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Heyman, George P. Watts James W. "The power of sacrifice Roman and Christian discourses in conflict /." Related electronic resource: Current Research at SU : database of SU dissertations, recent titles available full text, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/syr/main.
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Shannon, Avram Richard. "Other Peoples' Rituals: Tannaitic Portrayals of Graeco-Roman Ritual." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1429830562.
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Hoklotubbe, Thomas Christopher. "The Rhetoric of PIETAS: The Pastoral Epistles and Claims to Piety in the Roman Empire." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:15821958.
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This dissertation reads the Pastoral Epistles alongside imperial propaganda, monumental inscriptions, and philosophical writings of the Roman period to determine how claims to piety (Greek: εὐσέβεια, Latin: pietas) advanced socio-political aims and reinforced cultural values and ideological assumptions among its audiences. Coins celebrating the pietas of the imperial households of Trajan and Hadrian, the honorary inscription of Salutaris in Ephesus, and the writings of Philo and Plutarch evidence that appeals to piety functioned rhetorically to naturalize hierarchies of power and social orders, recognize the honorable status of citizens, signal expertise in knowledge about the divine, and delineate insiders from outsiders. Moreover, the prevalence of appeals to piety indicates the virtue’s broad cultural currency and prestige, which was traded upon for legitimating authority. This dissertation argues that the author of the Pastorals strategically deploys piety in his attempt to negotiate an imperial situation marked by prejudicial perceptions of Christians as a foreign and seditious superstitio, to reinforce (gendered) social values, to intervene in Christian debates over the status and authority of benefactors in the ekklēsia, to build confidence in and solidarity around the legitimacy of his vision of the ideal ekklēsia, and to denigrate the beliefs and practices of rival teachers.
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Macrae, Duncan Eoin. "The Books of Numa: Writing, Intellectuals and the Making of Roman Religion." Thesis, Harvard University, 2013. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10899.
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This dissertation provides an intellectual and social history of learned writing on Roman religious culture during the late Republic and early Empire. I examine the ways in which an elite learned literature, for which I propose the name "civil theology", constructed "Roman religion" as a religious system. The first part of the dissertation is an intellectual history of civil theology, especially focused on how these learned texts generated "Roman religion" as an object of knowledge. In order to elucidate how texts can authoritatively construct a religious system, I pursue a comparison between civil theology and the Mishnah, a rabbinic textual compilation. The second part of the dissertation is a social history of civil theology, concentrating on the social contexts of production and reception of the discourse. Firstly, I demonstrate how the discourse was embedded in the social relations of the profoundly competitive late Republican elite. Civil theology was not a socially marginal intellectual activity. Rather, knowledge about Roman religion provided resources for the social self-presentation of the elite. Secondly, I consider how civil theology became implicated in the new imperial socio-political order. Emperors drew on civil-theological knowledge to legitimize "religious reforms" and their personal rule; for the aristocracy, civil theology became entangled with responses to the new situation of autocracy. In a conclusion, I outline the continuing influence of civil theology and its construction of "Roman religion" in the high imperial period and late antiquity and consider how Roman civil theology can complicate the established scholarly approaches to the relationship between books and religion.The Classics
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Sailors, Cara Leigh. "The Function of Mythology and Religion in Ancient Greek Society." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2007. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2110.
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The ancient Greeks are prime subjects of study for those wishing to understand the roles that religion and mythology play in a society and how the two interact with each other. This paper covers what I feel after my study of Greek mythology and religion are the eight functions of mythology: history, education, explanation - both of the natural world and the culture of each society, legality, genesis, what happens after death, and entertainment; as well as the two function of religion: civic and spiritual. In the first chapter, in order to show each of the mythological functions, I summarize and explain a myth that falls primarily into each category. The second chapter discusses and illustrates Civic Religion and the third examines the three major Mystery Religions. The goal is to offer a basic understand of some of the myths, religious beliefs, and cult practices of the ancient Greeks.
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Nguyen, Duy. "The Ancient Christian Ritual and its Theological Meaning in the 21st Century:A Study of the Sign of Peace in the Novus Ordo in the Roman Rite." Athenaeum of Ohio / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=athe1506338017115164.
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Collar, Anna. "Networks and religious innovation in the Roman Empire." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/55073.
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Why do some religious movements succeed and spread, while others, seemingly equally popular and successful at a certain time, ultimately fail? It is from this starting point that this thesis approaches religious success or failure in the Roman Empire: exploring a new analytical method for understanding religious change: network theory. The thesis forms two parts. Part I sets out the theoretical frameworks. The focus of network theory is on the processes by which innovation spreads: how interconnectedness facilitates change. Although some innovations might be ‘superior’, viewing success or failure as the result of interplay between inherent qualities of a religious movement and the structure of the social environment in which it is embedded means it is possible to reduce value judgements about superiority or inferiority. The discussion then turns to religious change. The key point is that sociologists of religion can explain something of the processes of religious conversion (or ‘recruitment’) and the success or failure of a religious movement through an analysis of social interactions. Finally, I explain how I shall use networks both as a heuristic approach and a practical modelling technique to apply to the epigraphic data, and detail some of the previous application of networks to archaeological test cases. Part II applies these methods to the epigraphic data of three religions. In Chapter Four, I examine the cult Jupiter Dolichenus, arguing that the previous explanations for the success of the cult are untenable, showing from the epigraphy that the cult spread through a strong-tie network of Roman military officials. In Chapter Five, I look at the development of Jewish identity in the Diaspora, showing that, during the second century AD, Diaspora Jews began to actively display their Jewish identity in their epitaphs. I argue that this re-Judaization represents the ‘activation’ of an ethno-cultural network, as a response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the crushing of the Bar Kokhba rebellion; the visible remains of the rabbinic reforms. In Chapter Six, I discuss the cult of the ‘Highest God’, Theos Hypsistos, taking Mitchell’s argument further to suggest that the huge increase in the dedications during the second-third centuries is not simply a reflection of the epigraphic habit, but rather, that the cult of Hypsistos was swelled by the Gentile god-fearers, as a result of the changes happening within Judaism itself at this time.
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Lietz, Beatrice. "Pour une étude de la religion en Sicile à l’époque républicaine : la Sicile vue de Rome dans les Verrines de Cicéron." Doctoral thesis, Scuola Normale Superiore, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11384/85654.
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Cultural and religious contact has been extensively studied over the last few decades, covering many different periods and contexts in classical Antiquity.However, very little attention has been paid to Roman Sicily during the Republic. Nevertheless, new research has shown that the island continued to thrive under Roman rule, with a variety of cultural influences coming together within the framework of Hellenistic “koine”. This work aims at reconstructing religious contact in this very particular context, using the evidence provided by Cicero’s speeches against Verres. Part one is a sketch of all the cults mentioned in the speeches; part two focuses on the way Roman presence made an impact on local practices and part three tries to determine how the Romans perceived Sicialian religion. Results will show the Republican Sicily was not the home of a declining Greek culture, but a lively harbour of cultural exchange.
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Cloke, Christian F. "The Landscape of the Lion: Economies of Religion and Politics in the Nemean Countryside (800 B.C. to A.D. 700)." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1455208969.
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Nicolas, Charles. "Les prières de l'empereur romain : Pratiques religieuses du gouvernant, de la collectivité et de l'individu, d'Auguste à Théodose Ier." Thesis, Paris 4, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015PA040185.
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La prière, parce qu’elle suppose une reconnaissance du pouvoir des mots et des gestes, est une pratique tangible et un fait historique. Étudier sa nature et ses évolutions fait progresser la connaissance des comportements et des dispositifs religieux. Ainsi, les prières formulées par les empereurs romains, qu’ils soient païens ou chrétiens, participent de la manifestation de leur pouvoir et de l’expression des rapports complexes entre l’individu, la communauté et le monde divin. Néanmoins la nature de la documentation et la spécificité des différents systèmes religieux conduisent à privilégier une relative synchronie. L’étude des prières récitées par l’empereur dans la célébration des cultes publics permet de préciser l’articulation entre la personne impériale et la communauté publique. Sur le temps long, il est alors possible de discuter les supposées évolutions ou mutations de ces responsabilités et de leurs représentations. Aussi la nature même des prières romaines peut-elle être éclairée au regard des interrogations modernes sur les religions antiques et des concepts de spiritualisation, d’individualisation ou de performance collective. La définition du paysage cultuel des empereurs romains permet de reconsidérer le sens même de la prière individuelle et de ses enjeux religieux et sociaux. L’ensemble de ces approches se prolonge harmonieusement avec le passage du paganisme au christianisme. La place des empereurs dans le culte communautaire, la possible élaboration de dispositifs cultuels spécifiques et la représentation de leurs prières individuelles ou personnelles participent de l’étude historique de la lente constitution d’un christianisme impérial romain diversThe prayer is a tangible practice and a historical fact. It implies recognition of the power of words and gestures. The study of its nature and evolutions improves knowledge of religious behaviours and setups. Prayers made by pagan or Christian Roman emperors involve representation of their power and show the complex relationship between the person, the community and the divine world. However, the available documentation and the specificity of different religious systems lead to adopt a relative synchrony. The prayers said in public cults are used to study the relationship between the imperial person and public community. It is then possible to have a long-term discussion of the supposed changes or mutations of these responsibilities and their images. The nature of Roman prayers can be discussed by the modern interrogations about antique religions and concepts such as spiritualization, individualization and collective performance. The definition of the Roman emperors worship landscape allows reconsidering the very meaning of individual prayer together with its religious and social issues. All these approaches extend harmoniously from Paganism to early Christianity. The position of emperors in community worship, the development of specific worship setup and representation of individual or personal prayers are part of an historical study focused on the slow formation of a diverse Roman imperial Christianity
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Yandek, Amy C. "Pagan Roman Religious Acculturation? An Inquiry into the Domestic Cult at Karanis, Ephesos and Dura-Europos: The First to Fifth Centuries CE." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2013. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/226655.
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Art HistoryPh.D.
