In the ancient religious imagination, catastrophic events – plagues, droughts, natural disasters – were frequently seen as manifestations of divine wrath that necessitated extraordinary ritual responses to quell. These responses frequently consisted in intensified forms of sacred violence, the most extreme of which was human sacrifice. The corpus of Greek literature is rife with myths of human sacrifice. In spite of this rich mythic repertoire, Greek artists produced scenes of human sacrifice rather infrequently and drew upon an extremely restricted range of subjects. The extant corpus of human sacrificial images totals fewer than 50 specimens and almost all of them feature the maidens Polyxena or Iphigeneia as the victim. In the Archaic era (700-480 BCE), painters and sculptors were almost exclusively interested in the sacrificial fate of Polyxena. Archaic representations of Polyxena’s sacrifice are remarkable for their overt treatment of the physical violence to which the maiden was subjected, in some cases going so far as to visualize the blood gushing forth from her perforated neck. Interest in the violent and gory aspect of the sacrificial ritual diminishes in the closing decades of the Archaic period. The title of the proposed talk, bad blood, has a twofold sense; both senses refer to the underlying subject of belief and to the main arguments of this paper: The first sense is idiomatic and indicative: Polyxena’s sacrifice was a matter of bad blood, since it resulted from the need to placate the wroth and aggrieved ghost of Achilles, who denied the Greeks safe passage home until he was granted the spoils due to him (cf. Eur. Hek. 35-44; Quint. Smyr 14.324-338). The second, more literal sense is interrogative: To wit, was the shedding of Polyxena’s blood bad per se? While Greek authors of the Classical period and beyond suggest that human sacrifice was universally condemned as an unthinkably barbaric offense and a violation of ritual norms, earlier extant literary sources offer no such clear ruling. However, this situation changes when the small yet iconographically remarkable group of pre-Classical visual representations of human sacrifice are considered. In these images, one may detect a diversity of attitudes or positions on the ritual of human sacrifice, individual as well as collective, that range from acceptance to outright repudiation. This range of attitudes is not, however, neatly confined to the proverbial frame of the image or the mythical context of the event. Like the mythic cast of characters, contemporary ancient viewers were meant to participate in the discursive dynamic, bringing their individual beliefs and attitudes to bear on the scene and its significance. In other words, these representations imply a multiplicity of attitudes (and the beliefs that inform them) among the implied viewers of these artworks.

En cherchant à renouveler la vision du rôle joué par les fortifications et les premiers lieux de culte chrétiens dans la structuration et l’évolution des peuplements médiévaux, cette étude offre une nouvelle synthèse sur l’histoire du peuplement de l’ancienne cité de Clermont durant l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Age. Si les connaissances acquises sur le sujet font l’objet d’une nécessaire analyse critique, la documentation est renouvelée par une approche résolument interdisciplinaire puisant dans les apports confrontés des données textuelles, archéologiques et monumentales (formes architecturales, techniques, décors, etc.). Cette recherche s’articule autour d’une monographie qui offre aujourd’hui de nouveaux horizons de recherches sur la question des habitats fortifiés de hauteur, et met en évidence la relation étroite qui unit fortifications et églises dès les Ve-VIe siècles. L’enquête peut dès lors être élargie aux problématiques relatives à la topographie ecclésiale de l’ensemble du territoire arverne ; notamment par l’examen documenté du glissement des cadres de la cité romaine vers les nouveaux cadres diocésains. Il s’agit alors d’analyser les permanences, les ruptures et les transformations qui ont conditionné les modalités d’occupation du sol entre le Ve et le Xe siècle, en scrutant le rôle des églises et des « châteaux » dans la formation de nouveaux noyaux de peuplement. L’enjeu est enfin de saisir les réalités d’un paysage monumental progressivement transformé et adapté en abordant la question de la persistance formelle ou de l’innovation, des continuités et des ruptures techniques, à travers l’analyse des plans, des élévations et des répertoires ornementaux choisis, tout en confrontant les données disponibles aux témoignages apportés par les sources textuelles / This study proposes to shed new light on the evolution of settlement in the former territory of Clermont during the late Antiquity and early Middle Ages, by looking at the fortifications and first Christian places of worship, which are believed to polarize the medieval settlement. The main purpose of this work, beyond a necessary compilation of previous studies, is to renew the existing documentation through a vast archaeological investigation. The starting point of this research is a monographic study that widens the research on the topic of hillforts and highlights the close relation between fortifications and churches from the 5th to the 10th century. The study extends to questions relating to the ecclesial topography of the whole Arvern territory, thus showing clearly the shift in the framework of the Roman city towards the diocesan structure. The purpose here is indeed to study the continuity, or discontinuity as well as the transformations in land-use between the 5th and the 10th century, through the role of churches and "castles" in the creation of new settlements. It is also important to show the many forms of the monumental architecture in Auvergne between Antiquity and Middle Ages, raising the question of formal persistence or innovation, technical continuity or discontinuity, through the analysis of plans, upstanding architecture and the choice of decorative repertoires, while confronting the data to textual sources.

