The role of Roman patrons and their relations with local communities is investigated. Northern Italy has been chosen as the region where this investigation will be carried out. It will be shown that the institution of patronage in northern Italy underwent a process of decline as the rest of the empire. This point will be displayed by taking into consideration the legal, literary, and epigraphic body of evidence related to the institution of patronage in northern Italy. A careful reading of the sources will show that the title of patronus was granted by local communities as a reward for the patronus’s generosity. Such title did not obligate these patroni to benefit their communities, although many did. This gradual process of decline ultimately reached its peak under the 2nd century AD when patronage transformed into a symbolic institution. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

In this study, I examine the existing literature and carry out a qualitative exploration in order to formulate a better understanding of the dynamics that influence the lives of 2nd generation Italian Muslims. Although monumental social and political challenges remain in confronting integration of the Muslim population and for achieving greater acceptance of Islam within the Italian public sphere, the evidence suggests that the process for integration has slowly begun. Additionally, this study examines the intellectual framework of the existing literature which addresses the issues impacting Muslim integration in Northern Italy. This issue has induced new debates within Italy on multiculturalism, national identity, human rights, while more importantly raising the question--"to what extent do we allow Muslim integration into Italian society and the further insertion of Islam into Italy's spiritual geography?" This study argues that the convergence of contemporary international affairs with religion calls for a new lens for interaction. In Italy the events following 9/11, combined with a resurgence of Islamophobia and the impact of the Global War on Terror, have drawn the issue of Muslim immigrants into a negative spotlight. Mainstream attitudes in Europe, following 9/11, have generated a rift in Muslim-West relations and have caused confusion and anxiety among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The research hypothesis for this thesis suggests that there are multiple factors impeding the efforts for Muslims to achieve equal footing within the Italian religious landscape and inclusion within Italian society. Among these are divisions found within the Muslim community itself, a growing mistrust of Islam in mainstream Italian society, sponsored by negative media stereotyping and xenophobic political movements, and underlying everything else, the privileged position of the Catholic Church and its unwillingness to accommodate Islamic identity within the social framework. The chosen methodology employed in this study is qualitative, theoretical contextual analysis combined with interviews plus questionnaires used to construct a case study were applied. Beyond engaging in seven interviews with the 2nd generation Italian Muslims, this study was informed by the relevant academic literature from the fields of conflict resolution, history, sociology, cultural studies, Islamic studies and political science. Finally this study contextualized the dynamics generating this conflict and examined the discontinuities this situation has created in the lives of Muslims in Italy. The exclusion of the Muslim population, coupled with the complex relationship between this cultural group and state, has led to the exploration within Italy of different models for integration. The findings of this study indicate that inequalities exist for the Muslim population of Northern Italy in their relation with the host nation and society. This further hampers the process of integration and generates further exclusion. Only profound rethinking of the Italian approach to integration will serve to adequately meet the needs of this marginalized population and fully incorporate them within Italian society.

Le Sauveterrien représente l'une des principales traditions culturelles du Premier Mésolithique européen. L'uniformité présumée de ce complexe était basée surtout sur la présence dans la France méridionale et l'Italie septentrionale de pointes à dos fusiformes (pointes de Sauveterre) et de microlithes triangulaires. Le but principal de ce travail est celui de mettre en discussion et vérifier cette association en utilisant une approche technologique ample des assemblages lithiques appartenant à 23 contextes stratigraphiques de 12 sites français et italiens de référence. En particulier, ces assemblages ont été analysés avec l'objectif de reconstruire les chaînes opératoires dans leur totalité, de l'approvisionnement des matières premières à l'utilisation et à l'abandon des éléments ayant servi comme outils. Plusieurs techniques d'analyse ont été intégrées afin de comprendre et caractériser les assemblages sauveterriens à partir de points de vue différents et complémentaires. De plus, l'évaluation de l'uniformité du complexe sauveterrien dans son territoire central par rapports aux groupes culturels des régions voisines a permis d'aborder de façon préliminaire la question de la réelle nature du Premier Mésolithique de l'Europe occidentale. / The Sauveterrian represents one of the main cultural aspects of the European Early Mesolithic. It was at first identified and described in southern France during the 1920ies. Following the discovery of similar lithic assemblages in north-eastern Italy (Adige Valley), during the 1970ies it was proposed that this culture had developed over a large territory whose central areas are represented by southern France and northern Italy. The presumed uniformity of this complex was based, in particular, on the presence in both regions of needle-like backed points (Sauveterre points) and triangular microliths. In the following years a first typological attempt to verify the actual homogeneity of the Early Mesolithic of this region arose some doubts regarding the appropriateness of this unification. Following this line of research the main aim of this work was, thus, to question and verify this association, by applying a broad technological approach to the study of the lithic assemblages belonging to 23 stratigraphic contexts from 12 French and Italian reference sites. More specifically these assemblages were investigated with the aim of reconstructing the entire reduction sequences, from the procurement of lithic raw materials to the use and discard of tools. Different analytical techniques were thus combined in order to understand and characterize the Sauveterrian assemblages from different and complementary viewpoints. Besides, the evaluation of the uniformity of the Sauveterrian complex in its central area with respect to the neighbouring cultural groups, allowed tentatively approaching the investigation of the very nature of western European Early Mesolithic.