The ancient Roman domestic cult is often overlooked and marginalized in favor of state sponsored practices, monuments, and temples; yet it can give us insights into daily life, cultural interactions, and personal identity in the Empire. In my dissertation, I recreate a selection of domestic contexts in order to learn more about private cultic practices, thus illuminating those activities and behaviors that may be far removed from what appears in the literary sources or in monumental reliefs and paintings. Furthermore, the era considered is a crucial period in the history of the western world that included the rise of Christianity and dramatic changes in Roman pagan cults. By concentrating on the Roman East, I produce information relating to these changes outside of Italy and study the impact on cross-cultural exchanges and identities formulated by the Roman colonization of these cities. The Roman domestic cult in Italy invoked specific gods to maintain the well-being of the home in small shrines within the house. Material evidence for these practices survives in the form of statuettes and wall paintings of the gods, incense burners, and altars. Other divinities chosen by the head of the household could join or supplant the traditional domestic deities. These additions to private shrines acted as protective patron gods of the household and they reveal a personal relationship between deity and devotee. One barrier to the understanding of the domestic cult in its original context is the nature of multiculturalism in the Roman Empire. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scholars tended to equate the Roman Empire with the concept of the modern nation-state. The Empire was seen as a cultural juggernaut that disseminated a uniform Roman identity that was sent out from Italy to the provinces. Evidence for "Romanization" was noted in the introduction of the Roman city plan, and Roman habits were seen in new types of public buildings such as baths or amphitheaters, the adoption of Roman coinage, the toga and the Latin language, and the introduction of Roman cults, especially the cult of the emperor. Most scholars today prefer to view the expansion of the Empire as a process that included reciprocal acculturation between natives and their Roman masters. Using this model, I examine religious cross-currents on a domestic scale, thus contributing to the current scholarly discussion. By exploring the cult in the home, we can get a better indication of the interaction between native and Roman in the private sphere. Scholars agree that we can learn more from smaller, regional studies; it cannot be assumed that the same things occurred in all parts of the empire and at all times. The case-study approach has replaced the sweeping and sometimes vague histories of years past. I have chosen three sites from the Roman East since they have an abundance of material evidence that has not been exploited to its full potential: Karanis (modern Egypt), Ephesos (modern Turkey), and Dura-Europos (modern Syria). The significance of my project is three-fold. I present previously unpublished material from important sites in the Roman East. By looking at these three sites, I expand the dialogue from the singular discussion of domestic religion in first-century Italy, thus enriching it substantially. Through the consideration of acculturation between east and west I contribute to the discussion of "Romanization" in the first to fifth centuries CE. By comparing these sites with those better published, such as Pompeii and Ostia (Rome's port, largely abandoned in the second half of the third into the fourth centuries), I can more clearly show the contrast between the two halves of the Empire. My goals will be to determine how (and if) "Romanization" can be seen in these locations, what the impact of local artistic styles and indigenous deities is, and how the reciprocal relationship manifests in daily religious practices within the home.
Temple University--Theses
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Revel-Barreteau, Cécile. "Augustin historien. Recherches sur les méthodes historiques d'un évêque de l'Antiquité tardive." Thesis, Paris 4, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014PA040207.
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Héritier de la culture classique antique et ancien professeur de rhétorique, Augustin d'Hippone (354-430) est l'auteur d'une oeuvre vaste et variée où il s'illustre comme un théologien, philosophe, pasteur à la pensée originale et puissante. Il n'est pas connu cependant comme historien et n'est pas l'auteur d'ouvrages spécifiquement historiques. Pourtant, comme évêque africain et autorité intellectuelle reconnue de ses contemporains, il a été amené à s'engager dans des controverses pour lesquelles il a utilisé une argumentation historique construite avec rigueur.Les méthodes avec lesquelles Augustin rassemble et critique ses sources et interprète l'histoire sont étudiées à partir de la Cité de Dieu et des traités anti-donatistes. Elles sont analysées en fonction du contexte culturel antique, à l'aide des réflexions historiographiques contemporaines. De quelle façon Augustin répond-il aux exigences d'un travail historique lorsqu'il aborde l'histoire de Rome et de l'Église ?Les recherches ont été menées en trois étapes pour envisager tout d'abord Augustin comme historien de Rome et particulièrement de la République romaine, puis comme historien du rôle de la religion (païenne et chrétienne) à Rome, et enfin comme historien du schisme donatiste en Afrique. Ces axes d'études permettent d'approfondir l'analyse des méthodes d'Augustin et de mettre en valeur une progression, d'un travail accompli à partir de sources secondaires sur une époque éloignée, à un travail mené partir d'une documentation qu'il réunit lui-même sur l'histoire de l'Église de son tempsSteeped in ancient classical culture and a former professor of rhetoric, Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is considered as a distinguished theologian, philosopher, and pastor, with original andpowerful thoughts. He is not known as a historian, and is not the author of historical works.However, as a bishop and an intellectual authority recognized by his contemporaries, he wasconducted to conduct controversies during which he used a rigorously built historicalargumentation.The way Augustine collects and criticizes his sources, and interprets history, are studied based onCity of God and anti-Donatist writings. These are analyzed taking account to ancient culturalcontext, and using contemporary historiographical approach. Does Augustin reach the historicalwork standard when he addresses the history of Rome and the Church ?The research was conducted in three stages ; first considering Augustine as an historian of Romeand especially of the Roman Republic, then as an historian of the role of pagan and Christianreligion in Rome, and finally as an historian of the Donatist schism in Africa. These steps revealthe progression of Augustine methods, from a work based on secondary sources dealing with anancient period, to a work conducted from documents that he personnally gathers on thecontemporary history of the Church
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Byler, Dorvan. "Flee from the Worship of Idols: Becoming Christian in Roman Corinth." Kent State University Honors College / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1431446369.
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Lietz, Beatrice. "Pour une étude de la religion en Sicile à l’époque républicaine : la Sicile vue de Rome dans les Verrines de Cicéron." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PSLEP057.
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Si le problème du contact culturel en matière de religion a suscité un grand intérêt parmi les spécialistes de l'Antiquité classique, très peu d'attention a été accordée à la Sicile d’époque républicaine. Pourtant, en dépit d’un préjugé répandu, la recherche récente a montré que cette île continua de prospérer sous la domination de Rome, dans un mélange d’influences culturelles se fondant à l’intérieur de la « koine » hellénistique. Sur cette toile de fond, ce travail se sert du témoignage des Verrines de Cicéron pour tenter une reconstruction des contacts religieux dans la région : il reconstruira d’abord le panorama des cultes évoqués dans les discours, pour ensuite s’intéresser à l’impact de la présence romaine et enfin aborder la perception que les Romains avaient de la religion locale. Les résultats confirmeront que la Sicile de l’époque, loin d’abriter une culture grecque immobile et vouée au déclin, était encore le théâtre d’une vivante dynamique d’échanges culturelsCultural and religious contact has been extensively studied over the last few decades, covering many different periods and contexts in classical Antiquity. However, very little attention has been paid to Roman Sicily during the Republic. Nevertheless, new research has shown that the island continued to thrive under Roman rule, with a variety of cultural influences coming together within the framework of Hellenistic «koine». This work aims at reconstructing religious contact in this very particular context, using the evidence provided by Cicero’s speeches against Verres. Part one is a sketch of all the cults mentioned in the speeches; part two focuses on the way Roman presence made an impact on local practices and part three tries to determine how the Romans perceived Sicilian religion. Results will show that Republican Sicily was not the home of a declining Greek culture, but a lively harbour of cultural exchange
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Lebdiri, Davilla. "La religion dans le roman grec ancien." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Paris 1, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015PA010662.
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Le roman grec est une source susceptible de nous apporter un éclairage intéressant sur le tournant des premiers siècles de notre ère qui portent la marque de la seconde Sophistique. Né entre le milieu du Ier siècle et le début du IIe siècle au cœur des provinces orientales hellénophones de l’Empire romain, le roman grec s’est développé aux IIe et IIIe siècles. Pendant longtemps, Callirhoé de Chariton, les Éphésiaques de Xénophon d’Éphèse, les Pastorales de Longus, Leucippé et Clitophon d’Achille Tatius et les Éthiopiques d’Héliodore ont été considérés comme des œuvres purement romanesques et fictives qui n’étaient guère susceptibles d’intéresser les historiens. Pourtant, derrière les innombrables topoi littéraires, nous pouvons déceler un arrière-plan social et religieux qui correspond au contexte de rédaction de chacun des romanciers. Le roman grec nous intéresse en tant que discours sur les realia religieux. Dans chacune de ces œuvres, les Dieux accompagnent les héros dans leurs péripéties ; invocations, offrandes, prières et fêtes religieuses sont la marque de piété assidue et quotidienne. Bien que les auteurs de romans mettent en scène le caractère traditionnel de la religion grecque, ils mettent également en lumière ses évolutions et ses particularités locales. Cette enquête vise à poser un regard sur les pratiques cultuelles des Grecs afin de mieux appréhender les dynamiques structurelles typiques de la société grecque de l’époque impérialeGreek literature is a possible source of information that may enlighten our understanding of the first centuries of the Sophiste era. Born between 100 A.D. and the beginning of the second century in the heart of Hellenic western Greek provinces of the Roman Empire, Greek literature was further developed in the second and third centuries. For a long time, Callirhoé by Chariton, the Ephésiaques by Xenophonof Ephesus, the Pastorales by Longus, Leucippé and Clitophon by Achille Tatius and Ethiopiques by Heliodore were considered as works of art purely Roman and fictional that were far from interesting historians. However, after so much liretary topoi, we can note a social and religious background that corresponds with historical context the writers lived in. Greek literature is interesting as a discource on religious realia. In all these literary works, gods accompany heroes in their adventures : callings, offering, prayers and religious celebrations that mark a daily devotion and piety. Although Greek authors put forward traditional aspects of the Greek religion, they also shed light on Greek society’s evolution and local specialities. This study aims to give a perspective on early Greek cultural practices in order to better understand the era’s typical structural dynamics
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Vargas, Miguel M. "Causes of the Jewish Diaspora Revolt in Alexandria: Regional Uprisings from the Margins of Greco-Roman Society." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2005. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849731/.
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This thesis examines the progression from relatively peaceful relations between Alexandrians and Jews under the Ptolemies to the Diaspora Revolt under the Romans. A close analysis of the literature evidences that the transition from Ptolemaic to Roman Alexandria had critical effects on Jewish status in the Diaspora. One of the most far reaching consequences of the shift from the Ptolemies to Romans was forcing the Alexandrians to participate in the struggle for imperial patronage. Alexandrian involvement introduced a new element to the ongoing conflict among Egypt’s Jews and native Egyptians. The Alexandrian citizens consciously cut back privileges the Jews previously enjoyed under the Ptolemies and sought to block the Jews from advancing within the Roman system. Soon the Jews were confronted with rhetoric slandering their civility and culture. Faced with a choice, many Jews forsook Judaism and their traditions for more upwardly mobile life. After the outbreak of the First Jewish War Jewish life took a turn for the worse. Many Jews found themselves in a system that classified them according to their heritage and ancestry, limiting advancement even for apostates. With the resulting Jewish tax (fiscus Judaicus) Jews were becoming more economically and socially marginalized.
