Although there are enough studies on the economic history of late 8th-early 13th century Rhomanian Greece (for my use of the term ‘Rhomanian’ rather than ‘Byzantine’, see the end of section I) to warrant years of intensive reading, few of them are regional or multi-regional in their scope. Largescale interpretations have been correspondingly few. The most noteworthy one – with regard to the regions that I am studying – is that Boeotia was home to one of the finest silk industries in the Empire in the late 11th-12th centuries. Using all available sources of information (ecclesiastical, hagiographical, geographic monographs, court chronicles, weather station statistics, archaeological monuments and artifacts, and so on), I examined urban settlements based on five main criteria: the quality and pervasiveness of ceramic material, the distribution of currency, the presence of a Jewish population, the incidence of sigillographic data, the magnitude, quality, and frequency of architectural projects, and the size and number of settlements. I found that there is ample evidence for growth in the domains of demography, silk production (whose quantitative element still hangs in the balance, however), exports to Constantinople, religious construction projects, coin use, and high-quality production imports/production. These trends are then probed for natural and human explanations, and used to discuss the relationship between my regions of study and Rhomania as a whole.

Although remains at Knossos have been reported to some extent throughout its history, archaeological research into the Roman city has traditionally been overshadowed by the exploration of the well-known ‘Minoan’ Bronze Age palace and its immediate surroundings. The Knossos 2000 Project, jointly established by the University of Birmingham and the British School at Athens, has provided the opportunity for the systematic investigation of an area in close proximity to the Roman forum, incorporating the partial excavation of a number of substantial buildings, both public and private. The large quantities of pottery recovered from a range of stratified deposits have enabled this specific study, designed to complement existing works which are, on the whole, dedicated to earlier periods. The objectives from the outset were to provide the chronological framework for the Knossos 2000 excavations, to concentrate on an investigation of the latest Roman pottery (to-date poorly represented by excavations carried out in areas away from the main foci of Roman activity) and, where possible, to present an extension to the existing ceramic sequence in order to help facilitate a better understanding of Knossos and its economic history during the Roman and Early Byzantine periods.

The early stages of colonisation in the Thracian Littoral are not well understood. These sites are often viewed with reference to the cultural contributions of Greece, to the exclusion of the Thracian participants. The Oisyme collection provides a unique opportunity to view ritual activity with a view of the archaeological evidence informed by the contributions of local, regional and ‘international’ players. In order to contextualize the pottery, I created a detailed study on the architecture and landscape of Oisyme, with reference to the Thracian culture contributions. It is from this vantage point that the East Greek, North Aegean and Oisymian pottery from the acropolis and south necropolis of Oisyme are analysed. These pottery groups are included together because they are the earliest traditions present at Oisyme and stylistically linked. They range in date from the earliest Thracian settlement through the emporion, apoikia and polis phases, as I have defined them at Oisyme. By focusing on the predominant shape (Drinking Vessels) and the origins of each variety in context, this study alters our view of Oisyme by demonstrating earlier contact, trade connections and a complex pattern of depositional preferences. All these suggest the construction of an identity by the Oisymians themselves.

Valerius Maximus situates his ninth and final book (henceforth referred as V9) in clear contrast to the rest of his output by adopting an apotreptic approach and focusing entirely on 'vitia'. This makes a break from the dispersive manner in which 'vitia' had hitherto been treated by different authors across a myriad of works, nor was V9’s structure replicated in the same manner by any other Roman author since V. Worthy of note is also how V treats his subject exclusively in a single book, creating 'intensity' as a technique 'per se' to shock the reader into making them fully aware – beyond all reasonable doubt – how pernicious and dangerous 'vitia' are. At the heart of V9 is the ubiquity of vice that transcends ethnicity. In fact V brings domestic and external 'exempla' closer, vice is inherent in life itself; the characters inhabiting both the domestic and external sections are not opposites, but are presented as culpable of the same vices (although sometimes certain 'exempla' are graded worse than others).

