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Journeys to Byzantium? Roman Senators Between Rome and Constantinople
Journeys to Byzantium? Roman Senators Between Rome and Constantinople Master’s Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Michael Anthony Carrozzo, B.A Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2010 Thesis Committee: Kristina Sessa, Advisor Timothy Gregory Anthony Kaldellis Copyright by Michael Anthony Carrozzo 2010 Abstract For over a thousand years, the members of the Roman senatorial aristocracy played a pivotal role in the political and social life of the Roman state. Despite being eclipsed by the power of the emperors in the first century BC, the men who made up this order continued to act as the keepers of Roman civilization for the next four hundred years, maintaining their traditions even beyond the disappearance of an emperor in the West. Despite their longevity, the members of the senatorial aristocracy faced an existential crisis following the Ostrogothic conquest of the Italian peninsula, when the forces of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I invaded their homeland to contest its ownership. Considering the role they played in the later Roman Empire, the disappearance of the Roman senatorial aristocracy following this conflict is a seminal event in the history of Italy and Western Europe, as well as Late Antiquity. Two explanations have been offered to explain the subsequent disappearance of the Roman senatorial aristocracy. The first involves a series of migrations, beginning before the Gothic War, from Italy to Constantinople, in which members of this body abandoned their homes and settled in the eastern capital. -
1 ETHNICITY and JEWISH IDENTITY in JOSEPHUS by DAVID
ETHNICITY AND JEWISH IDENTITY IN JOSEPHUS By DAVID McCLISTER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2008 1 © 2008 David McClister 2 To the memory of my father, Dorval L. McClister, who instilled in me a love of learning; to the memory of Dr. Phil Roberts, my esteemed colleague; and to my wife, Lisa, without whose support this dissertation, or much else that I do, would not have been possible. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I gladly recognize my supervisory committee chair (Dr. Konstantinos Kapparis, Associate Professor in the Classics Department at the University of Florida). I also wish to thank the other supervisory commiteee members (Dr. Jennifer Rea, Dr. Gareth Schmeling, and Dr. Gwynn Kessler as a reader from the Religious Studies Department). It is an honor to have their contributions and to work under their guidance. I also wish to thank the library staff at the University of Florida and at Florida College (especially Ashley Barlar) who did their work so well and retrieved the research materials necessary for this project. I also wish to thank my family for their patient indulgence as I have robbed them of time to give attention to the work necessary to pursue my academic interests. BWGRKL [Greek] Postscript® Type 1 and TrueTypeT font Copyright © 1994-2006 BibleWorks, LLC. All rights reserved. These Biblical Greek and Hebrew fonts are used with permission and are from BibleWorks, software for Biblical -
TRADITIONAL POETRY and the ANNALES of QUINTUS ENNIUS John Francis Fisher A
REINVENTING EPIC: TRADITIONAL POETRY AND THE ANNALES OF QUINTUS ENNIUS John Francis Fisher A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS SEPTEMBER 2006 UMI Number: 3223832 UMI Microform 3223832 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 © Copyright by John Francis Fisher, 2006. All rights reserved. ii Reinventing Epic: Traditional Poetry and the Annales of Quintus Ennius John Francis Fisher Abstract The present scholarship views the Annales of Quintus Ennius as a hybrid of the Latin Saturnian and Greek hexameter traditions. This configuration overlooks the influence of a larger and older tradition of Italic verbal art which manifests itself in documents such as the prayers preserved in Cato’s De agricultura in Latin, the Iguvine Tables in Umbrian, and documents in other Italic languages including Oscan and South Picene. These documents are marked by three salient features: alliterative doubling figures, figurae etymologicae, and a pool of traditional phraseology which may be traced back to Proto-Italic, the reconstructed ancestor of the Italic languages. A close examination of the fragments of the Annales reveals that all three of these markers of Italic verbal art are integral parts of the diction the poem. Ennius famously remarked that he possessed three hearts, one Latin, one Greek and one Oscan, which the second century writer Aulus Gellius understands as ability to speak three languages. -
Lucan's Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulf
Lucan’s Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Catherine Connors, Chair Alain Gowing Stephen Hinds Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Classics © Copyright 2014 Laura Zientek University of Washington Abstract Lucan’s Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Catherine Connors Department of Classics This dissertation is an analysis of the role of landscape and the natural world in Lucan’s Bellum Civile. I investigate digressions and excurses on mountains, rivers, and certain myths associated aetiologically with the land, and demonstrate how Stoic physics and cosmology – in particular the concepts of cosmic (dis)order, collapse, and conflagration – play a role in the way Lucan writes about the landscape in the context of a civil war poem. Building on previous analyses of the Bellum Civile that provide background on its literary context (Ahl, 1976), on Lucan’s poetic technique (Masters, 1992), and on landscape in Roman literature (Spencer, 2010), I approach Lucan’s depiction of the natural world by focusing on the mutual effect of humanity and landscape on each other. Thus, hardships posed by the land against characters like Caesar and Cato, gloomy and threatening atmospheres, and dangerous or unusual weather phenomena all have places in my study. I also explore how Lucan’s landscapes engage with the tropes of the locus amoenus or horridus (Schiesaro, 2006) and elements of the sublime (Day, 2013). -
Epic Anger, and the State of the (Roman) Soul in Virgil's First Simile1
Epic Anger, and the State of the (Roman) Soul in Virgil’s First Simile1 Kirk Freudenburg Yale University Virgil’s Aeneid begins with the goddess, Juno, both ‘still’ and ‘already’ angry: mene incepto desistere victam? ‘Am I to desist from what I’ve begun, beaten?’ Rivers of Trojan blood have been spilt, and Priam’s city has been looted and leveled. Extreme revenge has been exacted in the form of retaliatory rapes, forced enslavements, and so on. And yet somehow Juno thinks that her project of paying back the Trojans is not only not f nished, but only just begun. T e famous, translinguistic pun that issues from her f rst words (mene incepto) reminds us of Achilles’ rage, certainly, but by the Iliad’s end Achilles has gained some 1 T is paper is a heuristic ‘f rst go’ at an idea that I have been mulling over for years, on the problem of anger in ancient epic, and the soul work of Virgil’s f rst simile. Since I plan to do a larger workup of these ideas for a (distantly) forthcoming book, I will be more than happy to receive feedback on the paper’s contents and arguments. T e paper’s core ideas were tested at the annual Latin Day Colloquium held at Yale University on April 16, 2016. For helpful com- ments and criticisms, I wish to thank the day’s star and colloquium leader, Denis Feeney, as well as the event’s invited speakers, Jay Reed, Tom Biggs, and Irene Peirano. T anks also to Christina Kraus for organizing the event, and to the group of graduate respondents who were active participants throughout the day: Niek Janssen, Rachel Love, Kyle Conrau-Lewis, and Treasa Bell. -
A New Era in the Study of Global History Is Born but It Needs to Be Nurtured
[JCH 5.1-2 (2018–19)] JCH (print) ISSN 2051-9672 https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.39422 JCH (online) ISSN 2051-9680 A New Era in the Study of Global History is Born but It Needs to be Nurtured Harvey Whitehouse1 University of Oxford, UK Email: [email protected] (corresponding author) Peter Turchin2 University of Connecticut Email: [email protected] (corresponding author) Pieter François3, Patrick E. Savage4, Thomas E. Currie5, Kevin C. Feeney6, Enrico Cioni7, Rosalind Purcell8, Robert M. Ross9, Jennifer Larson10, John Baines11, Barend ter Haar12, R. Alan Covey13 Abstract: Thisa rticle is a response to Slingerland e t al. who criticize the quality of the data from Seshat: Global History Databank utilized in our Nature paper entitled “Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods throughout World History”. Their cri- tique centres around the roles played by research assistants and experts in procuring and curating data, periodization structure, and so-called “data pasting” and “data fill- ing”. We show that these criticisms are based on misunderstandings or misrepresenta- tions of the methods used by Seshat researchers. Overall, Slingerland et al.’s critique (which is crosslinked online here) does not call into question any of our main findings, but it does highlight various shortcomings of Slingerland et al.’s database project. Our collective efforts to code and quantify features of global history hold out the promise of a new era in the study of global history but only if critique can be conducted con- structively in good faith and both the benefitsa nd the pitfalls of open science fully recognized. -
Barbarians at the Gate: Herodotus, Bisotun, and a Persian Punishment in Egypt