The Alexandrian Jews were a literate society in their own right, and sought to reverse their diminishing prestige with a rhetoric of their own. This thesis analyzes Jewish writings and pagan writings about the Jews, which evidences their changing socio-political position in Greco-Roman society. Increasingly the Jews wrote with an urgent rhetoric in attempts to persuade their fellow Jews to remain loyal to Judaism and to seek their rights within the construct of the Roman system. Meanwhile, tensions between their community and the Alexandrian community grew. In less than 100 years, from 30 CE to 117 CE, the Alexandrians attacked the Jewish community on at least three occasions. Despite the advice of the most Hellenized elites, the Jews did not sit idly by, but instead sought to disrupt Alexandrian meetings, anti-Jewish theater productions, and appealed to Rome. In the year 115 CE, tensions reached a high. Facing three years of violent attacks against their community, Alexandrian Jews responded to Jewish uprisings in Cyrene and Egypt with an uprising of their own. Really a series of revolts, historians have termed these events simply “the Diaspora Revolt.”
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Powell, Joshua McKay. "THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT OF JUSTINIANIC RELIGIOUS POLICY PRIOR TO THE THREE CHAPTERS CONTROVERSY." UKnowledge, 2017. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/history_etds/48.
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The emperor Justinian's religious policy has sometimes been characterized as haphazard or incoherent. This dissertation examines religious policy in the Roman Empire from the accession of the emperor Justin to the inception of the Three Chapters controversy in the mid 540's AD. It considers the resolution of the Acacian Schism, Justinian's apparent ambivalence with regard to the Theopaschite formula, the attempt to court the anti-Chalcedonians in Constantinople in the period leading up to the Council of 536, and the relationship between the genesis of the Three Chapters and Second Origenist controversies.
Even during these seemingly disparate episodes, this dissertation argues that it is possible to account for the apparent incoherence of this period. To do so, we create an account which includes and appreciates the embeddedness of imperial policy within a social context with two key features. First, we must bear in mind the shifting interests and information available to the individual agents through and over whom the emperor hoped to project influence. Second, we must identify the shifting and hardening symbolic and social boundaries established through the interactions of these same, competing agents. These form the basis for in- and out-group categorization. The individual interests of individual people—whether Justinian, Vitalian, Dioscorus, Leontius, Eusebius, Theodore Askidas, or Pelagius—within complex networks must always be accounted for to give a complete picture. When this social context is accounted for, Justinian's approach appears as that of a rational actor, having incomplete information, with consistent policy goals, working within inconsistent constraints to achieve those goals.
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Clark, Seth A. "Know Yourself and You Will Be Known: The Gospel of Thomas and Middle Platonism." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2014. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/92.
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The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus and is primarily composed of rhetorical statements that were used to preserve the teachings of itinerant Greek philosophers. These collections were used to persuade individuals to join the philosophical schools represented, much like the early followers of the Jesus movement would use his teachings to convince others to join them as well. However, the theological background for the text is still debated because it contains esoteric and enigmatic references not fully understood by most scholars. This work argues that the theological and philosophical background for the Gospel of Thomas is the Alexandrian School of Middle Platonism. This background contains an understanding of the divine, the secret nature of the teachings in the text, and the presence of daemons in the cosmos. In short, this is my attempt at supplying the hermeneutical key to the text or at least supplying a valid ideological background on which the Jesus tradition is cast in the Gospel of Thomas.
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Vieilleville, Claire. "Aspects de la représentation de l'autre dans les romans grecs et les Métamorphoses d'Apulée." Thesis, Lyon, École normale supérieure, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015ENSL1059.
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Les romans grecs et les Métamorphoses d’Apulée – même si les modalités sont différentes pour ce dernier – sont des fictions en prose qui fonctionnent autour de topoi auxquels la figure de l’Autre n’échappe pas. Bien que le monde grec soit alors radicalement différent de ce qu’il était au Ve siècle avant J.-C., période à laquelle l’identité grecque est construite par opposition à la figure du barbare, les romanciers qui prennent la plume à partir du Ier siècle avant notre ère utilisent un certain nombre de stéréotypes hérités de l’époque classique, alors mise à l’honneur par le mouvement de la Seconde Sophistique. Il s’agit d’étudier dans le détail certains éléments de la représentation de l’Autre pour déterminer qui il est, comment il se comporte, ce qui le constitue en Autre. Puis, à partir de cette esquisse, nécessairement incomplète, d’évaluer ce que cette représentation peut induire sur l’image de l’identité grecque à l’époque impériale, par le jeu de miroir que F. Hartog a décelé dans l’œuvre d’Hérodote. Une première partie est consacrée aux rapports entre l’homme et l’animal ainsi qu’à l’image de la sauvagerie, ce qui permet d’explorer les bornes romanesques de l’humanité. La seconde partie s’attache à des éléments que l’époque classique a plus particulièrement mis en avant pour distinguer les Grecs des non-Grecs : le critère de la langue, l’art de faire la guerre et le discours politique qui est tenu sur les institutions barbares. La troisième partie étudie la place des dieux et des pratiques religieuses dans la définition de l’Autre. J’espère ainsi contribuer à la compréhension du genre romanesque et des représentations culturelles de l’empire « gréco-romain »The Greek novels and The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, even if it is in different terms for the last, are prose fictions which are based on topoi, and the figure of the Other is one of them. Although the Greek world was radically different of what it was in the fifth century BC, time during which Greek identity is contructed as opposed to the figure of the barbaros, the authors of novels, who wrote from the first century BC onward, used some stereotypes inherited from classical period, which was celebrated by the Second Sophistic movement. The aim of this thesis is to study in detail some elements of the representation of the Other to determine who it is, how he behaves, what makes him other. Then, from this sketch, necessarily incomplete, to evaluate what this representation says about the image of Greek identity in the imperial age, according to the play of the mirror detected by F. Hartog in the text of Herodotus. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the relationship between man and animal and to the image of savagery, in order to explore the novelistic limits of humanity. The second part concentrates on elements that classical period had particularly insisted on to promote the distinction between Greeks and non-Greeks : the linguistic criterion, the way to make war, and the politic discourse on the barbaric institutions. The third part study the place of the gods and of religious practices in the definition of the Other. I hope to contribute to the understanding of novel genre and of cultural representations of the « greco-roman- empire »
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Ruiz-Moiret, Diane. "Les maladies pestilentielles dans l'Italie romaine jusqu'au milieu du IIè siècle av.J.-C. d'apès les sources historiographiques." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Lyon 2, 2023. http://www.theses.fr/2023LYO20083.
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Les récits de Tite Live, Denys d'Halicarnasse, Valère-Maxime, Plutarque, Cassius Dion et Orose font mention de trente-neuf épisodes de pestilences ayant frappé Rome ou des Romains en campagne, entre la fondation légendaire de la ville et le milieu du IIe siècle av. J.-C. Le relevé de ces maladies pestilentielles, inédit en soi, témoigne de la façon dont ces fléaux, conjuguant leurs effets avec ceux des guerres, des famines et des événements climatiques, marquèrent l'histoire politique et religieuse de la Rome des premiers siècles et laissèrent, dans l'imagination collective, une trace profonde dont les récits historiographiques rendent témoignage. Si l'historicité de chacune de ces pestilences, qui, du fait de leur ancienneté, ne nous sont connues que par le biais de récits largement postérieurs aux événements, est souvent douteuse, les passages que les différents historiens consacrent à leur évocation fournissent, en revanche, de précieux renseignements sur la manière dont ces fléaux étaient compris et conçus au tournant de l'Empire. Les maladies pestilentielles s'y présentent comme des phénomènes effrayants du fait de leur violence et de l’incompréhension qu’elles suscitent, en particulier sur la question de leur origine et des modalités de leur développement, mais aussi pour ce qu’elles révèlent de l’état des relations entre les Romains et leurs dieux. Parce qu’elles éprouvent l’Vrbs collectivement, elles poussent également les historiens à s’interroger sur les facteurs qui contribuent à la bonne ou, au contraire, à la mauvaise santé d’une cité et aux moyens d’obtenir sa guérisonThe accounts of Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Valerius Maximus, Plutarch, Cassius Dio and Orosius mention thirty-nine episodes of pestilence which struck Rome or Romans on military campaigns, between the legendary founding of the city and the middle of the 2nd century BC. The record of these pestilential diseases, unprecedented in itself, shows the way in which these scourges, combining their effects with those of wars, famines and other climatic events, marked the political and religious history of early Rome and left a deep trace in the collective imagination, as witnessed by the historiographical accounts. If the historicity of each of these pestilences - which, due to their antiquity, are only known through accounts largely subsequent to the events - is often doubtful, the passages devoted by the various historians to their evocation, on the other hand, do provide valuable information on the way in which these scourges were understood and conceived at the turn of the Empire. Pestilential diseases are presented as frightening phenomena not only because of their violence and the lack of understanding of their origins and development, but also because they are indicators of the state of relations between the Romans and their gods. As they affect the Vrbs collectively, they also prompt historians to wonder about the factors that contribute to the good or, on the contrary, the bad health of a city and the ways in which it can be cured
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Vargas, Miguel M. "Causes of the Jewish Diaspora Revolt in Alexandria: Regional Uprisings from the Margins of Greco-Roman Society, 115-117 CE." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2016. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849731/.
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This thesis examines the progression from relatively peaceful relations between Alexandrians and Jews under the Ptolemies to the Diaspora Revolt under the Romans. A close analysis of the literature evidences that the transition from Ptolemaic to Roman Alexandria had critical effects on Jewish status in the Diaspora. One of the most far reaching consequences of the shift from the Ptolemies to Romans was forcing the Alexandrians to participate in the struggle for imperial patronage. Alexandrian involvement introduced a new element to the ongoing conflict among Egypt’s Jews and native Egyptians. The Alexandrian citizens consciously cut back privileges the Jews previously enjoyed under the Ptolemies and sought to block the Jews from advancing within the Roman system. Soon the Jews were confronted with rhetoric slandering their civility and culture. Faced with a choice, many Jews forsook Judaism and their traditions for more upwardly mobile life. After the outbreak of the First Jewish War Jewish life took a turn for the worse. Many Jews found themselves in a system that classified them according to their heritage and ancestry, limiting advancement even for apostates. With the resulting Jewish tax (fiscus Judaicus) Jews were becoming more economically and socially marginalized.
The Alexandrian Jews were a literate society in their own right, and sought to reverse their diminishing prestige with a rhetoric of their own. This thesis analyzes Jewish writings and pagan writings about the Jews, which evidences their changing socio-political position in Greco-Roman society. Increasingly the Jews wrote with an urgent rhetoric in attempts to persuade their fellow Jews to remain loyal to Judaism and to seek their rights within the construct of the Roman system. Meanwhile, tensions between their community and the Alexandrian community grew. In less than 100 years, from 30 CE to 117 CE, the Alexandrians attacked the Jewish community on at least three occasions. Despite the advice of the most Hellenized elites, the Jews did not sit idly by, but instead sought to disrupt Alexandrian meetings, anti-Jewish theater productions, and appealed to Rome. In the year 115 CE, tensions reached a high. Facing three years of violent attacks against their community, Alexandrian Jews responded to Jewish uprisings in Cyrene and Egypt with an uprising of their own. Really a series of revolts, historians have termed these events simply “the Diaspora Revolt.”
