Images of rural activities become very popular in mosaic floor decoration in the Levant during the Late Antique period. I aim to explore different categories of iconography and discuss the images of people engaged in rural activities, such as pastoralism; hunting, fishing and activities connected with the vintage. I also aim to look at imagery that is often discussed in isolation without relation to other connected iconographic categories. The symbolic meaning of the representations of the zodiac found in synagogues, for example, is often discussed in detail without also looking at the rural calendars that appear in Christian contexts during the same period in the same region. I also want to explore the archaeological evidence for the activities that appear on the mosaic pavements. Studying both the archaeology and the iconography will, I hope, help us understand what the use of these particular categories of iconography in decorative schemes can tell us about the society that created them.

While the Latin version of William of Tyre’s chronicle of the Latin East, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum, is a valuable tool for modern historians, it was not particularly well-known during the medieval period with only nine copies surviving. However, William’s history did become extremely popular through a translation of the original into Old French, the so-called L’Estoire de Eracles, with fifty-one surviving manuscripts. The Eracles text has been overlooked by scholars who have assumed that it is a simple translation of William’s text, and there has also been little work in to establishing a provenance for the translation or determining the translator’s motives. This thesis seeks to identify the extent to which the Eracles is a simple translation and assess its importance to historians. While, for the most part, the translator is faithful to William’s text, he made alterations throughout. Many are of a stylistic nature, and the translator did not simply abridge William’s text for a new audience. He made several additions that serve to identify him and his audience. In particular, he regularly added background material on French crusaders, and on events in France, including additional information not found in any other source. On occasion the translator alters William’s criticism of certain individuals and gives a very different version of events that may be more accurate. The major difficulty with studying the Eracles text is the fact that the nineteenth-century editions were reliant upon a limited number of manuscripts. There has been little work on these manuscripts and no clear understanding of the relationships between these manuscripts. This thesis also seeks to tackle this problem by presenting a critical edition of six sample chapters that takes into account all the surviving manuscripts and by establishing the relationships between these manuscripts.

This thesis discusses a number of issues related to the relationship between Gallo-Roman aristocrats and political power in Gaul during the fifth and sixth centuries. The first chapter opens with a discussion of classical literary culture and its role in defining and maintaining elite status in the later Roman empire while the second discusses epistolary literature specifically and the function of letter-writing in the period when Roman political power was fading and barbarian authority was only beginning to assert itself in Gaul. I show how individuals like Sidonius clung, in a world that was swiftly becoming entirely post-Roman, to a Roman cultural and political identity, while others, such as Syagrius, embraced the opportunities afforded by the barbarian regna. In my third chapter, I consider the growth of the ecclesiastical aristocracy and examine the ways in which those Gallo-Romans who entered the church redefined their position, creating, in the process, new criteria for the definition and expression of romanitas and nobilitas. I examine, in particular, the growth of aristocratic asceticism as a means for Roman nobles to gain new relevance and credibility in Gaul without having to enter barbarian service. I move on, in my fourth chapter, to examine the part played by aristocratic kinship in Episcopal elections in fifth and sixth century Gaul. In the fifth chapter I argue that Gallic bishops of the period were rarely interested in complex theology - or evangelism - and that modern expectations in this respect are at odds with the extant evidence. In this context, I look particularly at the famous monastery of Lérins, which is usually held to have been a great school of theology and centre of religious thought. Not only was Lérins not a theological centre, in fact very few bishops had any interest in theology. In each of the remaining four chapters, I examine some facet of the life and career of Caesarius of Arles whose career and attitudes not only represent an acute departure from the Episcopal aristocrat norm but also actually swept away much of the extant Episcopal culture and established the pattern for following bishops.

