This account of British interest in Egypt in the late 18th century, whilst not attempting to be exhaustive, aims to suggest the many-sided importance and interrelation of British interest in Egypt during 1775-1798. Topics include: British interest engendered by the Levant company; antiquarian research; British conceptions of Arab life and literature; British travellers’ impressions of Egypt (political and commercial interest); the Indian factor; the importance of Egypt on an envisaged new route to India; international competition for trade via Egypt; the decline of British interest in Egypt; and the growth of British policy towards the Ottoman Empire.

The messages in the imagery on Byzantine coins, although often neglected by scholars, were a key means of projecting imperial power. Emperors could project power via dress, ceremonial, and displays, but these methods would not have reached all subjects. Byzantine coins had the advantage of reaching all subjects, as the Byzantine economy was fundamentally monetized. Military symbols (figures, dress, and weapons), whose study has been rather overlooked, formed an important part of this imagery. Whilst military symbols disappeared from Byzantine coins in the early eighth century, and were absent for some three centuries, they were reintroduced in the mid-eleventh century and appeared until 1394/5. Their importance is indicated by the fact that military types comprised over half the overall total of types for some emperors. This study examines military symbols on Byzantine coins from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries, and notes also imperial representations in other media. The numismatic sources for this study are the collections in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and Dumbarton Oaks. The general conclusions are that military symbols were used most frequently from 1204 to 1261, less frequently from 1261 to 1394/5, and least frequently from 1042 to 1204. The variety of military saints portrayed increased at first, but declined in the fourteenth century, until only St Demetrios remained, but in the highest status: riding with the emperor.

This thesis examines the self-reflexive and metafictional aspects of Achilles Tatius’ Leukippe and Kleitophon. The aim is to map this self-reflexivity by examining the intricacy of its narrative structure, revealing the self-consciousness of the text, and thereby comment on the visibility of the author. Achilles Tatius is a notably difficult text. It presents a narrative of complexity, while appearing superficial. Scholars have recognised this complexity, but have yet to produce a clear analysis of how the text functions as a complete work. Through the discourse provided by the theory of ‘metafiction’, this complexity is able to be diagnosed and explored to its completion. It is only through the totality of the text that a complete understanding of Achilles’ novel becomes possible. In examining the text by book-pairs, a comprehensive and intelligent structure emerges, revealing a highly conscious text through its awareness of its own fictive structure. The consequence of providing a comprehensive analysis is that many of these insights cannot be explored to the extent they deserve, as more research remains to be done.

Sociological theories relating to collective forms of memory and forgetting have received little attention in Egyptological studies thus far with the work of Jan Assmann providing the primary source. Understanding these two processes, however, can support important insights into the lives and cultures of ancient communities; they should not, therefore, be viewed as peripheral theories but as central in developing understanding of societies below the elite. Consequently, this study looks at collective forms of memory and forgetting in the Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty, focusing on commemoration of deceased kings and queens (‘royal ancestors’). The first three chapters use case studies to highlight different memory stores; written, pictorial and active. The final chapter focuses on forgetting. The evidence is analysed using both Egyptological and sociological theory to facilitate discussion on the subjects of community, identity and legitimation, and to develop understanding of material culture as a site of memory. The study argues that collective forms of remembering, particularly cultural memory, played a key role in the construction of individual and group identity and the legitimation of the ruler. Furthermore, it concludes that existing studies of memory provide good frameworks to understanding Egyptian society, although they should not be used without careful consideration of context.

Chlemoutsi was the most important castle of the Principality established in the Peloponnese after the Fourth Crusade. The glazed pottery of the Frankish period (early 13th - early 15th c.) is almost exclusively Italian, reflecting the connections of the Principality of Achaea with Italy and illustrating the tastes of the Latin elite in ceramics. The pottery proves that the castle remained important after the end of the Frankish occupation and indicates its decline in the 18th c. The ceramic material of the Post-Byzantine period reflects the incorporation of the castle into the Ottoman Empire, the relations it developed with the rest of Greece, but, also, the continuation of its close connections with the West. Although a Turkish castle for most of the period between 1460 and the early 19th c., its imported pottery is mainly Italian, while the number of Islamic ceramics is small. The close political and economic relations with Italy developed after the Fourth Crusade, the Venetian interests in the Peloponnese, the constant Venetian occupation of the neighbouring Ionian Islands and the direct access to the Ionian Sea and Italy seem to have made the NW Peloponnese one of the most strongly Western-influenced areas of the Greek mainland.

