Theses and Dissertations from UMD

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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.History, Ancient

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Costume as an Indicator of Status in Late Antique Mosaic Pavements of the Eastern Mediterranean
    (2010) Zielinski, Risa Storlie; Holum, Kenneth G; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Romans used everyday costume to indicate status. The evidence analyzed here is mosaic pavements from Roman Syria and Palestine portraying a range of individuals from different social levels. Chapter 1 discusses costume as a means of communication and symbolic behavior, how the Romans used costume to indicate status, and why mosaics are useful in this analysis. Chapters 2 and 3 explore how everyday costume, as represented in mosaics, indicated status by using garment quantity, color, decoration, and jewelry. Chapter 2 analyzes mosaics from the second through fourth centuries AD, chapter 3 those of the fifth and sixth centuries. The main point is to show how costume in mosaics, and presumably in real life, changed in the transition from the High Empire to Late Antiquity.
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    The Enculturative Function of Toys and Games in Ancient Greece and Rome
    (2008) Layne, Jaime Marie; Holum, Kenneth G; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Title of Thesis: THE ENCULTURATIVE FUNCTION OF TOYS AND GAMES IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME Jaime Marie Layne, Master of Arts, 2008 Thesis directed by: Professor Kenneth G. Holum Department of History The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the enculturative function of children's toys and games in ancient Greece and Rome. Children's play has been shown to affect their development on many different levels including cognitive, behavioral, and psychological. Play is also one method through which cultures work to enculturate children. Enculturation is the process by which cultural values and behaviors are transmitted from adults to children. In chapter 1, I review the historical background of study of enculturation. In chapter 2, I discuss the evidence for ancient Greek and Roman children's toys and games. In chapter 3, I examine the contribution toys and games made to the enculturation of children in ancient Greece and Rome. I conclude that, while children's entertainment was not the only method of enculturation used in ancient Greece and Rome, it was one important part of the network of cultural institutions focused on this process.
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    Performing Christian Female Identity in Roman Alexandria
    (2008-05-05) Juliussen-Stevenson, Heather Ann; Holum, Kenneth; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The Christian women of Roman Alexandria are something of a mystery, but they were integral to the transformation of religion. They Christianized the space they occupied, their bodies becoming houses for sanctity. While it is difficult to verify the accuracy of male representations of female subjects, discourse exposes the underlying assumptions upon which gender was understood. Reformed prostitutes, women who traveled to the shrine at Menouthis, collectors of pilgrim flasks from Abu Menas who sat in front of the Virgin Mary fresco at Kom el-Dikka, and virgins who shut themselves away--none of these women may have thought of themselves as men suggested. Yet when men referenced the feminine, they introduced alterity, indicating resistance to a master discourse or even competition among rival discourses. This negotiation, combined with a daily expression of agency through the use of space, reveals how women must have asserted their rights to salvation.
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    Fides in Julius Caesar's Bellum Civile: A Study in Roman Political Ideology at the Close of the Republican Era
    (2005-12-06) Barry, John Mannix; Eckstein, Arthur M; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In this dissertation, we show not only that Julius Caesar depicted his struggle with Pompey and the government of the Roman Republic as politically legitimate, but that he grounded this legitimacy primarily in notions of fides. Fides is a fundamental Roman notion. A man of fides always does the right thing of his own volition, not under pressure. Such a man might change his mind about what is right, but he would never pursue his private aims at the expense of the public interest. It is crucial at Rome to be seen this way. Caesar wishes to persuade his audience that he has been justified in taking unusual action--action that is outside the law and has not been authorized by the senate or the people--in defense of his claims. Caesar bases his political case on publica fides, that is, on the ideologically deep-rooted Roman notion that concern for the public welfare must be an official's paramount concern at all times. It should always take precedence over private and personal interests. My hypothesis in this dissertation is that not just in Caesar's BC but in the writings of Cicero, publica fides as a notion subsumes not merely the usual, but also some of the unusual actions that may be undertaken by public figures. We can infer from this that unusual, unauthorized, or unprecedented actions may sometimes be seen as legitimate at Rome if the people engaged in the activity are believed to be guided and motivated by publica fides. We show that Caesar defines the major political themes of the BC in 1.1-33. They can be summed up as follows: (1) Caesar's good fides vs. Pompey's bad fides; (2) the good fides of Caesar's friends vs. the bad fides of their Pompeian counterparts during the political crisis of December 50 and January 49 B.C.; (3) the good fides of Caesar's friends and commanders vs. the bad fides of their Pompeian counterparts once violence was involved; (4) the impact of both good and bad fides on the respective armies and on the civilian community in each theater of battle.
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    Identity, Community, and State Formation at Roman Palmyra
    (2004-04-28) Smith II, Andrew M; Holum, Kenneth G; History
    This is a study of identity, community, and the process of state formation in the Roman period at Palmyra, an oasis city in the Syrian desert, from the first to third centuries C.E. I address the key issue of cultural transmission and the development of an indigenous Palmyrene identity and community in the Roman Near East, as influenced by their pastoralist backgrounds and their contacts with Parthian and Roman powers. I examine these issues primarily through a re-evaluation of the local epigraphy in its urban context, complemented by examinations of the archaeology of the city and narrative sources. I demonstrate how the Palmyrenes managed to build a civic community that was distinctively Mediterranean in its makeup, and where a small elite dominated public affairs. I demonstrate how, despite increasing Roman influence over the city during the period of this study, the Palmyrenes retained their native identities in a communal setting, characterized by a cultural blend of Roman, Parthian, and indigenous habits.
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    How Luke Was Written
    (2004-04-26) Olson, Kenneth A.; Lapin, Hayim; History
    This thesis examines the viability of the Farrer theory of how The Gospel According to Luke was written in light of the influential criticisms of that theory by F.G. Downing. Downing argues that on Farrer's theory, Luke has departed from known compositional procedures of Graeco-Roman authors in deserting the common witness of his sources, in picking out Matthew's additions to Mark from Matthew's gospel to use in his own work, and in removing the Markan parallels from the Matthean additions that he has picked out. This thesis will argue to the contrary that in following one of his sources at a time rather than trying to follow both simultaneously, and in using material from his second (Matthean) source to supplement his main (Markan) source, Farrer's Luke appears to be following accepted ancient compositional methods, and that he has no demonstrable tendency to remove Markan parallels from his use of Matthew.