Temple-church conversion was a deeply meaningful process that took many different forms throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. It was not simple triumphalism, nor was it motivated purely by expedience. No such single, overarching explanations are found. Instead, many factors influenced the process, with factors local to specific sites key to understanding why conversion took place and why different forms were taken. This variety led, both intentionally and not, to a vast array of created, appropriated and adapted user experiences. Unlike many previous studies, I believe one can only understand temple-church conversion by considering user experience, not by categorising them by type, e.g. direct, indirect, cella-church, and related types. Indeed, I actively divorce analysis from such types and demonstrate throughout the necessity of doing so. Rather, I develop a theoretical approach and thematic method in Part One that allows for in-depth analysis of specific sites in terms of user experience. This focusses upon phenomenological analysis, with memory, landscape, materiality and biography important. By placing this theoretical basis at the fore, I repopulate often sterile architecture. In so doing, the terms temple-church and temple-church conversion are reconsidered and new definitions that focus upon user understanding and experience are created that replace those that rely heavily on architectural continuity. I am then able to tackle the three central research questions of this thesis: why conversion took place; why examples took the forms that they did; and what the process actually meant to users. I focus upon three regions of the Eastern Mediterranean: the Levant; Asia Minor; and Greece, which constitute Parts Two, Three and Four. Within each, analysis is divided into a number of sections that focus upon themes of experience and use, e.g. Temple replacement, Experiences of temple inversion, and Appropriation of associations and spaces, enabling analysis to focus upon user experience and understanding. By examining examples in depth within these thematic sections reinterpretations and new analyses of specific sites are provided and key local factors explored, enabling questions of motivations, forms and user understandings to be considered. Broader Eastern Mediterranean-wide comparisons are discussed in the final part, Part Five. Data is gathered from architectural, archaeological and literary sources. Architectural study is brought together with archaeological context and theory, the two too often kept separate. Similarly, literary evidence, often excluded or marginalised in archaeological studies, is used critically to enable comparisons between literary and archaeological data to be made and to allow for analysis of the often quite different narratives each created. In turn this enables the experiences of readers and listeners to be added to the evolving biographies of sites. By focussing upon user experience and developing and utilising a new theoretical approach, this thesis demonstrates the inadequacy of any typology of temple-church forms and its use in analysing the phenomenon, while also demonstrating that temple-church conversion did not in many ways constitute a unified phenomenon; a vast array of forms, experiences and interpretations were created and appropriated.

The main question of this thesis originated from the following observation: during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II (r.1876-1909) - especially after the 1880s - the German armament firms (GAFs) obtained a monopoly position in the Ottoman military market and maintained their position for decades. Based upon this observation the question of this thesis is: How did the Germans manage to get this status and protect it for decades, in particular, in a quite competitive market, where the American, British, and the French firms had been dominant for years? This thesis, which has fundamentally relied on multi-national archival research, does not seek the answer with reference to the ordinary theory of supply and demand but in the realm of the inter-personal relations and the personal influence of some influential personalities/statesmen who somehow intervened themselves into the war business from both sides (i.e. the Ottoman Empire and Germany). In the line with this argument, the principal aim of this thesis is to examine the impact of the non-commercial factors of the arms trade on the GAFs’ successful war business in the Ottoman military market. For that purpose throughout the dissertation the acts and doings of Bismarck; Kaiser Wilhelm II; Von der Goltz Pasha and the other German military advisors who were employed in the Ottoman Army; Sultan Abdülhamid II and the Ottoman bureaucrats/officers will be discussed within the context of their contribution to the German armament firms’ successful war business in the Ottoman market.

This thesis examines the role of oracular divination in warfare in archaic, classical and Hellenistic Greece, and assesses the extent to which it affected the psychology and military decision-making of ancient Greek poleis. By using a wide range of ancient literary, epigraphical, archaeological and iconographical evidence and relevant modern scholarship, this thesis will fully explore the role of the Oracle in warfare especially the influence of the major oracles at Delphi, Dodona,Olympia,Didyma and Ammon on the foreign policies and military strategies of poleis and their psychological preparation for war as well as the effect of oracular prophecies on a commander's decision making and tactics on the battlefield and on the psychology and reactions for soldiers before and during battle. This thesis contends that oracular prophecy played a fundamental and integral part in ancient Greek warfare and that the act of consulting the Oracles and the subsequent prognostications issued by the Oracles had powerful psychological effects on both the polis citizenry and soldiery, which in turn had a major influence and impact upon military strategy and tactics, and ultimately on the outcome of conflicts in the Ancient Greek World.

A partir da análise de Um Filme Falado (2003), de Manoel de Oliveira, são discutidas questões relacionadas à historiografia, à narrativa histórica por meio do cinema, bem como à crítica do orientalismo, eurocentrismo, relacionado-as à historiografia lusa e à do Mediterrâneo. São levados em conta aspectos de outras obras do realizador português, em especial Non, ou a vã glória de mandar (1990). Para a interpretação da película são consideradas obras da historiografia e de análise fílmica, bem como da crítica ao orientalismo, promovendo um diálogo com a historiografia em especial aquela que aborda o Mediterrâneo, Portugal, observando aspectos da história ibérica moderna, as relações do Ocidente com o Oriente árabe islâmico, além de levar em conta aspectos historiográficos como os lugares de memória. / Beginning with the film analysis of A Talking Picture (2003), by Manoel de Oliveira, here are discussed several questions regarding historiography, historical narrative through cinema, as well as the critics of Orientalism, Eurocentrism, connecting them with Portuguese and Mediterranean historiographies. I take in consideration aspects of other works by the Portuguese director, especially No or the vain glory of command (1990). To proceed about the film interpretation are considered works from historiography and film analysis, as well as from the critic of Orientalism, promoting a dialogue with historiography especially the one that approaches the Mediterranean Sea, Portugal, observing aspects from Iberian history, the relations of West and Islamic East, and also considering historiographical aspects as places of memory.