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Colborn, Robert Maurice. "Manilius on the nature of the Universe : a study of the natural-philosophical teaching of the Astronomica." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:481db8c5-4a3b-42ff-b301-eafc3e2f9ad8.
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The thesis has two aims. The first is to show that a more charitable approach to Manilius, such as Lucretian scholarship has exhibited in recent decades, yields a wealth of exciting discoveries that earlier scholarship has not thought to look for. The thesis' contributions to this project centre on three aspects of the poem: (I) the sophistication of its didactic techniques, which draw and build on various predecessors in the tradition of didactic poetry; (II) its cosmological, physical and theological basis, which has no exact parallel elsewhere in either astrology or natural philosophy, and despite clear debts to various traditions, is demonstrably the invention of our poet; (III) the extent to which rationales and physical bases are offered for points of astrological theory – something unparalleled in other astrological texts until Ptolemy. The second, related aim of the thesis is to offer a more satisfying interpretation of the poem as a whole than those that have hitherto been put forward. Again the cue comes from Lucretius: though the DRN is at first sight primarily an exposition of Epicurean physics, it becomes clear that its principal concern is ethical, steering its reader away from superstition, the fear of death and other damaging thought-patterns. Likewise, the Astronomica makes the best sense when its principal message is taken to be not the set of astrological statements that make up its bulk, but the poem’s peculiar world- view, for which those statements serve as an evidential basis. It is, on this reading, just as much a poem ‘on the nature of the universe', which provides the title of my thesis. At the same time, however, it finds new truth in the conventional assumption that Manilius is first and foremost an advocate of astrology: it reveals his efforts to defend astrology at all costs, uncovers strategies for making the reader more amenable to further astrological study and practice, and contends that someone with Manilius' set of beliefs must first have been a devotee of astrology before embracing a natural- philosophical perspective such as his. The thesis is divided into prolegomena and commentaries, which pursue the aims presented above in two different but complementary ways. The prolegomena comprise five chapters, outlined below: Chapter 1 presents a comprehensive survey of the evidence for the cosmology, physics and theology of the Astronomica, and discovers that a coherent and carefully thought-out world-view underlies the poem. It suggests that this Stoicising world- view is drawn exclusively from a few philosophical works of Cicero, but is nonetheless the product of careful synthesis. Chapter 2 explores the relationship between this world-view and earlier Academic criticism of astrology and concludes that the former has been developed as a direct response to these criticisms, specifically as set out in Cicero’s De divinatione. Chapter 3 examines the later impact of Manilius’ astrological world-view, as far as it can be detected, assessing the evidence for the early reception of his poem and its role in the history of philosophical astrology. The overwhelming impression is that the work was received as a serious contribution to debate over the physical and theological underpinnings of astrology; its world-view was absorbed into the mainstream of astrological theory and directly targeted in the next wave of Academic criticism of astrology. Chapter 4 looks at the more subtle strategies of persuasion that are at work in the Astronomica. It observes, first, a number of structural devices and word- patternings that set up the poem as a model of the universe it describes. This first part of the chapter concludes by asking what didactic and/or philosophical purpose such modelling could serve. The second part examines how, by a gradual process of habituation-through-metaphor, the reader is made familiar with the conventional astrological way of thinking about the world, which might otherwise have struck him as a baffling mass of contradictions. The third part looks at the use of certain rhetorical figures, particularly paradox, to re-emphasise important physical claims and assist the process of habituation. Chapter 5 takes on the task of making sense of the Astronomica as a whole, seeking out an underlying rationale behind the choice and ordering of material, accounting as well as is possible for its apparently premature end, and asking why, if it is a serious piece of natural-philosophical teaching, it so often appears to be self- undermining. A short epilogue asks what path can have led Manilius to embark on such a work as the Astronomica. It offers a sketch of the author as an adherent (but not a practitioner) of astrology, who had developed a philosophical system first as scaffolding for an art under threat, but had then come to see more importance in that philosophical underpinning than in the activities of prediction. The lemmatised commentaries that follow cover several passages from the first book of the Astronomica. As crucial as the remaining four books are to his natural-philosophical teaching, it is in this part of the poem that Manilius concentrates the direct expositions of his world-view. Like the chapters, the commentaries' two concerns are the nature and the exposition of the work's world-view. Each of the commentaries has its own focus, but all make full use of the format to tease out the poet's teaching strategies and watch his techniques operate 'in real time' over protracted stretches of text. Finally, an appendix presents the case for the Astronomica as the earliest evidence for the use of plane-image star maps. At two points in his tour of the night sky Manilius describes the positions of constellations in a way that suggests that he is consulting a stereographic projection of each hemisphere, and that he is assuming his reader has one to hand, too. This observation casts valuable new light on the development of celestial cartography.
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Dirven, Lucinda. "The Palmyrenes in Dura-Europos : a study of religious interaction in Roman Syria /." Leiden : [s.n.], 1999. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb371882041.
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Sarefield, Daniel Christopher. "Burning knowledge : studies of bookburning in ancient Rome /." Download pdf, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1092663236.
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Driediger-Murphy, Lindsay G. "Human will and divine will in Roman divination." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:082d50ff-1838-4459-b66d-22e5d56d5f01.
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This thesis examines the relationship between human will and divine will as mediated through state divination in the Roman Middle and Late Republic. The nature of ancient evidence for incidents involving state divination, and for divinatory ‘rules’, is scrutinized: the historicity of many divinatory incidents recorded in Roman tradition is defended, and the existence of a body of basic divinatory ‘rules’ posited. Current models of the relationship between human and divine will in Roman divination are examined; the thesis challenges the ‘alignment’ model wherein the outcomes of state divination are assumed routinely to have aligned with the will of their recipients. Cases where divinatory outcomes do not appear to have aligned with recipients’ will are identified in Cicero, Livy, and Cassius Dio. The modern view that state divinatory techniques (auspication, haruspicy in sacrifice, and prodigy-interpretation) routinely generated desired results is called into question. The thesis then re-evaluates the canon of ancient ‘rule-statements’ generally cited as evidence for augural ‘principles’ that the report of a sign was considered as valid as an actual sign, and that it was acceptable for individuals to fabricate or to reject signs at will. Instead, it is suggested that a real sign was preferable to a reported one, and that the validity of an oblative sign depended on the individual’s awareness of it. Finally, the thesis proposes an alternative to the currently-accepted understanding of the auspicial procedure ‘servare de caelo’, arguing that even this procedure need not be seen as invariably generating signs in alignment with human will and as countenancing sign-falsification. These conclusions are held to encourage a re-consideration of the modern understanding of the nature of Roman state divination and of Roman religion.
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Beck, Noémie. "Goddesses in Celtic Religion : cult and mythology : a comparative study of ancient Ireland, Britain and Gaul." Thesis, Lyon 2, 2009. http://www.theses.fr/2009LYO20084.
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This work consists of a comparative study of the female deities venerated by the Celts of Gaul, Ancient Britain and Ancient Ireland from the 8th c. BC to around 400 AD. The Celts had the peculiarity of transmitting their culture, religious beliefs and myths exclusively by oral means, from one generation to another. The available data relating to Celtic goddesses are thus all indirect and of a different nature and period according to the country concerned. They fall into three categories: contemporary Classical texts, which mainly pertain to Gaul and are very rare; the vernacular literature of early medieval Ireland, which was written down by Christian monks from the 7th c. AD; and archaeology from Gaul and Britain, which is very fragmentary and consists of places of devotion, dating from pre-Roman, Gallo-Roman and Romano-British times, votive epigraphy and iconography, dating from after the Roman conquest. Which goddesses did the Celts believe in? Did the Celts from Ireland, Britain and Gaul venerate similar goddesses? What were their nature and functions? How were they worshipped and by whom? Were they hierarchically organized within a pantheon? This thesis thus attempts, by gathering, comparing and analysing the various linguistic, literary, epigraphic and iconographical data from Gaul, Ancient Britain and Ireland, to establish connections and similarities, and thereby reconstruct a common pattern of Celtic beliefs as they relate to female deities. This research consists of five chapters: the mother-goddesses (Matres and Matronae); the goddesses purveying fertility and embodying the land and the natural elements (animals, trees, forests and mountains); the territorial- and war-goddesses; the river-goddesses (rivers, fountains and hot springs); and the goddesses personifying ritual intoxicationCe travail consiste en une étude comparée des divinités féminines vénérées par les Celtes de l’Irlande ancienne, de la Grande-Bretagne et de la Gaule du 8ème siècle avant J.-C. à environ 400 après J.-C. Les Celtes avaient la particularité de transmettre leur culture, croyances et mythes par voie orale, de génération en génération. Les sources qui nous permettent d’étudier les divinités et croyances des Celtes sont donc toutes indirectes et de nature, d’origine et de période différentes. Elles se regroupent autour de trois catégories : les textes classiques contemporains, qui ne concernent que la Gaule et sont très peu nombreux ; la littérature vernaculaire de l’Irlande haut-médiévale, qui fut mise par écrit à partir du 7ème siècle après J.-C. par des moines chrétiens ; et l’archéologie gauloise et britannique, qui est très fragmentaire et étudie les lieux de cultes préromains, gallo-romains et romano-britanniques, l’épigraphie votive et l’iconographie, datant d’après l’invasion romaine. Quelles déesses les Celtes honoraient-ils ? Les Celtes d’Irlande, de Grande-Bretagne et de Gaule vénéraient-ils des déesses similaires ? Quelles étaient la nature et les fonctions de ces divinités ? Comment étaient-elles vénérées et par qui ? S’organisaient-elles hiérarchiquement dans un panthéon ? L’analyse et la comparaison des données linguistiques, littéraires, épigraphiques et iconographiques de l’Irlande, de la Grande-Bretagne et de la Gaule permettent d’établir des connexions et des similitudes, et de reconstruire ainsi une somme de croyances religieuses communes. Ce travail s’articule autour de cinq chapitres : les Déesses-Mères (Matres et Matronae) ; les déesses pourvoyeuses de richesses, personnifiant la terre et les éléments naturels (animaux, arbres, forêts, montagnes) ; les déesses du territoire et de la guerre ; les déesses des eaux (rivières, fontaines et sources d’eau chaude) ; et les déesses incarnant l’ivresse rituelle
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Matthews, Lydia Lenore Veronica. "Roman constructions of fortuna." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:17d891da-867b-4985-8e74-5d1551fb3352.
