This dissertation analyzes the relationship between élites and urban spaces with the aim of creating a profile of municipal patronage of art and architecture in Italian cities during the late republican period (2nd and 1st centuries BCE). Starting from a discussion of the methods and the terms previously used by scholars (euergetism, munificence, etc.), the research delves into the civic and urban histories of Italian cities to study the interactions between monuments and society. With the aid of a substantial epigraphic dossier – as well as archaeological and literary sources – I discuss the actors, the processes, and the cultural aspects behind the construction of public buildings and monuments in late Hellenistic Italy. At the center of the work stand three case studies (Aquileia, Praeneste, and Pompeii), each offering a peculiar perspective on the topic. Thanks to the close reading of these cases, I offer new readings and conclusions on various problems connected with the social and economic history of Italian communities, the relationship between Rome and the Italian allies, and the development of Italian urbanism in the context of the Roman hegemonic expansion.

Text in Afrikaans with summaries in Afrikaans and English / Where do we find the first evidence of a belief in life after death, and a divide or separation in the afterlife? We find answers in the primal and traditional religions in Africa and America, Hinduism, Buddhism, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Hellenism, the Bible and the apocrypha. There had been a preparation for the work and words of Jesus. He is unique. After His death and resurrection as historical figure, He never died again. He is our guarantee for life after death. His Gospel includes eternal heaven as well as eternal hell. He is proclaimed as Saviour. The New Testament uses metaphors to convey the reality of heaven and hell. Not only do we find kerugma about the afterlife, but also information. The message has also transformation as a goal. / Hier word ondersoek waar die eerste getuienis gevind kan word dat die mens in die lewe na die dood begin glo het. Daarna word ondersoek waar ons die eerste getuienis vind dat mense begin glo het in 'n skeiding na die dood. Hier word antwoorde gevind by die primate religiee, die tradisionele godsdienste van Afrika en Amerika, die vroee-Hindoelsme van Indie; die Boeddhisme; Egipte; Babilonie (Irak); die Zoroastrisme van Persie (Iran); die Hellenisme van die Grieks-Romeinse wereld; die Ou Testament; die apokaliptiek in die apokriewe - die Intertestamentere literatuur en die Nuwe Testament. Daar was 'n voorbereiding vir die koms van Jesus Christus. As gevolg van sy kruisdood en opstanding staan Jesus uit as historiese figuur in die wereldgeskiedenis. Hy is uniek. Na sy opstanding het Hy nooit weer gesterf nie. Jesus Christus is die waarborg dat mense ook sal lewe na die dood. In sy prediking het Hy by sekere elemente van die bestaande gedagtes oor die lewe na die dood aangesluit. Hy het verkondig dat daar 'n hemel en 'n hel sal wees as ewige seen of ewige straf. Die Evangelie hied die realiteite van die hemel en die hel in beeldspraak aan, om daardeur die dringende boodskap tuis te bring. Christus word verkondig as die Verlosser van sondeskuld en die ewige straf, tot die ewige ]ewe. Die gegewens in die Nuwe Testament oor die hemel en die hel het dus nie net steeds kerugmatiese waarde nie, maar dit bevat ook inligting (informasie) en het ook transformasie ten doel. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D.Th. (Systematic Teology)

I examine Wilde’s Hellenism in terms of the specific texts, editions and institutions through which he encountered ancient Greece. The late-nineteenth-century professionalisation of classical scholarship and the rise of the new science of archaeology from the 1870s onwards endangered the status of antiquity as a textual source of ideal fictions rather than a material object of positivist study. The major theme of my thesis is Wilde’s relationship with archaeology and his efforts to preserve Greece as an imaginative resource and a model for right conduct. From his childhood Wilde had accompanied his father Sir William Wilde on digs around Ireland. Sir William’s ethnological interests led him to posit a common racial origin for Celts and Greeks; thus, for Wilde, to read a Greek text was to intuit native affinity. Chapters 1–3 trace his education, his travels in Greece, his involvement with the founding of the Hellenic Society, and his defence of the archaeologically accurate stage spectaculars of the 1880s, arguing that in his close association with supporters of archaeology such as J.P. Mahaffy and George Macmillan Wilde exemplifies the new kind of Hellenist opposed by Benjamin Jowett and R.C. Jebb. Chapter 4 makes a case for Wilde’s final repudiation of archaeology and his return to the textual remains of Greek antiquity, present as an intertexual resource in his mature works. Thus I examine the role of Aristotle’s Ethics in ‘The Soul of Man Under Socialism’ and of Platonism in the critical dialogues, The Picture of Dorian Gray and ‘The Portrait of Mr W.H.’ I present The Importance of Being Earnest as a self-conscious exercise in the New Comedy of Menander, concluding that Wilde ultimately returned to the anachronistic eclecticism of the Renaissance attitude to ancient texts.

