abstract: Connecting the three pieces of this dissertation is the foundation of our land or Mother Earth. Our relationship with our Mother is key to our indigenous legal tradition, as it both defines and is shaped by indigenous laws. These laws set forth the values and rules for relationships between humans, and between humans and the environment, including non-human beings. How we live in this environment, how we nurture our relationship with our Mother, and how we emulate our original instructions in treatment of one another are integral to our indigenous legal traditions. With this connection in mind, the three parts of this dissertation address the status of Pueblo women in colonial New Mexico, a study of attitudes toward preservation of traditional structures, and the ways in which we seek to protect our sacred places. The journal article will focus on the impact of Spanish colonial laws on pueblo people in New Mexico, and pueblo women in particular. I propose the usefulness of comparing the Pueblo chthonic legal tradition with that of the colonial Spanish civil legal tradition as an approach to a fuller understanding of the impact of Spanish colonial laws on Pueblo peoples. As pueblo peoples move into the future with a focus on core values, this comparison can assist in determining what traces of the Spanish colonial, often patriarchal, systems might continue to exist among our Pueblos, to our detriment. The book chapter looks at a survey on attitudes toward preservation of traditional Laguna housing in Paguate Village, at Laguna Pueblo, and its possible uses for community planning. This is done within the context of a community whose traditional housing has been interrupted by 30 years of uranium mining and decades of government (HUD) housing, both of which worked against Pueblo indigenous paradigms for how to live in the environment and how to live together. The policy briefing paper makes a case for using international human rights instruments and fora to protect sacred places where United States law and policy cannot provide the degree of protection that indigenous peoples seek. In all three pieces is a question of how we essentially reclaim the gift of our original relationship with Mother Earth. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2015

At the heart of the Etruscan city of Caere exists the Hypogaeum of Clepsina, an underground ritual chamber which scholars theorize to be a mundus, a liminal space linking the earthly realm with the underworld. It was a place where chthonic rituals were conducted in honour of the infernal gods and the ghosts of the ancestors, and its creation was tied to notions of civic foundation. The hypogaeum was constructed or renovated around 273 BC, at the time when the city of Caere was officially converted into a Roman praefectura. As one of the earliest projects undertaken in the newly established Roman Caere, the hypogaeum likely had a symbolic significance, reinforcing the establishment and stabilization of the territory under Roman control. Consequently, gaining a deeper understanding of the mundus of Caere, especially in terms of the cult worship and rituals that occurred within it, contributes to our knowledge of the role that religion played in Roman expansion in Italy during the Republican period. One of the most remarkable features of the hypogaeum is its painted niche, which is adorned with frescoes of two large palm trees. This thesis will explore the symbolic meaning of the palm trees, since these frescoes provide important clues as to the deity originally worshiped within the ritual chamber. The connection between the palm tree motif and Apollo will be investigated, as the god’s cult was imbued with strong solar, oracular, and chthonic associations in Etruria and Central Italy. He was syncretized with the Italic deity, Soranus, otherwise known as Śuri, a deity who received cult veneration at the important sanctuary of Caere’s port settlement, Pyrgi. Apollo Soranus, or Śuri, was a chthonic deity equated with the ruler of the underworld, and thus was a god altogether fitting to preside over the mundus of Caere. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / The Hypogaeum of Clepsina is an underground ritual chamber in Caere, which scholars theorize to be a mundus, a liminal space where chthonic rituals were enacted in honour of the infernal gods. The mundus was tied to notions of civic foundation, which suggests that the hypogaeum’s construction (or renovation) around the year 273 BC, the time when the city of Caere was officially converted into a Roman praefectura, was a statement of Rome’s re-establishment of Caere. Thus, gaining a deeper understanding of the hypogaeum, especially the cults worshiped within it, contributes to our knowledge of the role that religion played in Roman expansion during the Republican period. The palm tree frescoes decorating the niche of the hypogaeum provide important clues as to the identity of the deity worshiped in the mundus. They are a reference to the god, Apollo Soranus, or Śuri, who was a chthonic deity fitting to preside over the mundus of Caere.

In my work, I focus on a comparison of Olympian and chthonic aspects of the myth and cult of the god Asclepius in Classical Greece period. The starting point is a discussion concerning the distinction between Olympian and chthonic. I will try to clarify what these particular terms represent in works of selected authors and how those authors consequently apply them. Furthermore, I will try to show whether and how the dichotomy between Olympian and chthonic can be applied to a specific figure, namely the healing god Asclepius. I will focus on Asclepius myths and forms of his cultic worship too. Emphasis will be put on Asclepius divine, Olympian aspects, as well as on his heroic features, which belong to the realm of chthonic. On the basis of theoretical analysis of dichotomy between Olympian and chthonic and examination of a particular case figure of Asclepius, in the final synthetic part of my work I will try to demonstrate that the adherence to the dichotomy between Olympian and chthonic is significantly beneficial to the interpretation of the divine figure of Asclepius. Key words: Olympian, chthonic, Asclepius myths, cultic worship of Asclepius, interpretation of Asclepius

This thesis compares selected beings of Baltic folklore within a nearer Balto-Slavic areal after analysing them. It defines the term "chthonic" in accord with the current traditions and supplements it with additional traits, which it verifies afterwards. Using these traits the thesis consequently determines the chthonic properties of the beings. The comparations begin with velnias/velns, a being with assumed chthonic character, which is confirmed. The core of the thesis is dedicated to aivataras, whose mythopersonyma and appearance are examined first, followed by its functionality i.e. the plots it figures in. According to the plots aitvaras and its Baltic variants are compared with East- and West Slavic beings with focus at the plots of Czech demonologic fables. This establishes aitvaras and its equivalents posses strong serpentine traits and a relation to the revered spirits of dead ancestors. The results of this comparison are compared to previous research and some differing conclusions are presented, among them a proposal of a possible etymology of the mythopersonymum "aitvaras". No significant difference on the functional level has been discovered between the terms "aitvaras" and "kaukas". The last chapter concerns itself with the being called "laumė" and to her similar female deities and...

