in the 6th century BC. Additionally, I place my findings about the quality and forms of the vessels found at Cetamura in the larger context of bucchero pottery found in Northern Etruria, especially, and from similar small habitation sites throughout Etruria at this time. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2006. / April 25, 2006. / Ceramics, Etruscan Pottery, Bucchero, Cetamura / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. de Grummond, Professor Directing Thesis; David Stone, Committee Member; Daniel J. Pullen, Committee Member.

It is generally thought that that the peoples of the Greek Dark Age did not use chariots for warfare. This theory is based on the assumption that the Greek Dark Age (ca. 1100 B.C.E to 750 B.C.E.) was too impoverished for people to own, much less use chariots. It is also often argued that the Homeric description of war-chariotry represents a distorted memory of the proper way to use chariots on the battlefield. Because of this, the Homeric evidence shows that chariots had not been used in Greece for a long time prior to the traditional date of the Iliad. The purpose of this thesis is to oppose this commonly held theory. In order to do so, I will examine various types of evidence, including chariot- related artifacts as well as textual and pictorial documentation for chariots. The evidence that will be examined dates to the Bronze Age, Dark Age and the eighth century. It is my contention that when looking at all of the evidence for chariotry in Greece diachronically, a continuum in the design of Greek chariots as well as how chariots were used militarily is established. This continuum, in turn, shows the plausibility that chariots were used for warfare throughout the Dark Age. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2003. / October 23, 2003. / Homeric Warfare, Mycenaean Warfare, Ancient Warfare / Includes bibliographical references. / Chistopher A. Pfaff, Professor Directing Thesis; Daniel J. Pullen, Committee Member; Kathryn B. Stoddard, Committee Member.

This dissertation is a study of the impact of Hellenistic palatial architecture and décor on the design of private houses and their social culture at Pompeii in the second century B.C.E. A great deal of attention has been devoted in previous studies of ancient Greco-Roman literature and art history to the processes of hellenization that transformed Italic cultures in the course of the Hellenistic period. My work expands upon this scholarship by combining methods of spatial analysis with an examination of permanent interior decoration in the form of decorative pavements. Using representational mosaics from Hellenistic palaces and elite residences to elucidate patterns of mosaic distribution, I determine their architectural and social context by means of view planning and access analysis. Incorporating additional analysis of the social meaning of the representational mosaics, I define the impact of Hellenistic palatial architecture and décor on Pompeian domestic architecture and social culture. I utilize the House of the Faun at Pompeii as my test case, because of the good preservation of its second century B.C.E. phase and the large number of high quality representational mosaics and other decorative pavements present. The resulting patterns are indicative of an awareness on the part of Pompeians of not only the context of Hellenistic palace design, but also the social culture of Hellenistic kings and elite citizens. Furthermore, the desire to imitate this palatial lifestyle was made manifest in the House of the Faun and its contemporaries at Pompeii. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2006. / June 30, 2006. / House of the Faun, Casa del Fauno, Mosaics, Hellenistic Palaces, Pompeii, Access Analysis, View Planning / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. de Grummond, Professor Directing Dissertation; Marcia Rosal, Outside Committee Member; Daniel J. Pullen, Committee Member; David Stone, Committee Member.

Just as the artist gives perceptible form to the otherwise intangible nature of the soul, Parmenides and Plato used mythic imagery to explain their concepts of being and the soul. In the proem of his philosophically didactic poem On Nature, Parmenides depicts the image of a charioteer who is pulled by two horses and begins a journey to learn the truth about the nature of the universe. Similarly, in the Phaedrus, Plato employs the allegory of a charioteer pulled by two horses to explicate metaphorically his concept of the tripartite division of the soul, first expressed in the Republic. Like Parmenides, Plato fashions a mythical narrative rich with symbolism and imagery to explain his vision of the soul. The image of the charioteer in the Phaedrus draws not only upon the design developed by Parmenides, but also upon customary depictions of the horse and chariot motif found in artistic iconography. This thesis considers the influence of the surrounding cultural milieu of imagery on Plato's construction of the soul. Through an examination of the motifs of the horse and chariot, as well as birds, and other traditional Greek representations for the soul, I aim to bring to light the skillful method by which Plato crafts his metaphor. Furthermore, I consider the language with which Plato develops this image, comparing it to a language of artistic practice, in order to demonstrate Plato's role as an "artist of language" who paints vibrant images to elucidate his philosophical concepts, namely, that of the soul as a winged charioteer. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2007. / March 28, 2007. / Metaphor, Plato, Philosophy, Imagery / Includes bibliographical references. / Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Professor Directing Thesis; Nancy T. de Grummond, Committee Member; Christopher Pfaff, Committee Member.

The purpose of this thesis is to study ancient Greek inscriptions on Attic vases. First, the categories of inscriptions are clearly defined. Second, various theories pertaining to those categories of inscriptions are debated as to their validity. Third, the information that the inscriptions provide on the culture, potters and painters of ancient Athens is dicussed. This thesis will provide a foundation of current information that the student or scholar can reference and build upon when beginning their study on ancient Greek inscriptions. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2007. / April 19, 2007. / Attic Vases, Inscription Theories, Toasts, Labels, Comments, Nonsense Inscriptions, Kalos Inscriptions, Signatures, Bubble Inscriptions, Attic Vase Inscriptions, Ancient Greek Inscriptions / Includes bibliographical references. / Laurel Fulkerson, Professor Directing Thesis; Christopher Pfaff, Committee Member; James Sickinger, Committee Member.