For many Christians the names ‘Constantine’ and Nicaea are not a familiar idea. In instances where they do recognize these names, they tend to be prejudiced towards the ‘pagan emperor’ and the ‘venerated council’ (Olson 1999:160). The importance of the First Nicene Council and the emperor’s role in the council may be seen as historical only. However, the events related to the development of the Nicene orthodoxy and the role the emperor played in the development of the relations between politics and religion are still influencing the lives of Christians today and therefore, these important events are in need of a review, this time from an African perspective. A probe into the imperial religious-political play may hold many significant answers in relation to contextualization, enculturation, dogmatic teaching, and the relationship between the church and state, amongst other things. In this dissertation document analysis is used in literature study to establish the significance of one of the interactive factors in the period leading to the first ecumenical council. Using a tri-categorical classification of the era, this study reviews the Jewish-Christian schism, Hellenism, and ultimately the role of imperial politics in the development of Christianity. The Jewish-Christian schism refers to the separation between Judaism and Christianity as the conceptive stage of the dynamics through which ecumenical orthodoxy was formed. Hellenism broadly refers to the integration of philosophy with Christianity. Finally, imperial politics was the political dynamic that contributed to the formation of ecumenical orthodoxy. This facilitated an investigation of the era between AD 70 and 325, enhancing a revisionist approach to Constantine, the Nicene Council and the orthodoxy that emerged post AD 325 – with an implied deduction of ecclesiastical polities which became an unconventional phenomenon. The study, engaging with primary sources and specialist scholarship on the era, derived and developed a revisionist approach on Constantinian influence upon Christianity. In the findings the ecclesiastical polity appeared as the significant influence in the shaping of ecumenical orthodoxy. The ecclesiastical polity itself being a factor of the very process of self-definition and contextualization. The significance of enculturation as established in the research implied cultural diversity as a major factor in the formation of religious orthodoxy, xix hence this implied the Jewish Christian schism as the departure point of enquiry. The research implied the development of social models as an interpretation and analysis of the hypothesis. The aforementioned social models had implications for Christian/religious eras even post the one at study. Therefore, making the hypothesis a tool of measuring the interaction of politics, socio-ethnic dynamics and religion in different eras. In principle the study enables a review of history as a factor of these three elements culture, religious syncretism and politics. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Church History)

[pt] Fílon de Alexandria, filósofo judeu do século I, surge como o primeiro pensador a tentar conciliar o conteúdo bíblico à tradição filosófica ocidental. Neste sentido, é mais conhecido por sua doutrina do Logos, sobre a qual ainda se encontram à espera de solução inúmeras controvérsias. Esta Dissertação assume a tarefa de investigar as acepções desse Logos na obra de Fílon, abordando suas relações com a tradição filosófica e com as fontes judaicas. Considera-se sua importância para teologia cristã posterior e o papel da tradição filosófica, sobretudo do platonismo e do estoicismo, na formulação da doutrina do Logos. No entanto, o pensamento filoniano ainda se mostra original e marcado por contribuições alheias à cultura helênica, a saber, judaicas. Esta combinação tem por resultado instigantes reflexões acerca de questões metafísicas, teológicas, éticas e epistemológicas da maior relevância, revelando Fílon como pensador de grande importância na História da Filosofia, pelo que a Dissertação pretende resgatar inúmeras questões que, ao que parece, ainda hoje não foram adequadamente respondidas. Também são questionados o próprio papel da filosofia na busca humana pela sabedoria e o da fé na obtenção da virtude. No que diz respeito especificamente ao Logos filoniano, ele é a ação de Deus no mundo, o instrumento da Criação, modelo do mundo e imagem de Deus, a Palavra reveladora e o único meio a partir do qual a alma humana adquire o conhecimento verdadeiro, que vem do conhecimento de Deus. Esta faculdade, porém, não pertence ao homem senão como dom divino, como graça. / [en] Philo of Alexandria, a first century Jewish philosopher, appears as the first thinker who tried to conciliate biblical contents and western philosophical tradition. In this way, he is better known by his Doctrine of the Logos, about which many controversies are still waiting to be solved. This Dissertation claims the task to examine the meanings of that Logos in Philos works, dealing with its connections to philosophical tradition and Jewish sources as well. We pay regard to its significance to Christian theology and to the role played by philosophical tradition, especially by Platonism as by Stoicism. Otherwise, the Philos thinking still shows itself original and marked by contributions external to the hellenistic culture: Jewish ones. This combination has, by result, provocative ideas on most important metaphysical, theological, ethical and epistemological questions, revealing Philo as a very weighty thinker in the History of Philosophy. For this, the Dissertation aims to restore many questions that we see not yet properly answered. Also questioned are the role played by philosophy in the human search for wisdom and the role played by faith in the attainment of virtue. More strictly concerning philonic Logos, it means Gods action in the world, an instrument for Creation, pattern and example for the world and Gods image, the revealing Word and the sole way by which human soul acquires true knowledge, that comes from the knowledge of God. This power does not belongs to man, but its a gift from God, a grace.