Barbarians at the Gate: Herodotus, Bisotun, and a Persian Punishment in Egypt Keating P. J. McKeon American Journal of Philology, Volume 141, Number 3 (Whole Number 563), Fall 2020, pp. 349-380 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ajp.2020.0020 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/763624 [ Access provided at 27 Jan 2021 06:13 GMT from Harvard Library ] BARBARIANS AT THE GATE: HERODOTUS, BISOTUN, AND A PERSIAN PUNISHMENT IN EGYPT KEATING P. J. MCKEON u Abstract: This paper argues that Cambyses’ treatment of Psammenitus in Book 3 of Herodotus’ Histories constitutes the adaptation of a punishment recorded in the Old Persian text of the Bisotun inscription. By outlining a typology for the practice, the article demonstrates the primacy of a Persian source, and proposes a series of specific, programmatically significant alterations made by Herodotus in the constructi on of the punishment. The resulting episode represents a complex engagement with questions arising from the Persian invasion of Egypt both in the Histories and in the wider historical record concerning Cambyses’ legitimacy as Egyptian ruler. RECENT WOrk ON HERODOTUS has done much to elucidate his incorporation, and deliberate modification, of Near Eastern material.1 Rather than obvious processes of either direct insertion or uneasy Hel- lenization, the appearance of such material often reflects a sophisticated attempt to tailor raw sources to fit the wider context of the Histories and address the author’s recurrent concerns. The treatment of Psammenitus by Cambyses detailed in Book 3 has been studied more often for its lachrymose outcome than its punitive design.2 Closer examination reveals a particularly striking example of non-Greek practice subtly refashioned to accommodate a Greek narrative pattern. -
Latin Grammar in the Cathedral School: Fulbert of Chartres, Bonipert of Pécs, and the Way of a Lost Priscian Manuscript
Quidditas Volume 22 Article 4 2001 Latin Grammar in the Cathedral School: Fulbert of Chartres, Bonipert of Pécs, and the Way of a Lost Priscian Manuscript Elöd Nemerkényi Erasmus Institute, Notre Dame Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Renaissance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Nemerkényi, Elöd (2001) "Latin Grammar in the Cathedral School: Fulbert of Chartres, Bonipert of Pécs, and the Way of a Lost Priscian Manuscript," Quidditas: Vol. 22 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra/vol22/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quidditas by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Latin Grammar in the Cathedral School: Fulbert of Chartres, Bonipert of Pécs, and the Way of a Lost Priscian Manuscript Elöd Nemerkényi Erasmus Institute, Notre Dame HE STARTING POINT OF THE CLASSICAL tradition in medieval Hun- gary is marked by a letter written by Bishop Fulbert of Chartres in TNorthern France to Bishop Bonipert of Pécs in Southern Hun- gary.1 In this letter, dated by its editor to 1023, Fulbert assured his col- league, Bonipert that he was going to send him one of his copies of Priscian: “Our son and your faithful servant Hilduin has told us of your gestures of charity toward us and dutifully stated that you would like one of our copies of Priscian. -
Some Latin Authors from the Greek East Author(S): Joseph Geiger Source: the Classical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2 (1999), Pp. 606
Some Latin Authors from the Greek East Author(s): Joseph Geiger Source: The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2 (1999), pp. 606-617 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Classical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/639882 Accessed: 05-01-2016 14:09 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Classical Association and Cambridge University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Classical Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 147.52.9.57 on Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:09:53 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ClassicalQuarterly 49.2 606-617 (1999)Printed in GreatBritain 606 SOME LATIN AUTHORS FROM THE GREEK EAST' 1. THE PATRIA OF PRISCIAN A In a discussion of the spread of Latin in ancient Palestine it has been argued that, apart from Westerners like Jerome who settled in the province and a number of translators from Greek into Latin and from Latin into Greek, three Latin authors whose works are extant may have been, with various degrees of probability, natives of the country. These are -
The Ghosts of Monotheism: Heaven, Fortune, and Universalism in Early Chinese and Greco-Roman Historiography