Dans l'histoire de la peinture murale en Italie, la riche documentation campanienne, antérieure à l'éruption du Vésuve, a longtemps retenu l'attention des chercheurs, au détriment de la période comprise entre la fin du Ier et la fin du IIIe s. Nous avons choisi de nous intéresser à cette dernière, en l'abordant par le prisme du décor domestique. L'objectif principal était de replacer les évolutions stylistiques dans le contexte des maisons. Pour ce faire, nous avons développé une base de données qui a permis de mettre en relation le décor peint, les caractéristiques spatiales d'une pièce et les autres éléments de décor associés. A ainsi été mise en lumière la façon dont la peinture structure l'espace domestique tout au long de la période. Celle-ci montre une cohérence certaine d'un point de vue chronologique, sans bouleversement profond - au moins jusqu'au milieu du IIIe s., date après laquelle la documentation se fait rare. Les différences sont d'une autre nature. Les deux zones géographiques sur lesquelles nous avons centré nos recherches, l'Italie centrale et l'Italie septentrionale, connaissent en effet des évolutions divergentes, non seulement d'un point de vue stylistique, mais également dans la façon dont le décor structure l'habitat. La riche documentation d'Ostie, examinée dans le contexte plus large de l'Italie centrale, a également permis de mettre en lumière les écarts qui existent entre les différents milieux socio-économiques. Ainsi, en replaçant les peintures dans leur contexte, nous espérons leur avoir redonné toutes leurs dimensions, celles d'objets vivants, qui habitaient le quotidien de toute une société. / For a long time, studies on Roman wall paintings in Italy have been focusing their attention on the glorious Vesuvian documents, consequently overlooking evidence from the late 1st to the late 3rd c. AD. This thesis aims at exploring this neglected period and at understanding stylistic evolutions in relation to domestic architecture and decoration. In order to reach this objective, a relational database has been designed, bringing together data on wall painting, other elements of decoration, and architectural and spatial features of the room. This has enables us to bring to light how wall painting structured domestic space throughout the period. From the late 1st up to the mid 3rd c. (after which evidence become scarce), there are strong elements of continuity. But the zone under study can be divided in two main regions, Central Italy and Northern Italy, that experienced divergent evolutions, not only stylistically, but also in the way decoration structured domestic space. Furthermore, a particular focus on the rich evidence from Ostia, considered in the broader context of Central Italy, emphasised how the role assigned to decoration was also dependent on the socioeconomic bakcground of the occupant. By putting wall paintings back in its context, this study thus contributes to a better understanding of its evolution, function and status, at the heart of Roman everyday life.

