Department: Greek and Latin ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
62 matches in the database.
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1.
Albicker, Sharonne L.
The language of Plautus: his linguistic methods and their reflection of Roman society.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2003, Ohio State University
► Although many scholars have studied the work of Plautus, their work has…
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▼ Although many scholars have studied the work of Plautus, their work has focused largely on Plautus as a manipulator of Greek comedy or as an interesting study in archaic Latin. Only recently have scholars begun to look at Plautus in terms of his own language and his own audience. Even so, the few linguistic studies that have been done were primarily statistical and contributed little to an understanding of his audience. Earlier investigation into the language of Plautus reveals that he used the foreign languages of Greek and Punic along with his native Latin in his plays. Previously, most believed the Greek was used to mark its users as "intelligent," and the Punic was believed by most to be intended as gibberish; this is in fact not the case. Both languages served to place his characters in the real world in which he and his audience lived. This in turn reveals that Plautus expected his audience to have at least a basic understanding of Greek and some familiarity with Punic. While previous studies of Plautus that have analyzed his use of the idioms that served as markers of so-called "female" language have concluded that he crossed the boundaries of gendered language for whatever reason, the largest such study was primarily statistical and gave no reason as to why Plautus would have done that. In fact, Plautus did not use such markers as markers of "feminine" language at all, but rather as markers of emotion and power. Plautus played on the connotations such idioms had in the minds of his audience to create his own version of the adulescens amator, who was in fact the forerunner of the elegiac lover of later Roman poetry.
Advisors/Committee Members: Freudenburg, Kirk.
Keywords: PLAUTUS; Greek; Punic; Plautus; Hanno; ROMAN; Pseudolus
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2.
Anghelina, Catalin.
Variation with intrusive T in Ancient Greek.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2004, Ohio State University
► Nominal stems ending in t are very rare in Proto-Indo-European. Despite this…
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▼ Nominal stems ending in t are very rare in Proto-Indo-European. Despite this fact Ancient Greek displays a series of nominal stems that end in t. Their presence in Ancient Greek suggests that the insertion of t in words of PIE origin must be a process which occurred in Greek itself. From a diachronic perspective these stems fall into two categories. The first is represented by words which display the t in their stems in all the historical records we have, both in epigraphical evidence-including Mycenaean-and in literary sources. For this category we cannot trace the moment and the place when this “older” t entered the paradigms. The second category, however, contains words that show an allomorphic variation between t-ful stems and t-less stems. Given the fact that Homer uses in the majority of cases the t-less stems one can see, in post-Homeric dialects, how the stems with this “intrusive” t coexist with the t-less stems and win eventually over. The main goal of the dissertation is to see how this allomorphic variation evolved through historical Greek. Its second purpose is to see what this allomorphic variation can tell us about the origin of the intrusive t. The perfect active participle shows up in historical Greek as a t-stem. Nevertheless, scanty evidence from Mycenaean suggested that in this dialect of Greek the participle may have been t-less. The work addresses this problem again and comes up with the hypothesis that the forms Mycenaean displays might be only adjectives derived from former t-less participles, but not t-less participles. Consequently, the t-ful participle may still be a creation of Common Greek. A last issue regards the –ti adverbs in Greek, which have been often considered to be former locatives of t-stems. The study shows that this hypothesis does not seem to be true and that they are more likely to be the result of an analogical process, which occurred in Greek and not in PIE.
Advisors/Committee Members: Joseph, Brian D.
Subjects: Language, Ancient
Keywords: kre/aj; adverbs; dialects; dative; GREEK; Homer; Attic
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3.
Ball, Eric L.
