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Autenticitet och äkthet är ord som används i vardagliga sammanhang, inte bara som konservatorer, utan av alla. Vad menar vi när vi beskriver något som autentiskt eller äkta? Sättet vi använder orden på för att beskriva möbler lämnar mycket till en subjektiv tolkning baserad på vad personen som använder orden har valt att de ska betyda. Att hitta gemensamma betydelser för orden måste prioriteras eftersom det spelar en så central roll inom både handel och undersökning av möbler. En filosofisk paradox blir startskottet till en bättre förståelse för termerna. Resultaten av denna teoretiska analys används sedan som grund i en undersökning av den store möbeldesignern och arkitekten Pierre Jeanneret. Jag anser att det finns en tydlig skillnad mellan de två orden som är viktig att belysa för hur vi för samtal inom konserveringsyrket.

This thesis primarily investigates the graves and grave goods in the Greek northern Black Seacolonies in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The study aims to understand whether a hybridisation occurred between Greeks and local cultures in the northern Black Sea during the mentioned centuries. In contrast to the archaeological material, this study also investigates the aspects of ancient sources and religious rituals to broaden the understanding of hybridisation. This study presents the material and discusses it through the lens of the socio-political events in the northern Black Sea to present the differences of the cultural and material differences between the northern Black Sea and Greece. The case of hybridisation can be argued to have occurred through this presentation, but the study’s limited scope can not present absolute proof of hybridisation occurring. / Denna studie presenterar främst gravar och grav fynd i det grekiska norra Svarta havet under500 och 400-talen f.Kr. Studiens mål är att försöka att förstå huruvida en hybridisering skedde mellan Grekerna och de lokala kulturerna i norra Svarta havet under de nämnda århundrandena. Utöver de arkeologiska källorna i form av gravar, så presenterar denna studie även andra aspekter av den antika världen. Antika texter och religiösa riter undersöks i studien för att vidga förståelsen kring förståelsen kring hybridisering i norra Svarta havet. Det presenterade materialet i denna studie analyseras och undersöks i förhållande med de då rådande socio-politiska händelserna som rörde norra Svarta havet. Genom undersökning av studiens material till de politiska händelserna, så kan en förståelse skapas kring norra Svarta havet, där den materiella kulturen och religion i området särskilde sig från Greklands Grekernas materiella kultur och religiösa riter. Hybridisering kan hävdas att ha skett och tagit plats i norra Svarta havet under dessa århundranden, men studiens omfattning kan inte hävda med absolut säkerhet att en hybridiserings process skedde i området. Eftersom rådande osäkerhet och dåliga preserverade fynd och rapporter, tillsammans med dåliga finansiella medel har bidragit till att området har blivit dåligt undersökt.

This essay plans to research the fall of the Roman Empire and especially look at the land-tax angle, my hypothesis is that the land-tax had a bigger effect of the Roman Empire fall than previously thought. This essay also investigates why the Western Roman Empire declined. To accomplish this a lot of research will be made about the decline and analysis of the content.  The main source of information about the land-tax will come from The Theodosian Code which is a book from the 5th-century about taxes in the Roman Empire. To reach this goal I will interpret the sources to clarify what actually happened. I use this information to either to confirm or discard other scientists’ theories. The result is that land-tax had a bigger influence on the Roman Empires fall the previously believed.

To fight as a gladiator held such appeal to some Romans during the early empire that they actually were ready to incur the legal stigma of infamia (infamy) just in order to participate as gladiators. But there were not only men who were drawn to the lure of the arena, even women fought as venatores (beast-hunters) and gladiators in the Roman games. The roman historian Cassius Dio informs us that in the early empire during the reign of Nero even men and women from the equestrian and senatorial rank participated in the arena in increasing numbers. This often overseen fact that women would appear as participants in the gladiatorial games in the Greco-Roman world is just another signifier that we have to re-evaluate our knowledge of the women of antiquity and their social outlooks. The fact that women participated is in a sense nothing new for the modern scholars, who have tended to view the evidence in the light of the lacking material and appearance in the ancient sources and have been content to explain the phenomena as something of a novelty, which does not tell us much about the romans or their society at all. But what does the appearance of women in the gladiatorial games tell us about the Romans view on gender roles in the arena? How did a female gladiator differ from a male gladiator in the Roman empire? With an intersectional perspective and a close-reading of the texts referring to female and male contestants and gladiators this study has showed that the roman elite observed the female gladiators with overwhelmingly negative attitudes if they where of higher social status. In this case they differ little from male gladiators. But attitudes concerning female gladiators were not all bad, especially if they were of no prominent class, some were even praised for their bravery and likened with Amazons or even Heraclese

This study will compare two prominent goddesses from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, Athena and Minerva. The purpose is to explore what differences and likenesses the two goddesses have with each other, to see if a major distinction can be made between the two using mythological descriptions. The reason for the study is to show to what extent the Roman goddess Minerva had her own mythological background, attributes and character as distinct from that of Athena.  In academia the difference between Athena’s and Minerva’s characteristics are vague and unclear. Minerva’s Roman mythological background is often hard to point out since the Romans borrowed several mythological views of the gods and goddesses from the Greek perspective of the gods. With this comparison one will be able to more clearly know how the Romans viewed Athena’s counterpart by comparing the main Greek and Roman mythical description of the two. The materials used to compare the two will comprise of the Iliad, and the Aeneid. The fact that the ancient religions of Greece and Rome were different concerning their gods' character and place in the mythology of each culture is at times overlooked, albeit recognized. At instances they are simply lumped together as one and the same even though major differences might exist between them and the way they were viewed in their respective cultures. This habit of treating the gods in the respective sphere of Greek and Roman as the same is problematic because it takes away our understanding of them as gods from different religious cultures. This is particularly the case in our unconscious mind when we study Greek and Roman religion. The goal of this study is to identify what differences can be found and thereby get a clearer understanding of the similarities or differences between Athena and Minerva.