Le mythe du retour dans la poésie néo-hellénique du XXe siècle La poésie néo-hellénique du XXe siècle est imprégnée d’un recyclage des formes et des figures d’expression de la mythologie classique grecque. Ce recyclage, tel que pratiqué par des poètes comme Cavafy, Séféris et Elytis, se manifeste et s’articule dans le phénomène du mythe du retour, phénomène qui évolue sous quatre aspects distincts : le mythe (l’histoire) du retour, le retour au mythe, le retour du mythe et le mythe (l’illusion) du retour. La première manifestation de ce mythe du retour s’initie dans un renvoi à l’histoire homérique de l’archétype odysséen. En deuxième lieu s’élabore le retour au mythe, c’est-à-dire le recyclage du mythe dans un cadre idéologique et poétique. Ensuite se façonne un retour du mythe, par lequel la mythologie initiale du retour revient comme un concept où se métaphorise une forme d’expression première. Enfin se conscientise le mythe du retour, où le mythe n’est plus histoire, mais devient illusion. / The Μyth of the Return in 20th Century Neo-Hellenic Poetry The Neo-Hellenic poetry of the 20th century is permeated by a recycling of the forms and figures of speech found in classical Greek mythology. This recycling, as practiced by poets such as Cavafy, Seferis and Elytis, is expressed and articulated in the phenomenon of the myth of the return, which evolves on four distinct planes: the myth (story) of the return, the return to the myth, the return of the myth and the myth (illusion) of the return. The first manifestation of this myth of the return is the Homeric story of the Odyssean archetype. Secondly is expressed the return to the myth into a recycled ideological and poetic form. Thereafter is shaped the return of the myth, through which the initial mythology of the return occurs as a concept that enables a primary form of expression. Finally is transcended the myth of the return, which is no longer only story, but illusion.

This dissertation examines the place of Hellenism in nineteenth-century literature as a background to my discussion of Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poetic treatment of Apollo, the Greek god of poetry and of the sun. My point of departure is the common view that sees the Victorians’ fascination with Hellenism as representing a collective sense of dissatisfaction with Christian culture, its politics, and morality. Raised High Anglican, Swinburne was an avid and devoted believer throughout his early life. However, a spiritual crisis which he experienced during his years in Oxford in the late 1850s caused him to grow extremely critical of Christianity and eventually forsake his faith by his mid-twenties. Yet Swinburne’s rejection of Christianity did not result in his rejection of spirituality. And indeed, throughout his poetic career, Swinburne searches for alternative deities that would replace the Christian God. One such deity is Apollo, who becomes a pivotal figure in Swinburne poetry starting with the 1878 publication of Poems and Ballads and in the collections that follow. Focusing on seven major poems written during a period of almost three decades, I show how Apollo serves as the main deity in an emerging Swinburnean mythology. Swinburne’s Apollonian myth, I show, consists of three stages: the invocation and conceptualization of Apollo as a new god by manipulating Biblical and Classical notions of divinity; the formation of a unique Apollonian theology; and the shift toward a nihilistic agnostic vision of spirituality. Each stage, I argue, presents the development of Swinburne’s thought, as well as his deep engagement with nineteenth-century debates about religion, mythography, and the reformative function of poetry. As such, my dissertation has two main purposes: first, expanding the scope of Swinburne scholarship by providing a new thematic context for his later poetry; and second, reclaiming Swinburne’s place in nineteenth-century intellectual history by showing his contribution and involvement in discussions about some of the period’s most central issues.