Guarding the Wild: A Placed Critical Inquiry Into Literary Culture in Modern Nations.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2003, Ohio State University
► Scholars in humanistic disciplines have been focusing on "place" in response to…
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▼ Scholars in humanistic disciplines have been focusing on "place" in response to issues like environmental degradation and globalization. Literary ecocritics have undertaken place-centered studies in order to address issues important to local communities and ecological sustainability. Such projects, however, have not considered important assumptions about place (and their consequences) inherent in the historically constituted category of "literature" itself. This dissertation addresses this issue by developing a historically grounded place-based theory of literary critical interpretation and by demonstrating its practice. I begin developing theory by drawing on humanistic geography for an adequate theory of place in social and ecological terms. I engage with literary and folkloric research demonstrating that modern literary categories, critical practices, and assumptions have their roots in, and continue to reflect the concerns of, projects dealing with national identity. My goal is to develop a perspective capable of analyzing simultaneously, and in relation to each other, canonical national literature and widely ignored local literatures hitherto categorized as "mere folklore." In order to put theory into practice, and to continue developing and refining the theory, I then turn to critical interpretation of texts relevant to one particular place: Crete. Utilizing techniques from literary criticism and folklore (by viewing oral poetry in context as performance), I examine Greek novels together with Cretan oral poetry. I analyze how these texts refer to, and compete with, one another regarding such issues as modernization, preservation of local traditions, local wilderness conservation, and local agriculture. The climax of this analysis focuses on oral poetry collected ethnographically in Crete. I argue that it promotes an explicitly ecological ethic of the wild that strives to synthesize "the best" of modernity and local folk traditions. The significance of this research is that it will contribute a historically grounded, theoretically-argued framework for treating social and ecological issues to literary critics, folklorists, and other humanists concerned with the social and ecological well-being of local communities. In addition, my examination of the Greek case will provide concrete examples of how local literary practices, often considered unimportant or uninteresting, can, in fact, become important vehicles for debate on such issues.
Advisors/Committee Members: Jusdanis, Gregory.
Keywords: place; literature; folklore; Crete; Greece; ecology; environment; Kazantzakis; Prevelakis
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4.
Bowden, Chelsea Mina.
Isocrates' Mimetic Philosophy.
Degree: MA, Greek and Latin, 2012, Ohio State University
► This thesis argues that Isocrates was a philosopher and practiced philosophy, a…
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▼ This thesis argues that Isocrates was a philosopher and practiced philosophy, a view contrary to the majority of scholars, who view Isocrates solely as an orator or rhetorician. The study of Isocrates’ philosophy has been neglected primarily due to its dissimilarity to the philosophy of Plato, and Isocrates’ work has therefore not been regarded as philosophy, despite Isocrates’ frequent claims to practice philosophy. The goal of Isocrates’ philosophy is to improve decision-making in public affairs by attempting to arrive at the best course of action in any particular situation through a process of conjectures and approximations, which are founded in conventional wisdom. A student of Isocrates’ philosophy learns what conjectures are suitable from exemplary men whom he takes as models for his own thought. For Isocrates, these men were successful Athenian politicians such as Solon, Cleisthenes, Themistocles, and Pericles, whom the community generally esteemed to be excellent. The best way to understand the thought of these men was through reading and imitating the speeches that they wrote. For Isocrates, speaking well and thinking well were inseparable, and therefore the construction of a speech, with thoughts parallel to those of his model, was both producing a philosophical text but also practicing philosophy. Having multiple models to draw upon is preferable in determining which excellent thoughts one should fit to the situation at hand in the speech. As speech-writing is such an important aspect of his philosophy, a portion of his educational program consisted of learning the different figures of speech and methods of composition and how to suit and adapt them to the situation at hand to produce a speech that is persuasive to the audience. Isocrates believes that not everyone can do this complex interweaving of composition and situation effectively, however, his educational program will improve everyone’s abilities, though true ability is reserved for those with natural talent as well as training. Even if a speech is constructed well and contains excellent thoughts, it still may fail to persuade an audience. Isocrates believes that this can happen due to a poor reputation and the confusion or ignorance of the audience, factors which played a large role in his student Timotheus’ failure to obtain an acquittal on charges of treason despite being an excellent general and following Isocrates’ educational program. Any student of Isocrates could achieve so much success that he could become a model for other students to imitate in their speech-writing. Isocrates provides an example of this in the Nicocles, which Isocrates writes in the voice of the tyrant Nicocles, who models his own speech after Evagoras and To Nicocles, two speeches by Isocrates written in his own voice. While many scholars have argued that in the Antidosis Isocrates imitates the philosophy of Socrates in Plato’s Apology, he actually only adopts the situation that Socrates was in and fits his own thoughts to it, exemplifying his philosophy in action. Through studying Isocrates’ philosophy, we can more fully understand the philosophical climate in Athens in the 4th century BCE.