La présence de la sigillée gauloise en Transpadanie occidentale est connue de longue date par les chercheurs locaux, mais cela reste peu connu à la fois aux niveaux national italien et international. On en ignore surtout la portée. Un pourcentage de sigillée gauloise très important découverte dans chantiers de fouille immédiatement à l’intérieur de l’enceinte romaine de Turin, a modifié cette perspective. Il est apparu que les sigillées gauloises ne pouvaient plus être considérées comme une présence sporadique, ni comme le résultat de réapprovisionnements destinés exclusivement aux classes les plus aisées, mais constituaient un indicateur économique important. De cette constatation est née la nécessité de reprendre l’examen des attestations de sigillées gauloises en Transpadanie occidentale dans leur ensemble, y compris par comparaison avec la situation d’autres réalités de l’Italie du Nord, avec l’objectif d’établir non seulement la provenance du vaisselle, mais aussi des routes commerciales empruntées. La voie principale d’approvisionnement de toute la Cisalpine a été le Pô. Huile, vin et garum, atteignent les marchés transpadanes et de la Ligurie interne par voie fluviale, partant des côtes adriatiques et orientales et aussi depuis la péninsule ibérique. Le choix d’utiliser la diffusion des sigillées de la Gaule centrale en tant que fossile directeur pour reconstituer l’existence d’une voie de circulation commerciale en Cisalpine d’ouest en est naît de l’idée que l’on est en présence de produits qui ne disposent plus d’un réseau de distribution méditerranéen, alors qu’ils se concentrent en revanche en Europe continentale et en Bretagne. / The presence of the Gaulish Terra Sigillata in Transpadana has been well known for a very long time by local researchers, but on an Italian national and an international level, it is hardly known. Most importantly, its extent has been ignored. A very important amount of Gaulish Terra Sigillata, discovered on an excavation site immediately close to the city wall, inside and outside the Roman settlement of Turin, radically modified this idea. It has very quickly become apparent that the Gaulish Terra Sigillata cannot be considered as a random find any more, nor the result of supplying intended exclusively to the upper classes, but constituting a rather important economic indicator. From this observation, the need to re-examine the evidence of Gaulish Terra Sigillata in western Cisalpine is clear, including the need to compare the situation with others in northern Italy, with the aim to establish, not only the provenance of the crockery, but also, above all, the trade route that was used. The main trade route in the whole of Cisalpine Gaul was the river Po. Oil, wine and garum reached the markets of Transpadana and internal Liguria by waterway from the Adriatic and eastern coasts and, probably also, from the Iberian Peninsula. The decision to use the Terra Sigillata of central Gaul as a type fossil to reconstruct a circulation route from the west to the east of Cisalpine, with more or less distant provenances, was based on the consideration that these products didn’t use the Mediterranean distribution network any more, but actually they concentrated on continental Europe and Brittany.

No description available.

This thesis is based on an ethnographic study of entrepreneurs of the construction business in Lombardy, Northern Italy. The aim is to gain some understanding of this business, of entrepreneurialism, and of individuals in a non-stereotypical light through a full and complex account of their daily lives. The aim is to reveal the thoughts, actions and strategies of particular local actors in their everyday contingency and contradictoriness. No attempt is made to simplify the complexity of their understandings and practices for the sake of producing a single encompassing and consistent image. Many similarities were found between the practices of entrepreneurialism and those of the discipline of anthropology. Knowledge and information are constantly sought after but are recognised as emerging in unexpected places and times and as being socially negotiated. Apprenticeship is often used as a methodology, and learning often happens through experience. Contextual application of knowledge is seen as essential. In order to exchange information and knowledge, to collaborate with other businessmen or to simply get a job, trust is fundamental and constantly negotiated. Personal relationships and trust become particularly important in an uncertain market situation, as ways to face risk. Trust is acquired slowly and accorded contextually, through face-to-face interaction and cultivated relationships, but also through positive recommendations or simply a feeling of sympathy. Knowledge, apprenticeship, trust and risk are key themes of the thesis. The blurred borders between the distinct individual personalities of my informants and their collective identities and commonalities are also discussed. The personality of an entrepreneur is seen as ideally complex, in which many (possibly contradictory) characteristics can be expected to be present, but also ideally balanced, each manifesting itself in specific situations. The ethnography also explores the fragility of the entrepreneur, in apparent contradiction to their strong and charismatic personalities. It is seen to be despite and because of their positions of power that they also feel vulnerable: their discourse is imbued with their fears for their businesses in a difficult period of economic crisis. Finally, through a ubiquitous desire to control markets and the future, we also encounter forms of corruption; corruption that is often condemned verbally but nevertheless is present in the business world and amplified by public and media discourses. The mechanisms by which work that is put out to tender is subject to possible manipulation are examined, and the ideas of the entrepreneurs about these practices are described—again demonstrating how thoughts and practices are often self-contradictory in their contextual relevance and application.