The Forum was the center of Roman life. It witnessed a barrage of building, destruction and reuse from the seventh century BCE onwards. By around 80 BCE, patrons chose to renovate the Senate House and Comitium with a fresh paving of tufa blocks. Masons leveled many ruined altars and memorials beneath the flooring. Yet paving also provided a means of saving some of Rome’s past. They isolated the Lapis Niger with black blocks, to keep the city’s sinking history in their present. Paving therefore became a technology of memory for recording past events and people. Yet how effective was the Lapis Niger as a memorial? Many modern scholars have romanced the site’s cultural continuity. However, in fifty years and after two Lapis Nigers, the Comitium had borne a disparity of monuments and functions. Rome’s historians could not agree on what lay beneath. Verrius Flaccus reports that the Lapis Niger ‘according to others’ might mark the site of Romulus’s apotheosis, his burial, the burial of his foster father Faustulus, or even his soldier, Hostius Hostilius (50.177). Nevertheless, modern archaeologists have found no tombs. Instead of trying to comprehend these legends, most scholars use them selectively to isolate a dictator, deity or date. We must instead understand why so many views of the Lapis Niger emerged in antiquity. Otherwise, like ancient antiquarians, we will re- identify sites without end. Recreating how these material and mental landscapes interacted and spawned new pasts tells us more about the Lapis Niger than any new attribution. / text

<p>This thesis discusses the archaeological remains in the Etruscan bridge complex, found during the excavations at San Giovenale in 1959–1963, and 1999. The aim has been to reach a holistic perspective of the bridge complex with the bridge seen as a link between topography, economy, social relationships, politics, symbols and ritual, reflecting its importance for the whole community at San Giovenale and its surroundings. Situated at the border between the two largest city-states Tarquinia and Caere, the site seems to have been an important middle range transit town for foreign ideas, goods and people. </p><p>The character of the remains and the various levels of contextual analyses made it possible to distinguish five distinctive functions for the structures at the bridge over the Pietrisco. From a more generalised point of view these suggested that specialized functions may be divided into practical, social and symbolic functions and these aspects have been of help in identifying an object or a structure. Besides practical functions of everyday use, economic and strategic functions have also been considered. </p><p>These functions were more or less in use contemporaneously, at least during several hundred years, from about the middle of the 6th down to the first century B.C. Pottery and small finds show that some activity has taken place at the site from the 9th century. Features of continuity, such as in the choice of crossing, the direction of the bridge construction after its destruction, the architectural ground-plans, the use of basins and a well, pottery fabrics of local and Greek imports and shapes, as well as changes in ground-plans, slight changes in the environment due to water erosion, earth-quakes and slides, have been observed. The physical as well as the liminal boundary between land and water as well as between man and spirits was accentuated by the tufa building, the water installations, and the road at the northern abutment. The thesis raises the hypothesis that the Etruscans believed that a crossing of a river via a bridge could violate the spirits of nature on land and in the water and therefore special rites were needed to restore the balance between nature and man before entering the bridge in order to reach safely at the other side of the ravine. The bridge itself can be seen as sacred, a liminal area where time and space do not exist and a place where it is easy to gain contact with the supernatural world. </p>

This thesis discusses the archaeological remains in the Etruscan bridge complex, found during the excavations at San Giovenale in 1959–1963, and 1999. The aim has been to reach a holistic perspective of the bridge complex with the bridge seen as a link between topography, economy, social relationships, politics, symbols and ritual, reflecting its importance for the whole community at San Giovenale and its surroundings. Situated at the border between the two largest city-states Tarquinia and Caere, the site seems to have been an important middle range transit town for foreign ideas, goods and people. The character of the remains and the various levels of contextual analyses made it possible to distinguish five distinctive functions for the structures at the bridge over the Pietrisco. From a more generalised point of view these suggested that specialized functions may be divided into practical, social and symbolic functions and these aspects have been of help in identifying an object or a structure. Besides practical functions of everyday use, economic and strategic functions have also been considered. These functions were more or less in use contemporaneously, at least during several hundred years, from about the middle of the 6th down to the first century B.C. Pottery and small finds show that some activity has taken place at the site from the 9th century. Features of continuity, such as in the choice of crossing, the direction of the bridge construction after its destruction, the architectural ground-plans, the use of basins and a well, pottery fabrics of local and Greek imports and shapes, as well as changes in ground-plans, slight changes in the environment due to water erosion, earth-quakes and slides, have been observed. The physical as well as the liminal boundary between land and water as well as between man and spirits was accentuated by the tufa building, the water installations, and the road at the northern abutment. The thesis raises the hypothesis that the Etruscans believed that a crossing of a river via a bridge could violate the spirits of nature on land and in the water and therefore special rites were needed to restore the balance between nature and man before entering the bridge in order to reach safely at the other side of the ravine. The bridge itself can be seen as sacred, a liminal area where time and space do not exist and a place where it is easy to gain contact with the supernatural world.