The Beyşehir-Hoyran-Hadim Nappes crop out over 700km, from east to west in the Pisidian and Central Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey. During this study, field obsevations of lithological, structural and sedimentological features are combined with igneous geochemical data derived from samples collected to help redefine a series of tectono-stratigraphic units and also determine the origin of the Beyşehir-Hoyran-Hadim Nappes. Above a regionally autochthonous Tauride carbonate platform, the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes begin with Ophiolitic Melange, consisting of blocks of neritic and pelagic limestone, basalt, serpentinite, radiolarian chert and, in places, amphibolite-grade metamorphic sole-type rocks, together set in a highly sheared siltstone and mudstone matrix. Locally, large slices of serpentinized harzburgite are incorporated in the melange. The peridotite sheets include lenses of chromitite and dunite and are cut by a series of dolerite dykes. The higher thrust sheets in the Hadim area begin with the Korualan Unit; a thrust sheet (ca. 400m thick) of mainly redeposited carbonates, quartzose sandstones and mudstones of Mid-Late Triassic age, interpreted as a proximal slope/base-of-slope succession. Regionally above is the Huğlu-type Unit; a thrust sheet (ca. 1 km thick) of Mid-Late Triassic intermediate-acidic extrusives, volcaniclastics and minor pelagic carbonates, interpreted as a continental rift. Post-rift subsidence in this thrust sheet is recorded by thin (<100m thick) Upper Triassic-Upper Cretaceous pelagic carbonate and radiolarian chert, depositionally above. The uppermost thrust sheet, the Boyali Tepe-type Unit, comprises broken formation and melange, including Jurassic shallow-water carbonate, Ammonitico Rosso condensed pelagic limestone, radiolarian chert and Upper Cretaceous pelagic limestone, representing a Bahaman-type carbonate platform which subsided in Early Jurassic time. Anastomosing zones of tectonic-sedimentary melange separate these higher units. The Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes document Triassic rifting and Jurassic-Cretaceous passive margin subsidence bordering the Northern Neotethyan Ocean. The Late Cretaceous harzburgitic ophiolite probably formed above a northerly dipping subduction zone within the Neotethyan ocean basin. Ophiolitic melange formed along the leading edge of the overiding plate. The ophiolite was emplaced southwards onto the northern margin of the Tauride platform in latest Cretaceous time, probably during collision of the passive margin with a trench. The nappe pile and underlying platform (Hadim Nappe) were thrust ca. 150km further south in Late Eocene time during regional continental collision and suture zone tightening. Several alternative palaeo-tectonic models are considered and tested in the light of data presented from this study. Assuming ‘in-sequence’ thrusting, the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes restore to a location north of a northerly Neotethyan spreading axis. More probably, they originated near the south margin of the northern Neotethys, but reached their position by ‘out-of-sequence thrusting’. Formation within a localised southerly strand of the northern Neotethys (Inner Tauride ocean) is more probable than within the main Neotethys further north. Wider implications for the Tethyan ocean as a whole and several other orogenic belts are also considered.

This study is concerned with the manner in which Byzantium manifested itself through the exterior of its buildings. The focus is the Black Sea from the ninth century to the eleventh. Three cities are examined. Each had imperial attention: Amastris for imperial defences; Mesembria, a border city and the meeting place for diplomats: Cherson, a strategic outpost and focal point of Byzantine proselytising. There were two forms of external display; one, surface ornament and surface modelling, the other through the arrangement of masses and forms. A more nuanced division can be discerned linked with issues of purpose and audience. The impulse to display the exterior can be traced to building practice at imperial level in the capital in the early ninth century. Surface ornament continued to be linked with the display of secular authority. Display through structure was developed in Cherson and the north Black Sea region to project the presence of Orthodoxy and was closely associated with conversion activity. By the end of the tenth century, through that external presentation, the form of the church building had itself become symbolic. External display can be seen as a vehicle for the expression of regional forms and evidence for the tenacity of local building “dialects”.