This paper consists of a focused, formal, and iconographic analysis of a unique Late Archaic bronze hand mirror said to originate in Magna Graecia, now in the Getty Museum. Of particular interest is the way the object fuses and juxtaposes two semantically dense and interrelated devices from the ancient Greek world: the mirror and the severed head of the Medusa (gorgoneion). While gorgoneia are generally encountered as ornaments on Greek mirrors, the Getty example is the only extant case in which Medusa’s head occupies the entire backside of the mirror, effectively functioning as a Janus-faced counterpart to the user’s face reflected in the disc. Scholars tend to explain the significance of gorgoneia on objects like the Getty mirror with reference to apotropaic and/or humorous effects. Yet Fowler proposes that the mirror’s incorporation of the gorgoneion may be appreciated on deeper conceptual and phenomenological levels: as a visual “comment” on the nature of the image (representational and reflected) and of (female) beauty and ugliness, which is accomplished by, and experienced through, using the object. Close examination of the Getty mirror thus offers critical insights into the complex interplay between gender, aesthetics, image-making, and visual experience in ancient Greek culture.

Scenes involving the breaking or outright inversion of culinary and (com)mensal norms are frequent in Greek art of the Archaic and Classical periods. The most discussed group of such images involves the uncivilized act of binge drinking unmixed wine and, as a result, losing control of one’s mind and body. Far less studied from an iconographic perspective are scenes of cannibalism, the most extreme and unsettling of all Greek culinary taboos. This paper seeks to define the iconography and meaning of cannibalism in Greek art through an exploration of the individual and shared compositional features of anthropophagic scenes and their visual relationship to normative images of meat consumption. Analytical attention will also be given to the objects on which these scenes appear and the relationship between the scenes and any other decorative content. Of particular interest is the way in which the iconography reflects cannibalism’s association with other serious normative violations, for example, infanticide (e.g., Prokne slaying her son Itys) and inhospitality (e.g., the Egyptian pharaoh Bousiris attempting to sacrifice his guest-friend Herakles). [The manuscript is currently being developed into an article to be submitted for publication consideration, probably in winter 2021.]

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The purpose of this thesis project is to discuss and describe the transformation of the image of Roman Emperor through artistic representation and cultural demonstration. The ultimate goal is to determine why the presentation of the office changed so greatly. I have selected certain works of art depicting the first Roman Emperor, Gaius Octavian Caesar, best known as Augustus, and Justinianus, the greatest Roman Emperor. More than 500 years separates these two men, whose only connection, at first sight, is that both served as Roman Emperor. I will analyze each piece of art, discuss its history, determine what each piece represents and discuss the cosmetics of the Emperor in the work. Once both Emperors have been dissected artistically, I intend to answer the question of why the office of Roman Emperor changed so thoroughly over 500 years by observing cultural and world developments between the first and sixth centuries of the Common Era.

Rome's dependence upon slaves has been well established in terms of economics and general society. This paper, however, seeks to demonstrate this dependence, during the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire, through detailed examples of slave use in various areas of Roman life. The areas covered include agriculture, industry, domestic life, the state, entertainment, intellectual life, military, religion, and the use of female slaves. A look at manumission demonstrates Rome's growing awareness of this dependence. Through this discussion, it becomes apparent that Roman society existed during this time as it did due to slavery. Rome depended upon slavery to function and maintain its political, social, and economic stranglehold on the Mediterranean area and beyond.

The ancient Greeks are prime subjects of study for those wishing to understand the roles that religion and mythology play in a society and how the two interact with each other. This paper covers what I feel after my study of Greek mythology and religion are the eight functions of mythology: history, education, explanation - both of the natural world and the culture of each society, legality, genesis, what happens after death, and entertainment; as well as the two function of religion: civic and spiritual. In the first chapter, in order to show each of the mythological functions, I summarize and explain a myth that falls primarily into each category. The second chapter discusses and illustrates Civic Religion and the third examines the three major Mystery Religions. The goal is to offer a basic understand of some of the myths, religious beliefs, and cult practices of the ancient Greeks.

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This study examines the influence of local and dominant Network Systems on the socio- economic development of the southern Black Sea colonies: Heraclea Pontica, Sinope, and Tios during the Archaic and Classical Period. I argue that archeological and literary evidence indicate that local (populations such as the Mariandynoi, Syrians, Caucones, Paphlagonians, and Tibarenians) and dominant external (including: Miletus, Megara/Boeotia, Athens, and Persia) socio-economic Network systems developed and shaped these three colonies, and helped explain their role in the overarching Black Sea Network. This study is divided into three chapters. Chapter one starts with the history and historiography of Greek colonization. This leads into an explanation of early Black Sea colonization and a brief history of Heraclea, Sinope, and Tios from their foundation in the Archaic period until their transition into the Roman provincial system. It then explains Network Theory and Middle Ground and how they will be utilized in chapters two and three. The second chapter uses a middle ground approach to analyze local networks and their influence on the socio-economic development of the three colonies. The second chapter primarily utilizes material evidence and literary sources such as Strabo and Xenophon to draw these conclusions. The third chapter examines the effect that the dominant network systems during these periods have on the colonies' socio-economic development. This chapter primarily focuses on the Black Sea, Athens, and Persia's networks and their interactions with the colonies. Ultimately, this project furthers the current understanding of Heraclea, Sinope, Tios and the Black Sea's economic development as a whole.