Nowadays, buildings are responsible for the 40% of energy consumption in the European Union, with energy up to 68% being coherent with thermal loads. Acknowledging the great potential of building sector, a substantial amount of the current building inventory must be refurbished, based on the trade-offs between energy and thermal comfort. To this effect, this study investigates the impact of retrofitting measures in residential envelope for areas experience Mediterranean climate. Seven detached houses, located in Cyprus, were modelled, investigating 253 parameters of envelope interventions and also, 7,056 combinations of these measures. In general, the findings revealed a seasonal performance variation of interventions with regards to the outdoor climate. The application of roof insulation determined as the most economic viable solution during retrofitting (single interventions), achieving a reduction up to 25% of annual energy consumption with enhancement of the indoor thermal environment. In the perspective of synergies between interventions, the application of roof and external walls thermal insulation with upgrade of glazing system with double Low-E demonstrated exemplary levels of performance decreasing on average energy consumption up to 38%.The findings of this research will contribute on the development of guidelines for designers and house builders for a perceptual retrofitting of existing residential envelopes in Cyprus and also, for countries experiencing the Mediterranean climate.

This thesis explores the early phases of marketing activity in Britain by investigating the supply-chains through which imports arrived during the Roman period. The study adopts a cross-disciplinary approach which draws on archaeological evidence, as few written records survive from this era. The investigation commences with a review of the structure of the Roman economy, after which the characteristic features of a traditional supply-chain are presented and the rôles and relationships of its key members examined. The empirical evidence relating to cross-channel exchange in the Romano-British period (c. 120 BC-AD 410) is reviewed by means of four product-based case studies; two of which relate to amphorae-borne commodities (olive-oil and wine) and two involve types of ceramic pottery (samian ware and Rhenish-beakers). The contribution of this thesis is to combine methodologies from apparently disparate fields such as archaeology and marketing to enable new questions to be asked of existing data to enhance understanding in each discipline. In addition to using archaeological evidence to trace the evolution of marketing practices in the Romano-British period, the reciprocal aim of the study was to explore ways in which archaeologists may be able to utilize economic and marketing models to offer new insights into their own subject area. Supply-chain analysis forms the central focus of this thesis. Its main insight is to recognize that through their contacts with clients in both Britain and Gaul, Romano-British and Gallo-Roman merchants must inevitably have gained asymmetric knowledge of market conditions in each location, thus enabling them through their choice of cargoes to control the vital ‘choke-point’ of the channel-crossing. In addition to the principal theme of supply-chain analysis, the inclusion of economic and marketing models such as industrial location criteria (Weber, 1929; Ohlin, 1933) and product-cycle analysis (Vernon, 1966; Wells, 1968) all represent new applications of business theories to the archaeological domain and add to the uniqueness of this research.

This dissertation is an attempt to describe and analyse the history of the relationship between the imperial centre and a minor peripheral area, but also the first step towards a more complete understanding of the history of the areas of Kozani, Serfice, and Velvendos during the 18th century, on the basis of both Ottoman and Greek primary sources, in an attempt to replace the old and, rather obsolete, nationalist narratives prevalent in the writings of the local amateur historians. Through the examination of the tax-farming system, on the one hand, and the timar system, on the other, in the areas under study, this dissertation addresses the developments that occurred at a local level in a period of Ottoman history marked by great changes and experimentation with new fiscal practices. It is also the aim of this dissertation to prove that the centre was represented locally by the local magnates and notables, who, by serving the interests of the absentee Istanbul-based élite, acted as representatives of the centre in their localities, and formed factions which vied for supremacy and served their respective interests at a local level. Thus, it supports the idea that the centre made the local notables, for as long as local notables made the centre in their given society and locality.

My thesis traces developments in the early imperial dress of the emperors and empresses as depicted in art from Diocletian’s reign to Justinian II’s; my analysis includes examples ranging in size from large monuments to small coins. Two theses have been written on the later period but none on the earlier one when the most change occurred. I demonstrate that the emperor’s dress differed from other forms of elite male dress because several symbols of rule, such as the purple cloak and sceptre were associated with it. During this time period, the emperor wore three types of dress: military costume consisting of a cuirass and cloak; civic dress consisting of such garments as a purple cloak called a chlamys, a tunic and jewelled slippers; and ceremonial dress consisting of several types of togas and an under-tunic. The empress' dress consisted of several forms of Roman dress, the chlamys and tunic, and finally bridal dress. In my analyses, I first place the items in their historical context, describe the dress portrayed, and finally analyse how they are used in each work of art. I also provide information on such subjects as the history of imperial purple and the types of crowns.

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.