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This thesis investigates the Roman idea of fortuna, by examining its representation in different media (coins, cults, philosophy, and literature) and the thought worlds which these media inhabited. Drawing chiefly on evidence from the late Republic and the first two centuries of the Empire, I examine the interactions between the meanings of fortuna and the contexts in which they occur, showing how fortuna was used to construct understandings of broader social processes. Chapter 1 charts how various groups and individuals appropriated the religious character of fortuna into discourses of power to promote their interests, from the first archaic cults through to Imperial fortunae. By propitiating fortuna, the founders and worshippers of these cults attempted to ‘tame’ fortuna by representing themselves or the groups to which they belonged as particularly favoured by this deity. Chapter 2 examines how literary authors used fortuna to talk about ideas of social status, luck, chance, and fate. How these authors chose to describe fortuna, or which powers they chose to ascribe to her, were choices frequently determined by the text’s relationship to the structures of Roman power. Chapter 3 examines the iconography of fortuna on Imperial coins, for which I used a statistical methodology to quantify her numismatic representation. This sets our understanding of the interconnections between numismatic iconography and cultural and political history on a firmer basis and allows us to analyse more precisely how fortuna was imagined in imperial ideology. I look at the periods in which fortuna was most often deployed and when her iconography and legends underwent the greatest changes, discussing the political and cultural contexts that motivated these uses. Chapter 4 addresses philosophical conceptions of fortuna. I look at what was peculiarly Roman about how Roman Stoics and Epicureans figured fortuna in their physics and ethics, focusing especially on the philosophical and cultural implications of their concern with fortuna.
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Lesgourgues, Manfred. "Construire la parole des dieux : les rites mantiques et leurs agents dans les grands sanctuaires oraculaires du monde grec aux époques hellénistique et romaine." Thesis, Paris 10, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PA100110.
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La pratique de la divination en Grèce ancienne est un phénomène bien connu du grand public, qui l’associe au personnage emblématique de la Pythie de Delphes. Inspirée par Apollon, cette prophétesse délivrait ses oracles en répondant aux questions que lui posaient les fidèles et l’on trouve dans de nombreux textes anciens le déroulement des consultations du dieu résumé sous la forme de deux affirmations complémentaires : « le fidèle a demandé » et « le dieu a répondu ». Pourtant, on ne saurait réduire la pratique divinatoire qui prenait place dans les sanctuaires oraculaires à un tête-à-tête entre deux personnes. Loin de se limiter à un agent inspiré, le personnel sacerdotal des sanctuaires oraculaires était nombreux et se trouvait mobilisé dans des rites complexes pour permettre de mettre en communication le monde des hommes avec celui des dieux. C’est à la diversité de ces agents et à la manière dont leurs interactions permettait qu’advienne la parole divine qu’est consacré ce travail. Dans une première partie, sont étudiés les agents qui participaient aux rites mantiques des sept sanctuaires oraculaires les mieux attestés du monde grec aux époques hellénistique et romaine : celui de Zeus à Dodone, d’Apollon à Didymes, Claros et Delphes, celui de Trophonios à Lébadée, d’Amphiaraos à Oropos et de Glykon à Abonoteichos. Chaque sanctuaire est l’objet d’un chapitre dans lequel sont considérés, un à un, tous les agents, humains ou non, qui prenaient part au rituel afin de reconstituer les rites d’interrogation du dieu dans leur spécificité. Dans un second temps, cette pratique est pensée de manière transversale comme une pratique institutionnelle qui mobilisait des acteurs distincts à trois niveaux différents : celui de la cérémonie, du rituel et de l’échange verbalDivination in ancient Greece is a well-known phenomenon, often associated with the emblematic character of the delphic Pythia. Inspired by Apollo, this prophetess delivered her oracles by answering the questions asked to her, and in many ancient texts the oracular consultations are summarized in the form of two complementary statements: "a man asked" and "The god has answered". However, the practices that took place in the oracular sanctuaries can’t be reduced to a tête-à-tête. Far from being limited to an inspired agent, the priestly staff of the oracular sanctuaries was numerous and took part in complex rites to enable the world of men to be put in communication with the gods. This work studies the diversity of these agents and the way in which their interactions allowed the divine word to come out. In the first part, we study the agents who participated in the rites of the seven oracular sanctuaries best attested in the Greek world in the Hellenistic and Roman times: the shrine of Zeus in Dodona, Apollo in Didyma, Claros and Delphi, Trophonios in Lebadeia, Amphiaraos in Oropos and Glykon in Abonoteichos. Each sanctuary is the subject of a chapter in which all the agents, human or not, who took part in the ritual are taken into consideration, in order to reconstitute the rites of questioning the god in their specificity. In a second part, this practice is thought more broadly as an institutional process who associated distinct actors at three different levels: the ceremony, the rite and the verbal exchange
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Chezum, Tiffany. "On the endurance of indigenous religious culture in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt : evidence of material culture." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d6bee2aa-49a5-42db-9617-394ea1f73cf5.
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The aim of this thesis is to examine changes in the status of traditional Egyptian religious culture during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, from 331 BCE to 313 CE. Four distinct categories of material culture are examined: monumental construction of temples and civic buildings, traditional hard-stone sculpture, Alexandrian tombs, and Roman coins. These bodies of evidence were chosen because each offers a unique perspective, reflecting respectively the personal inclinations and official attitudes of both the culturally Hellenic and indigenous elites, which have not previously been studied in this context. Examined together for the first time, these categories reveal commonalities that show clearly the progression of the status of indigenous religious culture. From this, it is argued that, despite being economically disadvantaged by the Roman administration, the high status of this culture persisted in Egyptian society under both the Ptolemies and the Romans. Patterns of Egyptian temple and classical civic building show that Egypt's indigenous elite controlled the resources allocated for temple construction under the Ptolemies, but that the Romans gradually transferred this land into the management of the culturally Hellenic elite. This resulted in a decrease in Egyptian temple building after the first century CE and a corresponding increase in classical construction from then on. The production of hard-stone statues is shown for the first time to reveal that the indigenous elite had the resources and cultural confidence to continue and develop their traditions under the Ptolemies, while the sharp decrease at the start of the Roman period reflects their diminution in autonomy and prosperity under Roman rule. New analysis of traditional elements and motifs in the tombs of Alexandrian elites shows that this group respected and adopted indigenous religious customs and beliefs, with a higher incidence of indigenous imagery in the Roman period compared with the Ptolemaic period. In a similar way, well-informed Egyptian religious iconography rendered in a classical style on Alexandrian coins demonstrates the respect of the Roman authorities for Egyptian religious cults and institutions at an official level. In sum, it is argued that indigenous religious culture largely maintained its privileged economic and social status throughout the Ptolemaic period, despite political upheavals. Under Roman rule, the individuals and institutions representing Egyptian religious culture were disadvantaged economically; however, its social importance and standing were preserved and it continued to enjoy respect.
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Levine, Adam. "The image of Christ in Late Antiquity : a case study in religious interaction." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bf630377-9f51-4e53-bb6f-d60d750745d3.
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This dissertation focuses on images of Christ that date from the first half of Late Antiquity, defined as the three centuries between AD 200 and 500. The cultural dynamics of this period left a distinct impression on Christian art, and this dissertation traces that impact. Unlike other studies that attempt to resolve ambiguity within the corpus of Christ images, the argument here maintains that ambiguity was a key component in the creation and subsequent interpretation of the Late Antique Christian iconography. The dissertation proceeds in three parts, each comprising two chapters. In the first section, the history and historiography of the image of Christ is explored, and a methodology capable of accommodating the diverse meanings assigned to the Christ’s discrepant and ambiguous iconographies is developed. In order to better understand the socio-religious environment in which the first images of Christ were produced and interpreted, the second section of the dissertation moves away from material culture and towards method and theory. The notion that interpretation is a group level phenomenon is critiqued, and a model explaining how individuals in Late Antiquity could have made sense of ambiguous images of Christ is advanced. The final section turns back to the material culture and applies the framework developed in the second section to two artworks: (1) the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus and (2) the floor mosaic from the Hinton St. Mary Roman Villa now in the British Museum. By complementing the standard analyses of Christian art with interpretations grounded in the diverse interactions viewers had with artworks, new perspectives will emerge that provide a fuller picture of Late Antique Christianity and the iconography of its godhead alike.
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Papanicolaou, Vassilaki. "Croyances religieuses et destinées individuelles dans le roman historique traitant de l'Antiquité : (XIXe & XXe siècles)." Phd thesis, Université Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux III, 2013. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00957443.
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Ce projet de thèse, choisi en vue de l'obtention du doctorat des littératures française, francophones et comparée, consiste en une démarche littéraire comparatiste, axée sur dix romans rattachés, en théorie, au genre historique, et traitant tous de l'Antiquité. Le corpus des œuvres, établi sur une période recouvrant les XIXe et XXe siècles, comprend quatre romans français : Les Martyrs de Chateaubriand (1809), Le Roman de la momie de Théophile Gautier (1858), Salammbô de Gustave Flaubert (1862), Mémoires d'Hadrien de Marguerite Yourcenar (1951) ; et six romans étrangers : The Last Days of Pompeii d'Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton (1834), Quo vadis ? de Henryk Sienkiewicz (1895), Siddhartha. Eine Indische Dichtung de Hermann Hesse (1922), Der Tod des Vergil de Hermann Broch (1945), Aztec de Gary Jennings (1980) et Creation de Gore Vidal (1981). Cet échantillonnage représentatif du genre archéo-fictif tient compte principalement de la notoriété des romans historiques, de leur diversité géographique et culturelle, et de leur adhérence au sujet de thèse. En effet, chaque roman s'apparente à une tentative remarquable de reconstitution " archéologico-littéraire " d'une civilisation antique anéantie par l'érosion du temps : l'Egypte ancienne, Carthage, Rome, Pompéi, la Grèce, la Perse, l'Inde, le Cathay (la Chine antique) et l'empire aztèque. " Les destinées et les croyances religieuses " constituent le sujet unificateur qui relie ces romans à leur contexte littéraire. Le problème générique du roman historique ; le substrat religieux dans l'anastylose archéofictive ; la transfiguration religieuse des lieux et du langage dessinent les principales orientations littéraires de la thèse.
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Provost, Marion. "Les mutations de l'architecture religieuse romane dans les anciens diocèses de Bordeaux et de Bazas (XIème et début XIIème siècles)." Thesis, Bordeaux 3, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014BOR30066/document.