The thesis deals with the socio-economic conditions prevailing in the city of Thessalonikê in the 14th and 15th centuries. One of the main aims is to address certain methodological issues linked to the period of transition from the Byzantine to the Ottoman Empire. In this effort, we have employed as an analytical tool the economic theory of New Institutional Economics, which lays significant importance in the study of the institutional framework of societies. The main strands of the thesis are two: firstly, the exploration of the ideological concerns, internal conflicts and response of the Thessalonian society to the changing political environment until the final subjection of the city to the Ottoman Turks in 1430. Secondly, the behaviour of the Thessalonian elite in terms of social and economic practice through an examination of its relationship with the Athonite monasteries and the Late Byzantine state. Our ultimate goal is to shed light on the way provincial elite of Thessalonikê adapted to the political and economic conditions that prevailed in the Late Byzantine period.

This thesis explores the embalming ritual of the Egyptian Late Period through Ptolemaic era (664 – 30 BC). Using an interdisciplinary approach, I incorporate primary and secondary texts, Egyptian funerary art and archaeological remains into my study. I utilize these lines of evidence to reconstruct the embalming ritual to the degree possible and analyze the ways in which its various stages were believed to fulfill the ultimate goal of this rite: preservation of the physical body and eternal life for the deceased. I focus particularly on the archaeological material and explore the visibility of religious practice in the archaeological record. I identify key changes and developments in the embalming ritual from the Late Period through the Ptolemaic Period in order to highlight religious significance placed on embalming during this time period. Funerary art, literature, and archaeological material of the Late through Greco-Roman Periods illustrate an increased focus on the integrity of the corpse as well as the manifestation of decay, the liquid \(rDw\). I examine these ancient sources in order to better understand the nature and development of body-centered funerary practices during this period of Egyptian history.

Academic literature has examined how the development of tourism destinations involves collaborative relationships between the various actors that participate in tourism policy and planning. In terms of an institutional analysis this thesis is about similar processes, yet it also explores the ways in which place- and time-specific material factors and perceptions characterize different patterns of tourism politics. Without making assumptions about the harmonious or conflicting nature of interactions among actors and the contexts surrounding them, the thesis advances the idea of a relational-evolutionary perspective on the processes of tourism policy and planning. Studying the governance of tourism development requires an assessment of the contextual coupling of different elements as both the corollary of earlier events and the precursor of future developments. In this thesis, a strategic-relational approach to tourism governance comprises the conceptual framework that provides explanatory depth into the contextual analysis of experiences and events. The case study approach is employed for the operationalization of the strategicrelational approach in the context of Athens as a tourist-historic and capital city of a highly centralised Southern-European state. The endeavour is based on the collection and analysis of data from documentary sources and semi-structured interviews. The interpretation of empirical evidence through the strategic-relational approach reveals the irony of a multifarious and multi-scalar governance context, which has not met the expectations of interest groups, especially in recent years, concerning tourism development in Athens. In other words, the thesis portrays the challenges and weaknesses that expand within and beyond the boundaries of state apparatus and hinder the enhancement of Athens as an urban tourism destination while recording the perceptions, experiences and practices of various actors.

In the eleventh century the arrival of the Turks from Central Asia resulted in complex socio-economic and political changes in Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazīra), Diyār Rūm (Asia Minor) and part of Syria (Diyār Shām). The social, cultural, military and economic life of the Turks intertwined with the native culture and heritage of Greeks, Armenians and Syrians living in those territories. Having as starting point the multifaceted encounters some of the important issues I am addressing in my thesis are the important trade routes that crossed Turkmen-dominated areas in the late middle ages; monetary traffic; mines and mints in operation under the Turkmen rule. As the history of that multicultural environment can best be understood and explained through the coin evidence, a big part of my project will cover numismatic evidence. In this context, my study will focus on the socio-economic and cultural relations and interactions between the Byzantines, old inhabitants, the Turkish newcomers and the western powers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the light of the coins and investigate some questions: Why did the Turkmens issue the Greek and bilingual (Greek-Arabic) coins and seals? Why did the Turkmens borrow images (particularly Byzantine style imagery) from the cultural heritage of the areas they ruled?

This thesis is concerned with how the Greek peoples, of primarily the classical period, collectively commemorated the Persian Wars. The data studied within this project are public monuments, which include both physical and behavioural commemorations. A quantitative methodology is employed within this thesis and is a novel approach by which to study Persian War public monuments. This method of analysis allows for a more holistic approach to the data. Through analysing commemorative monuments quantitatively this project, figuratively, re-joins object and context. Studies on Persian War commemoration tend to focus on singular monument types, individual commemorative places, a particular commemorating group, or a specific battle. To think plurally about the ancient Greek commemorative tradition is to refocus attention on the whole incorporating all known commemorative monuments, places, and groups. What emerges from this study is a varied commemorative tradition expressed over space and time. Commemoration of conflict is presented here as a process of exchange, a dialogue between the past and the present. This thesis challenges the idea that a unified pan-Hellenic memory of the Persian Wars existed from the culmination of the conflict and illustrates the varied collective memories and narratives that could be created about the past.