In the world of archaeological and anthropological research, the transition from the Middle Paleolithic (MP) to the Upper Paleolithic (UP) is widely debated and studied. During this period in Europe, the last Neanderthals were replaced by the first Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH). It is widely debated how and in what time frame this replacement occurred, and if, when, and where the two human species interacted with eachother. In order to understand the differences and similarities between Neanderthals and AMH, many branches of archaeology collaborate to answer these questions. For example, the study of artifacts or genetic investigations can provide a wealth of information on the cognitive-behavioral abilities of the two hominins or on possible hybridization. In this context, archaeozoology is an extremely interesting branch for reconstructing the interactions between humans and the environment in which they lived and thus defining the economic and behavioral strategies of the two human species. Of particular interest are the sites of RiparoMochi (Ventimiglia) and RiparoTagliente (Verona), which present evidence of occupation by the last Neanderthals and subsequent arrival of AMH. Due to their geographical location, crucial for investigating the arrival of AMH in Europe, the study of faunal remains from these two sites is of fundamental importance. This thesis proposes an archaeozoological study useful for shedding light on the human-environment dynamics that occurred between the end of the MP and the beginning of the UP innorthern Italy, examining two sites belonging to two distinct geographical regions, Liguria and Veneto, characterized (today and in the past) by different climatic and environmental conditions. In addition to the classic archaeozoological study, the methodologies applied here range from analyses of dental microwear to the use of 3D technology for the study of bone artifacts. The archaeozoological analysis of these two contexts is also necessary due to the scarcity of faunal data for the two sites, which are infact preliminary or incomplete. How did Neanderthal hunting strategies differ between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic sides of the Apennines? Did the arrival of AMH correspond to a change in hunting behavior or in the way sites were occupied? How have the fauna and surrounding ecosystems of the two sites evolved? Answering these and other questions will help to understand how the rapid climatic and environmental changes that characterized the end of the MP influenced human groups and animal populations in the two regions and how human-environment interactions changed in the transition from the late MP to the beginning of the UP. / Nel mondo della ricerca archeologica e antropologica, la transizione fra il Paleolitico Medio (PM) e il Paleolitico Superiore (PS) è ampiamente dibattuta e studiata. In questo periodo, in Europa, gli ultimi Neandertal vengono sostituiti dai primi Umani Anatomicamente Moderni (UAM). È ampiamente dibattuto come e in quanto tempo sia avvenuta questa sostituzione e se, quando e dove, le due specie umane abbiano interagito fra loro. Al fine di comprendere le differenze e le similitudini fra Neandertal e UAM, molte branche dell’archeologia collaborano per rispondere a queste incognite. Ad esempio, lo studio dei manufatti o le indagini genetiche possono dare molte informazioni sulle capacità cognitivo-comportamentali dei due ominini o su una possibile ibridazione. In questo contesto l’archeozoologia è una branca di estremo interesse per ricostruire le interazioni fra l’uomo e l’ambiente nel quale viveva e definire quindi le strategie economiche e comportamentali delle due specie umane. Di particolare interesse sono i siti di Riparo Mochi (Ventimiglia) e Riparo Tagliente (Verona), i quali presentano testimonianze dell’occupazione da parte degli ultimi Neandertal e la successiva frequentazione di UAM. Per via della loro posizione geografica, nevralgica per indagare sull’arrivo di UAM in Europa, lo studio dei resti faunistici provenienti da questi due siti è di fondamentale importanza. In questa tesi si propone uno studio archeozoologico utile a far luce sulle dinamiche uomo-ambiente intercorse fra la fine del PM e l’inizio del PS in Nord Italia, prendendo in esame due siti facenti parte di due regioni geografiche distinte, la Liguria e il Veneto, caratterizzate (oggi e in passato) da differenti condizioni climatico-ambientali. Oltre al classico studio archeozoologico, le metodologie qui applicate spaziano dalle analisi della microusura dentale all’utilizzo della tecnologia 3D per lo studio di manufatti in osso. L’analisi archeozoologica di questi due contesti risulta inoltre necessaria a causa della scarsità di dati faunistici per i due siti, questi risultano infatti preliminari o incompleti. Come differivano le strategie di caccia dei Neandertal fra il versante tirrenico e adriatico degli appennini?L’arrivo di UAM ha corrisposto ad un cambiamento del comportamento venatorio o nelle modalità di occupazione dei siti? Come si sono evolute le faune e gli ecosistemi circondanti i due siti? Rispondere a queste ed altre domande permetterà di comprendere come le rapide variazioni climatico-ambientali che caratterizzarono la fine del PM, abbiano influito sui gruppi umani e sulle popolazioni animali delle due regioni e come le interazioni uomo-ambiente siano mutate nel passaggio dal PM finale e l’inizio del PS.