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Cette thèse tend à mettre en lumière l'émergence de l'architecture romane et de ses formes, dès le XIe siècle, ainsi que les mutations qui sont intervenues au tournant du siècle suivant, dans les anciens diocèses de Bordeaux et de Bazas. Ces recherches s'inscrivent dans le cadre d'un programme plus vaste, qui englobe la partie méridionale de l'ancienne Aquitaine. Il s'agit de mettre en exergue les transformations ayant eu lieu lors de cette période charnière, à savoir le passage de formes parfois dites « archaïques » à celles qui témoignent d'un art roman épanoui, en essayant de comprendre les choix des bâtisseurs de ce temps, ainsi que les influences ayant présidé à leurs réalisations. Cette approche considère à la fois une série d'édifices modestes qui ont permis de réaliser un corpus de référence, dans lequel s'inscrivent aussi les monuments bordelais de plus grande importance, tels que les églises Saint-Seurin et Sainte-Croix ou la cathédrale Saint-André. Nous tentons de porter un regard nouveau sur les édifices inventoriés dans la région, en nous intéressant non seulement au style mais aussi aux techniques, afin d'en renouveler l'approche. A cet effet, les matériaux et leur mise en œuvre ont été pris en considération et quelques méthodes propres à l’archéologie du bâti ont été employées afin d’apporter des éléments supplémentaires à l’analyse. Plusieurs études régionales ont fait l'objet de recherches aux finalités similaires ces dernières années et nous nous inscrivons pleinement dans cette démarche. Nous espérons ainsi développer notre connaissance de la production architecturale romane en Gironde et contribuer à une vision d'ensemble des manifestations de la création au sein de la partie méridionale de l'ancienne AquitaineThis thesis aims to highlight the emergence of romanesque architecture in its various forms. It started in the XIth century, as well as the transformations which occurred during the beginning of the XIIth century, in the former dioceses of Bordeaux and Bazas. Our work is part of a larger research program that includes the southern part of the former Aquitaine area. It consists in highlighting the changes that happened during this pivotal period, that is to say the transition from the so-called “archaic” architectural forms to those that exemplify romanesque art in all its glory. We will try to understand the choices made by the builders at the time and the influences that guided these choices. Our approach will consider a set of modest buildings which will allow us to form a reference corpus, but also some of Bordeaux’s greatest monuments like the churches of Saint-Seurin and Sainte-Croix, and obviously the cathedral of Saint-André. We will try to take a fresh look on the buildings listed, by taking into consideration not only the style but also the building techniques employed, in order to renew the approach, thanks to an analysis grid of buildings. For this purpose, materials have been taken into consideration. Several regional studies have been the subject of similar research in the last few years, and we are fully involved in this approach. We hope, therefore, to improve our knowledge of romanesque architecture in Gironde, and to contribute to an overview of this type of construction in the southern part of the former Aquitaine area
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Rigolio, Alberto. "Beyond schools and monasteries : literate education in Late Roman Syria (350-450 AD)." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:85ff7460-1425-418e-8718-652473a371e6.
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The subject of the present work is the provision of higher literate education in late Roman Syria (c. 350 - c. 450). The difference that Christianity made to literate education has always been in danger of being explained with the introduction and the development of a new kind of instruction provided in monasteries. A rigid dichotomy between secular schools and Christian monasteries, however, finds limited validation in our sources for literate education. While early Christian literature often presented monasteries as providers of education, documentary evidence offers a more blurred picture. On the one hand, studentsʼ papyri show the penetration of Christianity into schools, and, on the other, secular instructional texts have been found in the excavations of early monasteries in Egypt. This thesis presents a neglected corpus of Christian instructional texts that call into question an oppositional understanding of scholastic and monastic education in the Syrian region during late Antiquity. The corpus consists of the Syriac translations of six literary pieces by (or attributed to) Plutarch, Lucian, and Themistius that bring together features of rhetorical education with an interest in Christian asceticism (ch. 2). While the contents and the transmission of the Syriac translations reveal the link to Christianity and Christian ascetic practice (ch. 3), the textual form and the choice of the texts unearths the underlying connection to traditional literate education (ch. 4). These documents, which will be put in relation to instructional literature composed in Greek, Latin, and Syriac in the same period, challenge the existence of a neat line dividing scholastic and monastic education in the Syrian region during late Antiquity. A fresh analysis that is not constrained by a preconceived model of monastic instruction better accounts for the involvement of early Christian leaders in higher education and prompts a new investigation of their conduct on the social scene. Their agency now appears much closer to that of their non-Christian counterparts, sophists in primis, and raises the broader question of the extent to which they owed their considerable success to the implementation of strategies ultimately derived from the world of professional paideia.
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Defontaine, Patrick. "Recherches sur les prieurés réguliers, monastiques et canoniaux des anciens diocèses de Chalon et Mâcon : (Xe - XIVe siècles)." Phd thesis, Université de Bourgogne, 2013. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01063325.
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L'étude présentée est le résultat d'un inventaire des établissements prieuraux présents dans les anciens diocèses de Chalon et Mâcon, étroitement dépendants de la métropole de Lyon. Cet ensemble territorial correspond à l'axe de l'ancien royaume de Bourgogne.Sur les 183 prieurés retenus, il n'y en a que 69 relevant de Cluny, tous les autres appartenant à d'autres familles monastiques ou canoniales de l'ordre de Saint Augustin. La majorité de ces prieurés est l'objet d'une primo-occurrence dans les sources à la jonction des IXe Xe siècles. Les données récoltées ont permis d'établir une carte d'implantation en format poster annexée à la thèse, et un répertoire des sources qui sont en majorité manuscrites en latin. Les prieurés ont construit 200 églises ou chapelles. Les unes étaient réservées à l'usage exclusif des moines, les autres avaient une fonction mixte partagée avec les paroisses. L'étude sur le terrain a porté sur les aspects architecturaux extérieurs et intérieurs, les décors sculptés des chapiteaux et bas-reliefs ou tympans, ainsi que les fresques les plus significatives des 99 édifices restés debout. La vie interne des prieurés est rythmée par la prière régulière des heures canoniales. Il a eté possible de comparer plusieurs manuscrits liturgiques, dont le bréviaire de Saint-Victor-sur-Rhins, aux enluminures célèbres. L'origine sociale des moines, moniales et chanoines est majoritairement issue des familles féodales environnantes qui représentent également les parents à l'origine des plus nombreuses et riches donations. On a également trouvé l'intervention de milieux bourgeois, d'agriculteurs aisés et également quelques serfs. Le respect des règles et coutumes officielles s'associe à un vœu de stabilité qui interdit le passage des moines et chanoines d'une dépendance abbatiale à une autre. On a la preuve d'une coopération de ces clercs réguliers avec les prêtres séculiers dans la cura animarum des fidèles et dans l'encadrement des pèlerinages locaux nombreux et bien identifiés dans les bienfaits attendus par les pratiquants. Les prieurés sont souvent entourés par des enceintes et fortifications ou directement installés dans des châteaux que les moines construisent ou achètent. Ces constructions conçues à l'origine à titre de protection vis-à-vis des féodaux accapareurs transforment les prieurs en seigneurs ecclésiastiques peu différents des laïcs sur le plan juridique. Ils pratiquent rarement des affranchissements, mais exercent leurs droits, semble-t-il, avec plus de souplesse. Les moines et chanoines n'ont pas pratiqué de défrichement, car pour l'essentiel, celui-ci avait été réalisé en période gallo- romaine. Ils sont à l'origine d'aménagements ruraux par la création de chemins, ponts, canaux pour moulins et pêcheries.Tout en favorisant la culture de la vigne, ils ont gardé un équilibre avec la céréaliculture, l'élevage et l'exploitation des forêts. Des documents précis permettent de relever des écarts de conduite par rapport aux règles monastiques et canoniales. Il s'agit essentiellement de l'appât du gain, de vols, d'incontinence et concubinage, de non récitation des heures canoniales, de voies de fait envers des confrères ou des supérieurs. Ces fautes sont relativement rares, comparativement à cellesconnues dans d'autres diocèses. Le recensement de l'effectif global des moines et des chanoines donne un nombre évolutif total variant entre 580 et 720 personnes. Une tendance à la strate inférieure est surtout liée aux conséquences de la peste noire et de la guerre de cent ans au XIVe siècle. Ce siècle est également celui de la papauté d'Avignon puis du grand schisme d'occident. Cette période est marquée par le désordre lié à la nomination de prieurs attachés au pontife avignonnais, mais plus soucieux de percevoir les revenus des prieurés que d'en assurer l'entretien et la direction spirituelle.
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Post, Kaeleigh A. "No Greater Love Than This: Violence, Nonviolence, and the Atonement." Trinity Lutheran Seminary / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=trin1440692149.
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Demaille, Julien. "Une société mixte dans un cadre colonial : l'exemple de la colonie romaine de Dion (Piérie, Macédoine) du Ier siècle a.C. au IIIe siècle p.C." Thesis, Besançon, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013BESA1009.
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Fondée sur les ordres de Jules César peu de temps avant les Ides de Mars, la colonie de Dion (Piérie, Macédoine) fait partie d’un vaste programme de colonisation qui a touché tout l’empire à l’époque césaro-augustéenne. Les données épigraphiques, rassemblées en un corpus des inscriptions latines et grecques de Dion et de son territoire, permettent d’analyser, dans le temps et dans l’espace, les évolutions d’une société mixte, constituée des colons romains, de leurs descendants et des anciens habitants grecs. Dans cette société qui s’hellénise peu à peu, se met en place un panthéon original qui mêle les divinités romaines aux divinités grecques et orientales. Les éléments de romanité, dominant au début de la période, s’atténuent progressivement, alors que les institutions perdurent jusqu’à une date avancée du Bas-EmpireFounded on Julius Cesar's orders, shortly before the Ides of March, the Dion colony (Pieria, Macedonia) was part of a large colonization program that involved the whole empire at the Caesar and Augustan time period. The epigraphic data, in the form of a corpus collecting the Latin and Greek inscriptions from Dion and its territory, make it possible to analyse, in time and space, the evolution of a mixed society constituted of Roman settlers and their descendants, as well as native Greeks. In this progressively hellenising society, a distinctive pantheon arises, mixing Roman gods to Greek and Oriental ones. The roman elements, while dominating in the early era, will progressively fade although, the institutions will remain much later during the Late Empire
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Vivier, Fabien. "La collégiale de Saint-Julien de Brioude (Haute-Loire) : Recherches sur les liens entre l’architecture ecclésiale, son agencement iconographique, et la liturgie d’une communauté canoniale au Moyen Âge." Thesis, Clermont-Ferrand 2, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014CLF20005/document.