In this essay, I researched the Athenian attitudes towards same sex relationships between men during the classical period, a subject that was made popular in the 1970’s by James Dover. After a short introduction on how homosexuality was perceived and a thorough walkthrough of Aeschines speech Against Timarchus, I reached a better understanding of two main questions, the first being what the role of pederasty was, how boys were protected by the law and if the law was only meant to protect boys or also adult men. The second question being whether Timarchus was guilty of prostitution or the jury judged him wrongfully. Through using the method close reading of the speech, in which Aeschines accuses Timarchus of theft and prostitution, which the jury voted Timarchus to be guilty of, I try to answer those two questions. In the process, I also discuss Aeschines relationship with Demosthenes, the person who spoke in Timarchus favour. The conclusion I come to for the first question is that there were certain laws in place for pederasty, some of which must have protected the boys, but as other authors before me have pointed out also must have been in place to protect adults from being tempted to, what they considered, sin. For the second question, I conclude that Aeschines is lacking evidence of Timarchus' crimes of prostitution. Before Timarchus was put on trial he was about to prosecute Aeschines, which is a motive for Aeschines to get him banned from public speaking, a matter easily achieved by getting Timarchus judged guilty of crimes, I believe, were made up.

This thesis will investigate how Roman monumental architecture in Tergeste dating to the first and second centuries AD reflected and reaffirmed the social order of the city, and how it was used in the creation and maintenance of identities. The material used will be two select structures, the basilica and theater, located in the eastern and north-eastern sections of Tergeste, respectively. By using theories of social architecture, agency, identity, and compounding them with the ideology of Roman urbanism, focus will be placed on how movement within a structure and the occupation of its different locales influenced the adoption of particular roles and self-conceptions. A number of statues and dedicatory inscriptions associated with the architectural structures will serve to further corroborate these points, and to add information about whether a specific type of identity was favored above others in the city. The results will provide a first overview of how architecture responded to the social reality in Roman Tergeste, in the hope to encourage further research in this direction.

The depiction of violence has always been and will always be a fascinating but horrifying subject. Violence shown on ancient vase paintings has been the subject of multiple authors’ works. This study analyzes the depiction of violence against children in mythological scenes on vases from the ancient world by analyzing and comparing 39 scenes where the subject is rendered and explores the question of what happens if the interpretation of the vase painting lays the focus on the child. This is done by examining how the children die, the iconography of their deaths and the traces of violence left on their bodies, their relationship to the perpetrators, the importance of the perpetrator and the spectators in the scenes, how the iconography relates to the myth as known from literary sources, as well as the chronological and geographical evolution of the motifs. The essay focuses on five mythological children, Troilos, Astyanax, the children of Medea and Opheltes, who all are the object of violence and early death in their respective myths and on vase paintings. The comparison between the vase paintings is divided into the scenes that depicts the children about to be killed and scenes showing the children as already dead. An account of the relationship between the children and the perpetrator as well as the perpetrators motive for killing the child and how their appearance in the scenes compare to each other is presented. The results of the comparisons are used in a discussion also including the ancient attitudes towards children and violence and if the children's deaths could be interpreted as human sacrifice. The study concludes that the interpretation of the role of the children in representations of violence is complex and that there are many aspects that affect the understanding of the vase paintings as a whole. Changing the focus to the child will not change the overall interpretation of the mythological motif, however, the innocence of the child will add more horror and gruesomeness to the overall impression of the vase painting. / <p>Uppsatsens illustrationer har inte tagits med i den digitala versionen.</p>

This thesis studies how three Greek writers differentiate between each other in their texts about ancient Egypt. The three writers included in this thesis are Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch. Their texts describe Egypt and its many aspects, and the names of their texts are as following; Histories and Library of History by Herodotus and Diodorus, and De Herodoti malignitate, De Iside et Osiride and Placita Philosophorum by Plutarch.        This thesis is comparing these writers with each other using two case studies; The Nile and Egyptian cleanness for their gods. The case studies were chosen to limit this thesis upon two aspects of Egypt that the writers should have encountered if they went to Egypt. This brings a theory to light; if the writers' texts are truthfully representing Egypt or if their texts are nothing but literature constructions. This thesis is also looking at how Egyptians are portrayed by the writers with use of the theory the other.        By reading the texts and modern literature about the writers a conclusion is made. The writers are different from each other in their descriptions of Egypt. Herodotus and Diodorus view Egypt as a wonderful land with a wonderful culture. Plutarch is also portraying Egypt with respect as Herodotus and Diodorus but does at the same time view Egypt with a more negative view. This is because Plutarch believes that the Greek culture is the foremost culture in the world.        A problem with all the writers’ texts is based upon that they did not speak ancient Egyptian and could therefore not make use of all the sources presented to them. Herodotus is viewed to not even have visited Egypt. Their texts are to be looked at with a grain of salt even though they clearly tried to represent Egypt as well as they could in their texts. Their texts are to be view as a literature construction simply because the writers did not understand Egyptian and therefore relied on earlier texts about Egypt made in Greek.