The Ghosts of Monotheism: Heaven, Fortune, and Universalism in Early Chinese and Greco-Roman Historiography FILIPPO MARSILI Saint Louis University [email protected] Abstract: This essay analyzes the creation of the empires of Rome over the Medi- terranean and of the Han dynasty over the Central Plains between the third and the second centuries BCE. It focuses on the historiographical oeuvres of Polybius and Sima Qian, as the two men tried to make sense of the unification of the world as they knew it. The essay does away with the subsequent methodological and conceptual biases introduced by interpreters who approached the material from the vantage point of Abrahamic religions, according to which transcendent per- sonal entities could favor the foundation of unitary political and moral systems. By considering the impact of the different contexts and of the two authors’ sub- jective experiences, the essay tries to ascertain the extent to which Polybius and Sima Qian tended to associate unified rule with the triumph of universal values and the establishment of superior, divine justice. All profound changes in consciousness, by their very nature, bring with them characteristic amnesias. Out of such oblivions, in specific historical circumstances, spring narratives.—Benedict Anderson1 The nation as the subject of History is never able to completely bridge the aporia between the past and the present.—Prasenjit Duara2 Any structure is the ingenuous re-proposition of a hidden god; any systemic approach might actually constitute a crypto-theology.—Benedetto Croce3 Introduction: Monotheism, Systemic Unities, and Ethnocentrism Scholars who engage in comparisons are often wary of the ethnocentric biases that lurk behind their endeavors. -
Hannibal's Gaze and Ekphrasis in the Punica Of
VISIONS OF GRANDEUR: HANNIBAL’S GAZE AND EKPHRASIS IN THE PUNICA OF SILIUS ITALICUS by SEAN MATHIS (Under the Direction of Mario Erasmo) ABSTRACT This is a thesis about Silius Italicus, a Latin poet, who wrote his epic poem, the Punica, during the reign of the emperor Domitian. Silius wrote his epic poem in the period after Vergil’s Aeneid, and, like his literary contemporaries, was forced to contend with his poetic forebears in order to insert his own poem into the Latin epic tradition. Thus, the poet looks back to Vergil, his principal poetic predecessor, through his use of allusion, metaphor, and other poetic imagery. The poem is also historical in nature, covering the period leading up to the Second Punic War, and Silius necessarily looks back to his historical predecessors, notably the Latin historian Livy. Silius creates, within the Punica, an interesting allusive technique that allows for a literary dialogue between the historical and epic genres, thus guaranteeing his position as a successor to both Vergil and Livy. INDEX WORDS: Silius Italicus, Punica, Second Punic War, Ekphrasis, Silver Age Latin, Silver Epic, Imperial Epic, Hannibal, Saguntum, Allusion, Successors of Vergil VISIONS OF GRANDEUR: HANNIBAL’S GAZE AND EKPHRASIS IN THE PUNICA OF SILIUS ITALICUS by SEAN MATHIS A.B., Baylor University, 2002 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Sean Mathis All Rights Reserved VISIONS OF GRANDEUR: HANNIBAL’S GAZE AND EKPHRASIS IN THE PUNICA OF SILIUS ITALICUS by SEAN MATHIS Major Professor: Mario Erasmo Committee: Robert Curtis Keith Dix Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2004 DEDICATION This being my first publication to have the honor of being bound in a hard cover, I dedicate it to you, my loving wife, Amanda. -
Response to Reviewers on How the Gospels Became History
M. David Litwa. SBL Draft Paper. December 2020 M. David Litwa, Australian Catholic University, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry How the Gospels Became History: Reflections on a Recent Monograph (20 min) Tag(s): History of Christianity (History & Culture), New Testament (Ideology & Theology), Myth (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre) My work How the Gospels Became History: Jesus and Mediterranean Myths was published by Yale University Press in June of 2019. In this brief paper, I address its reception in recent academic reviews, responding in particular to criticisms. These days—when there is such a flood of new books to read—it is an honor to receive a review at all, and I am deeply grateful for those who took the time to write them. First, a brief summary of my thesis. In the book, I argue that the canonical gospels contain a host of mythoi, a term by which ancient Greeks understood fantastical tales. Ancient historians included fantastical tales in their writings on a regular basis, but they did their best to give them the air of historicality through a set of historiographical tropes. Among these I include (1) objectification (describing individually experienced phenomena as if they were fully knowable and observable by others); (2) synchrony (noting well- known persons or occurrences); (3) syntopy (mentioning known places on the map); (4) straightforward, matter-of-fact presentation (which often frames the description of fantastical or anomalous events); (5) vivid presentation (which includes the addition of random and circumstantial details); the rhetoric of accuracy (akribeia), which includes (6) the introduction of literary eyewitnesses (such as the Beloved Disciple) and (7) staged skepticism among the eyewitnesses (as in Matt.