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Cette thèse se constitue de deux analyses statistiques qui sont mises au service de l’étude de l’identité culturelle de Saint-Julien de Brioude. Riche d’un luxuriant passé, la compagnie de Brioude entretenait un réseau de relations complexes. Les arts et la liturgie ont constitué notre support pour l’étude identitaire du chapitre. L’étude du bréviaire brivadois nous a permis de montrer l’originalité de la liturgie brivadoise. Cette liturgie n’était pas aussi clermontoise qu’on le présumait jusqu’à présent. Née d’un métissage mêlant la tradition liturgique aquitaine et vellave, la liturgie de Brioude avait été dotée de pièces de chants et d’oraisons propres. La mise en scène spatiale des reliques participait à la typicité de la collégiale que les pèlerins visitaient. À côté du tombeau de Julien, d’autres corps de saints et des reliques faisaient l’objet de dévotions. Le programme sculpté de la collégiale avait été pensé en deux temps. Souvent fidèlement liés aux sujets iconographiques utilisés dans le diocèse de Clermont, les chapiteaux de Brioude avaient été agencés en fonction des zones divisant l’espace ecclésial. Ces zones gigognes se voisinaient en faisant concurrencer l’agencement des reliques, du mobilier et des images. Le chevet faisait dialoguer l’iconographie du Saint-Sépulcre et des croisades avec le tombeau-reliquaire de Julien et les autels secondaires. Les sculptures étaient utilisées comme de véritables signalétiques s’animant autour du drame liturgique. Les images participaient à la constitution d’un espace mémoriel participant à la mémorisation liturgique de l’histoire.Cette étude offre des perspectives dépassant le cadre de la monographie. Liturgie et arts peuvent fournir des éléments de compréhension concrets à propos des échanges culturels et des aménagements de l’espace ecclésial. L’origine familiale des chanoines avait déterminée cette zone (le Brivadois) située à la confluence de l’Aquitaine auvergnate et du Velay (zone tampon avec l’Empire). Le chapitre de Brioude placé au milieu des deux, sans être central, en avait tiré les bénéfices culturels et un rayonnement propre. Le chapitre de Brioude avait ainsi pu façonner sa collégiale afin de célébrer la compagnie canoniale elle-même et le saint dont elle détenait les reliques. Attirer à elle les foules permettait à la compagnie aussi bien de faire perdurer la mémoire du saint patron que de leur procurer les ressources essentielles à leur fonctionnement. La collégiale était réalisée comme un marqueur du paysage déterminant une identité architecturale attractiveThis thesis is made up of two statistical analyses which are at the service of the study of Saint-Julien de Brioude’s cultural identity. Having had a lush history, the Brioude Company kept a complex web of relationships. Both, art and liturgy, were the frame for the identity study of this chapter. The study of the Brivadois breviary proved how unique the Brivadois liturgy was. Unlike what was thought at first, such liturgy was not as close as to that of Clermont-Ferrand. Born from the blending of liturgical tradition from Aquitaine and Velay, the Brivadois liturgy was endowed with singing pieces and specific orations. The spatial staging of the relics partook of the collegiate’s specificity the pilgrims visited. Next to Julien’s gravestone, other Saints’ bodies and relics were subjected to devotions.The collegiate’s sculpted program was designed in two times. As they were often faithfully linked with the iconographic subjects used in Clermont’s diocese, Brioude’s capitals were put together in accordance with the areas dividing the ecclesial space. These nested areas were next to one another and highlighted the differences between the relics, the furniture and the images. The chevet intertwined Saint-Sépulcre’s iconography, along with its Crusades, with Julien’s reliquary gravestone and the secondary altars. The sculptures were used as genuine signage livened up around the liturgical tragedy. The images took part in the setting up of history’s liturgical memorial space.This study gives new perspectives which go beyond the monographic frame. Liturgy and arts can provide us with tangible understanding elements regarding the cultural exchanges and the layout of the ecclesial space. The canon’s familial origin determined this area (the Brivadois) located at the confluence of Auvergne’s Aquitaine and the Velay (buffer zone with the Empire). From the Brioude chapter located between these two, without being central, it extracted the cultural benefits as well as a very own standing. The Brioude chapter thus managed to shape its collegiate so as to celebrate the canonical company itself and the Saint whom she possessed the relics from. Attracting the crowd enabled the company to carry own the patron Saint’s memory and to provide themselves with the essential resources to make it operate. The collegiate was undertaken as a landscape’s landmark determining an attractive architectural identity
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Baker, Renan. "A study of a late antique corpus of biographies (Historia Augusta)." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4722d4da-5f09-4306-837f-45c6cf69ec21.
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This thesis provides a fresh investigation of a collection of Roman imperial biographies conventionally known as the 'Historia Augusta'. The thesis supports the authenticity of the texts included in this corpus, in particular the claims they make about their dates, authorship, and scope, through philological, literary, prosopographical, and historical arguments. It shows that this corpus of texts, if the main conclusions are accepted, potentially improves our understanding of the tetrarchic-Constantinian era. It also explores the wider implications for the historiography of the fourth century; the transmission and formation of multi-author corpora in antiquity and the middle ages. It also suggests that the canon of Latin imperial biographies be widened. The thesis has two parts. Part I explores the actual state of the corpus, its textual transmission, and relation to other texts. It shows that the ancient and medieval paratexts presented the corpus as a collection of imperial biographies. The paratexts are compatible with the authorial statements in the main text. It then explores the corpus' medieval transmission, and the interest medieval scholars had in such texts. This part suggests that the corpus’s current state explains well the inconsistencies found in it. Finally, it shows that words and phrases, once thought peculiar to the corpus and the holy grail of the forgery argument, are intertextual links to earlier texts. Part II explores chronological statements and historical episodes relevant to the Diocletianic-Constantinan period. It establishes the actual dates of each author, and suggests that the confusion found in these biographies is similar to that of other contemporaries. The few apostrophes are shown to be authentic, and the historical and prosopographical passages are shown to represent, and improve our understanding of, the zeitgeist and history of the period. The final conclusion weaves the various arguments together, and emphasises the authenticity and significance of the corpus' texts. It suggests separating the composition of the texts from the disinterested formation of the corpus as a whole, as part of a new hypothesis and further lines of enquiry.
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Wax, Kevin P. "Political ideology : perspectives from the Bible." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/53004.
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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Modern society is plagued by an intense conflict of political ideologies. These conflicts in many instances reflect very serious religious overtones. Each person or group claims the right to react to socio-political issues on the basis of their own worldviews that are shaped by their cultural backgrounds, religious belief systems and political ideals. Human diversity serve to complicate matters even more and has in many instances found expression in political and religious intolerance, a fact testified to by the large-scale abuse of human rights that took place with increased intensity in the 20th century. Many Christians have failed to challenge the injustices that have resulted from these political ideologies and have instead opted to become 'apolitical' or simply hiding behind the argument that politics and religion does not mix. The author through a careful study of biblical political structures in the ancient Near East attempts to demonstrate the extent to which political ideologies of communities were influenced by the cultural milieu within which they existed. The feelings of ambivalence we experience in our faith are a direct result of these influences. An understanding of political ideology from a biblical perspective is essential to understand current world conflicts especially those that relate to the Middle East region. The author also argues for a reconciliation of politics and religion in the collective psyche of Christians. This would enhance a sense of sociopolitical responsibility in terms of the biblical mandate. The responsibility of government structures in terms of this mandate is also important and needs to be emphasised. The primary responsibility of any government is the welfare of its citizens and the management of public resources in an orderly, moral and efficient manner. A large percentage of government officials find it extremely difficult to face up to the challenge. The perspectives presented not only gives one insight into the historical development of biblical political worldviews. but presents us with challenges to pursue opportunities for peace and justice that would recognise and advance human dignity, human equality and human responsibility.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die moderne samelewing is oorweldig deur konflikte van politieke ideologies. Hierdie konflikte is in baie gevalle 'n weerspieëling van baie ernstige godsdienstige motiewe. Elke persoon of groep behou hom die reg voor om te reageer op socio-politiese aangeleenthede op grond van 'n eie wêreldsiening wat geskep word deur kulturele agtergronde, godsdienstige geloofsstelsels en politieke ideale. Menslike verskeidenheid maak hierdie aangeleenthede meer ingewikkeld en het in baie gevalle gelei na politieke en godsdienstige onverdraagsaamheid. Dit het verder aanleiding gegee tot die grootskaalse menseregte skendings wat plaasgevind het met groter intensiteit gedurende die 20ste eeu. Vele Christene het nie daarin geslaag om die uitdagings van ongeregtighede, wat voortspruit uit hierdie politieke ideologieë, die hoof te bied nie en het verkies om of hulself as 'apolities' te verklaar of om te argumenteer dat politiek en die godsdiens nie bymekaar hoort nie. Die skrywer, deur 'n indringende studie van bybelse politieke strukture van die ou Nabye Ooste te onderneem, poog om te demonstreer dat politiek ideologies gekleur was deur die kulturele samestelling van die gemeenskap. Gevoelens van ambivalensie wat ons ervaar in ons geloof is regstreeks as gevolg van hierdie omstandighede. Politieke ideologie vanuit 'n bybelse perspektief gee vir ons die geleentheid om huidige wêreldkonflikte beter te verstaan veral dit wat betrekking het op die Midde Ooste streek. Die skrywer stel ook voor die versoening van politiek en die godsdiens in die kollektiewe psige van Christene. As gevolg hiervan word die socio-politiese verantwoordelikheid van die Christen verhef in lyn met die bybelse mandaat. Die verantwoordelikheid van regerings strukture in terme van hierdie mandaat is ook belangrik en behoort beklemtoon word. Die primêre doel van enige regering is die welvaart van sy burgers sowel as die bestuur van sy openbare hulpbronne op 'n ordelike, sedelike en doeltreffende manier. 'n Groot aantal regeringsbeamptes vind dit moeilik om hierdie uitdaging die hoof te bied. Hierdie perspektiewe, wat hier aangebied word, gee nie net vir ons insig tot die historiese ontwikkeling van bybelse politieke wêreldsieninge nie, maar daag ons uit om geleenthede vir vrede en geregtigheid wat menslike waardigheid, menslike gelykheid en menslike verantwoordelikheid erken, na te jag.
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Schwartzman, Lauren J. "Contest and community : wonder-working in Christian popular literature from the second to the fifth centuries CE." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a3de02f7-18a9-4363-8bbf-cea5a73eb223.
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In this thesis, I hope to demonstrate that what I call the magic contest tradition, that is the episodes of competitive wonder-working that appear in a wide variety of apocryphal and non-canonical Christian texts, made an important contribution to the development of Christian thought during the second to the fifth centuries CE. This contribution was to articulate ‘the way’ to be a Christian in a world which was not isolated from the secular, and not insulated from the reality of the Roman empire. First, I demonstrate that a tradition of texts which feature magic contests exists within the broader scope of non-canonical Christian literature (looking at this literature across communities, regions and time periods). Second, I identify what the major features of the traditions are, e.g. what form the narratives take, what the form for a magic contest is, and what the principles used to build the magic contests are, and how these principles feature in the texts. The principles I identify are power, authority, ritual, and conversion, as well as their use as historical exempla. Third, I discuss what the texts did in the context of the time period, and for the communities that produced and read them: in other words, how did the this tradition work? I show that they served multiple purposes: as tests of faith, religious truth and ways to proclaim such; as constructors and markers of group identity (and the perilous task of identifying the insiders and those who should be outsiders); as calls to unity within the overarching diversity of the times and places, and a unified front for the ‘battle’ against evil. I suggest that the texts present a model for how one could decide what the ‘true faith’ was and how one could practice it in the turbulent environment that early Christians faced both before and after Constantine.