This work aims to show the importance of traveler s reports, in the construction of a speech referring to the Pagan Greek society as a reference to the Christian understanding of otherness tupinambá. Thus, the image of tupinambá will be analyzed, and compared to the warriors of antiquity, passing on to the construction sites of the Indian war from models of other pagan universes related to the Christianity European family of five hundred. We will address the operation of travel literature as a model of writing, to speak of the unknown. The representations of war from their canons in the traditions of ancient epic and historiography will be analyzed, considering it with examples of Hellenism from five hundred. / O presente trabalho pretende demonstrar a importância dos relatos de viagem na construção de um discurso que remete à sociedade grega pagã como referência para a compreensão cristã da alteridade tupinambá. Assim, será analisada a imagem do tupinambá, comparando-a com os guerreiros da Antiguidade, o que deverá remeter aos lugares de construção da guerra indígena a partir de modelos referentes a outros universos pagãos , familiares à cristandade europeia dos quinhentos. Será tratado o funcionamento da literatura de viagem, como modelo de escrita, para falar do desconhecido. Analisar-se-ão as representações da guerra a partir de seus cânones nas tradições épica e historiográfica da Antiguidade, considerando-a em compasso com exemplares oriundos do Helenismo em voga nos quinhentos. / Mestre em História

The aim of this thesis is to describe forms of Greek religion in the context of Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. The lack of written sources is typical for the region, my analysis is therefore based on archaeological evidence. The first part of my thesis introduces the archaeological sources connected to the religion. A material culture of Graeco-Bactrian kingdom mixes both Greek and local traditions. The second part of the thesis analyses the formation of the Graeco-Bactrian religious identity. I compare the situation with other Hellenistic states, especially with Syria, using postcolonial models based on theories by Rachel Mairs and Irad Malkin. It seems that Graeco- Bactrian kingdom does not differ from other parts of Hellenistic world. The absence of Greek temples is especially remarkable, I suppose that Hellenistic religion inclined to respect local religious traditions. On the other hand, Hellenistic identity did not depend on Greek religion but on Greek education.

Text in Afrikaans with summaries in Afrikaans and English / Where do we find the first evidence of a belief in life after death, and a divide or separation in the afterlife? We find answers in the primal and traditional religions in Africa and America, Hinduism, Buddhism, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Hellenism, the Bible and the apocrypha. There had been a preparation for the work and words of Jesus. He is unique. After His death and resurrection as historical figure, He never died again. He is our guarantee for life after death. His Gospel includes eternal heaven as well as eternal hell. He is proclaimed as Saviour. The New Testament uses metaphors to convey the reality of heaven and hell. Not only do we find kerugma about the afterlife, but also information. The message has also transformation as a goal. / Hier word ondersoek waar die eerste getuienis gevind kan word dat die mens in die lewe na die dood begin glo het. Daarna word ondersoek waar ons die eerste getuienis vind dat mense begin glo het in 'n skeiding na die dood. Hier word antwoorde gevind by die primate religiee, die tradisionele godsdienste van Afrika en Amerika, die vroee-Hindoelsme van Indie; die Boeddhisme; Egipte; Babilonie (Irak); die Zoroastrisme van Persie (Iran); die Hellenisme van die Grieks-Romeinse wereld; die Ou Testament; die apokaliptiek in die apokriewe - die Intertestamentere literatuur en die Nuwe Testament. Daar was 'n voorbereiding vir die koms van Jesus Christus. As gevolg van sy kruisdood en opstanding staan Jesus uit as historiese figuur in die wereldgeskiedenis. Hy is uniek. Na sy opstanding het Hy nooit weer gesterf nie. Jesus Christus is die waarborg dat mense ook sal lewe na die dood. In sy prediking het Hy by sekere elemente van die bestaande gedagtes oor die lewe na die dood aangesluit. Hy het verkondig dat daar 'n hemel en 'n hel sal wees as ewige seen of ewige straf. Die Evangelie hied die realiteite van die hemel en die hel in beeldspraak aan, om daardeur die dringende boodskap tuis te bring. Christus word verkondig as die Verlosser van sondeskuld en die ewige straf, tot die ewige ]ewe. Die gegewens in die Nuwe Testament oor die hemel en die hel het dus nie net steeds kerugmatiese waarde nie, maar dit bevat ook inligting (informasie) en het ook transformasie ten doel. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D.Th. (Systematic Teology)