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Atkins, Carrie E. "More than a Hull: Religious Ritual and Sacred Space on Board the Ancient Ship." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-12-7485.
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Greco-Roman religion in the ancient Mediterranean permeated aspects of everyday life,
including seafaring. Besides cargo, ships transported mariners' religious beliefs from
port to port, thus disseminating religious culture. Shipboard ritual, however, remains
largely inferred from Latin and Greek texts, iconography, and isolated archaeological
finds. Several accounts record that tutelary statues were carried on board to deliver a
ship from peril. These accounts are supported by iconographic representations of deities
on the hull and a relief scene which shows the use of altars and incense in shipboard
ritual. Moreover, ritual objects, including altars, small statuary, incense burners, and
lustral basins, have been found among shipwrecks, but prior archaeological research has
been particularistic, singling out ritual objects in shipwrecks. Their presence, however,
does not necessitate shipboard ritual since these items may have been cargo.
To distinguish between personal items and cargo on board ancient shipwrecks, I analyze
such objects both objectively and subjectively: first focusing on an object to discern a
potential purpose and then again within a spatial context to define its actual purpose.
Additionally, I develop religious and social space theories for shipboard analysis,
identifying ritual at the bow and stern and concluding that the stern in particular served
as an axis mundi, a central location for divine communication. Furthermore, because of
this comprehensive approach, large ritual objects such as altars and lustral basins often
can be identified primarily as cargo. Ultimately, applying social space theory to
shipwrecks can redefine our interpretation of religious activity on board the ship, an
intermediary in the dissemination of culture.
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Lenihan, David Anthony. "The origins and early development of the notion of the just war: A study in the ideology of the later Roman Empire and early medieval Europe." 1995. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9541124.
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The just war is an ethical notion justifying, under certain circumstances, participation in war. The just-war notion has been part of Western thought from the earliest times, and persists to this day in the writings of Michael Walzer and other philosophers. This dissertation explores the middle history of the just-war idea, the post-classical and pre-modern era--from the time of Christ to the rise of the Renaissance. I examine the origins and early development of this notion starting with an ideological analysis of the New Testament and Apocryphal Gospels. The scriptures indicate a diverse, multifaceted tableau of attitudes toward war, ranging from pacifism to acceptance and admiration for the Roman military. This diversity of attitude is corroborated by the surviving funeral inscriptions and papyri of casual correspondence between Christian soldiers and their families, which show no moral compunction about military service. I have concluded that the evidence for Christian participation in the Roman military in the century before Constantine is clear and convincing. The patristic literature before Constantine is divided; while some writers espoused pacifism, others were open to the ethical possibility of military service by Christians, thus preparing the groundwork for the articulation of the just war. The history of the idea of the just war can be pictured as a circular, revolving process, from an ideological preparation for military involvement in the earliest days of Christianity and gradual involvement and ultimately full participation in the Roman military under Constantine. Ambrose and Augustine provided the foundation for this process by Christianizing the Ciceronian concept of just war. However, the history of the just war is not a perfect circle. While Leo I, Gregory I and Isidore ignored Augustine's sanction of the just war, the canon lawyers of the eleventh century revived Augustine. Thomas Aquinas, with Aristotelian thoroughness, gave this concept free and unbridled power, only to have it revert to its origins in secular international law after the Council of Constance.
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Behari, Jerusha. "Ambivalent goddesses in patriarchies : a comparative study of Hekate in ancient Greek and Roman religion, and Kali in contemporary Hinduism." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/5469.
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The objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate that the ancient Greek and Roman goddess Hekate, and the goddess Kali in contemporary Hinduism, as revealed in literature from the respective cultures, removed from each other by time and geography, are constructs of the male imagination, resulting in the reinforcing of stereotypes about the dangers of women in power, and demonstrating that women are irrational, lustful, deceitful, close to nature, and inherently lawless. This dissertation aims to show that Hekate and Kali can be re-envisioned as challenging these stereotypes, and can be re-interpreted as positive role-models for women in their respective cultures. To situate this research within a scholarly tradition, the dissertation begins with an overview of research into the supposed existence of prehistoric matriarchal cultures, where the supreme mother goddess who gave birth to the universe was apparently venerated. This is based largely on prehistoric art and interpretations of symbols with the help of secondary source material. Then this dissertation aims to trace the evolution of Hekate from her origins in Greek literature as a generous and benign, yet potent goddess to a dangerous, chthonic deity of the Roman world associated with black magic, the crossroads, demons and the restless dead. This will be done by a thorough examination of selected ancient Greek and Latin sources in chronological order. Kali’s character and function in Hinduism will be determined through an in-depth analysis of Hindu scriptures written in Sanskrit, as well as by investigating devotional hymns written to her by poets during the 18th and 19th centuries CE. These Sanskrit and Hindi sources highlight Kali as a terrible and unruly manifestation of Durga or Parvati’s wrath while also emphasising her maternal qualities. Artistic representations of Hekate and Kali will also be examined. A comparison between the two goddesses and their roles within their respective cultural and religious systems will be undertaken in order to deduce why such goddesses were deemed necessary within patriarchal cultures. Special reference will be made to the reclamation of Hekate and Kali by feminists today as religious role-models for women over traditional role-models such as Sita, and the Virgin Mary. This dissertation seeks to show that whereas goddesses have been alive and well in Hinduism for thousands of years, Classical deities are far from dead, and are at present experiencing a revival and reinterpretation so as to cater for new forms of spirituality. It seeks to examine whether goddesses who have been rebellious in their patriarchal cultural systems are stereotypic representations or whether they can actually empower and make a difference to women.Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.
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Gironi, Claudia. "The two Mauretaniae : their romanization and the imperial cult." Diss., 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16850.
Full textAbstract:
The 'Romanization' of the African provinces of Mauretania Tingitana and
Mauretania Caesariensis was in fact a two-way process of exchange between
Roman and African elements which resulted in a uniquely Romano-African
civilization. The imperial cult highlights issues common to all Romanization
processes, such as ruler-subject interaction and the role of local initiative
in bringing about change, as well as unique issues such as the impact of
politics on emperor-worship. The success of the imperial cult was hampered
by the fact that only a select few - notably the wealthy local elite -
derived direct benefit from the process, and by the fact that, because the
pre-Roman Mauretaniae had no established ruler-cults, the imperial cult
failed to assimilate with local tradition. As a result, the cult was unable
either to make a decisive impact on the Romanization of the Mauretanians, or
to achieve any real religious unity among them.History
M.A. (Ancient History)
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Bouillot, Kevin. "« Ὥσπερ τὸ θεοὺς εἶναι… » : étude des « petits » sanctuaires oraculaires en Anatolie romaine." Thèse, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1866/22650.
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Śmiejová, Michaela. "Proklínací destičky a jejich archeologický kontext v římské provincie Britannie." Master's thesis, 2016. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-346925.
Full textAbstract:
(in English): Curse tablets are interesting phenomenon in the Ancient world. The curses are usully written on the lead tablet. Totally there are about 1500 curses found, from which one third is written in latin and 309 from that amount were founf in Roman Britain. I focus on this countable group in my Diploma Thesis. Firstly I prefer the archaeological side of the artefact. The context is usually the only way to date and understand the curse tablet itself. I offer all the sites where information about them is given. We can talk also about the so called prayers for justice which are quite numerous in Britannia. They are of the same principle as curses, but they are not made for satisfied selfish ambitions. They ask gods for help. Most often they are made because of the robbery which has not been punished in the world of mortals, because the thief is not known or there are too many suspects.
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Wickkiser, Bronwen Lara 1969. "The appeal of Asklepios and the politics of healing in the Greco-Roman world." 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/12602.
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First, Grzegorz. "Bóstwa polimorficzne w późno egipskiej religii i magii : studia nad ikonografią i symboliką." Praca doktorska, 2015. https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/45131.
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PŮBALOVÁ, Ludmila. "Přístupy k smrti a k pohřbívání v různých historických epochách lidstva." Master's thesis, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-49584.
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Dissertation .. The approaches towards death and burial in different historical epochs of mankind dealing with a view of death in intellectual conceptions during the history. People have been engaged in the question of life and deaths for ages. It is one of the oldest, the hardests and the most fundamental questions which are asked. We can think of the death in two levels: a general and a personal. The comprehension of deaths was developing in history. Thesis traces, what affected and how it is possible, that the today`s subject of personal death states taboo, even if masmedia floods us with death of others. For understanding, the thesis goes throught history. From the methodological aspects it follows the time line, divides the history into ancient world, the Middle Ages and modern period, as well as on horizontal line following individually nations and their intellectual directions.
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Doerfler, Maria Edith. "Law and Order: Monastic Formation, Episcopal Authority, and Conceptions of Justice in Late Antiquity." Diss., 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10161/7119.
Full textAbstract:
Among the numerous commitments late ancient Christians throughout the Roman Empire shared with their non-Christian neighbors was a preoccupation with justice. Not only was the latter one of the celebrated characteristics of God, the New Testament had charged Christians, particularly those who served as bishops or elders, with ensuring and maintaining justice in their communities from the tradition's very origins. In the early fourth century, this aspect of episcopal responsibilities had received an unexpected boost when the Emperor Constantine not only recognized bishops' role in intra-Christian conflict resolution, but expanded their judicial capacity to include even outsiders in the so-called audientia episcopalis, the bishop's court.
Christians had, of course, never resolved the question of what constituted justice in a vacuum. Yet bishops' increasing integration into the sprawling and frequently amorphous apparatus of the Roman legal system introduced new pressures as well as new opportunities into Christian judicial discourse. Roman law could become an ally in a minister's exegetical or homiletical efforts. Yet it also came to intrude into spheres that had previously regarded themselves as set apart from Roman society, including especially monastic and clerical communities. The latter proved to be particularly permeable to different shades of legal discourse, inasmuch as they served as privileged feeders for episcopal sees. Their members were part of the Christian elites, whose judicial formation promised to bear disproportionate fruit among the laity under their actual or eventual care. This dissertation's task is the examination of the ways in which Christians in these environments throughout the Latin West at the turn of the fifth century thought and wrote about justice. I contend that no single influence proved dominant, but that three strands of judicial discourse emerge as significant throughout these sources: that of popular philosophical thought; that of biblical exegesis; and that of reasoning from Roman legal precept and practice. Late ancient Christian rhetoric consciously and selectively deployed these threads to craft visions of justice, both divine and human, that could be treated as distinctively Christian while remaining intelligible in the broader context of the Roman Empire.
Dissertation