Advisors/Committee Members: Graf, Fritz.
Subjects: Ancient Civilizations; Ancient History; Ancient Languages; Classical Studies; Education History; Philosophy; Rhetoric
Keywords: Isocrates; Philosophy; Plato; Mimesis; Greece; Greek; Oratory; Rhetoric; Antidosis; Nicocles; Athens; Paideia
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5.
Brown, Christopher.
An Atticist Lexicon Of The Second Sophistic: Philemon And The Atticist Movement.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2008, Ohio State University
► Greek lexicography was central to classical philology in the nineteenth century. The…
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▼ Greek lexicography was central to classical philology in the nineteenth century. The grammatical and lexical traditions of antiquity and Byzantium have been relatively unexplored since then, despite their importance both for understanding the ancient authors and as traditions in their own right. Atticistic lexica in particular provide insight into the development of the Greek language and a programme of Sprachausbau whose outcome can be better understood with the help of new lexicographical resources and advances in linguistics. Interest in lexicography dates back to Homer and the literary dialects transmitted through Greek paideia. Lexica were first composed as an aid to understanding obsolescent γλω̑σσαι, but seem to have also been used prescriptively. In Alexandria scholars such as Aristophanes of Byzantium developed krisis of ancient literature through the study of canonical usage. From the fifth century into the Roman period the Greek language was restructured in its phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. This was the result of language contact brought about by expansion of the Athenian and Macedonian empires. This change may have been brought about by creole formation as the language was imposed on new populations. Spoken koine dialects, characterized by simplification and reduction, diverged widely through the Hellenistic period. The new koine itself became a metalanguage, the first Greek dialect that appeared common to all speakers. Plato’s criticism of the Sophists and the Lycaeum’s development of prescriptive standards were part of a tradition of theoretical reflection on language; elements of this tradition entered the Stoic system that identified purity of language with morality and wisdom. Linguistic purism, linked with notions of prescriptivity, is a nearly universal phenomenon. Diglossia refers specifically to situations where a prestige language H has different functions from a colloquial language L with which it coexists. H should be understood as a target on one end of a continuum of usage. The importance to the development of Greek of the reintroduction of old forms through puristic usage should not be underestimated. Classical purism involves translation and linguistic assimilation into the idiom of an ancient speech community imagined as diachronic. Atticism arose from the Roman encounter with Hellenism; the frame of classicism made possible Roman assimilation of Greek achievements in art and literature. Developed as a tool for the analysis of texts, Alexandrian κρίσισ transmitted in Atticist lexica became the foundation for the active appropriation of Athenian language and thought by Greek-speaking Romans. Philemon, author of an Atticist lexicon, was a scholar and poet in the late second century AD. His fragments can be pieced together from two different manuscript traditions. Analysis of his work provides evidence for language change in the second century, for words and forms not otherwise attested, and for the outcome of the Atticist programme.
Advisors/Committee Members: Jusdanis, Gregory.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: Atticism
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6.
Brown, Howard Paul.
The pragmatics of direct address in the Iliad: a study in linguistic politeness.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2003, Ohio State University
► The purpose of this paper will be to examine, in the text…
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▼ The purpose of this paper will be to examine, in the text of Homer’s Iliad, some of the pragmatic and sociolinguistic factors in the choice of form of address (epithet). Specifically I will look at these in light of the Parry-Lord theory of oral composition and its claims of ‘economy of form.’ The results of this limited examination have important implications for the viability of such methods and for our understanding of oral, traditional literature. Milman Parry, as is well known, demonstrated that the choice of appellation for any character, between the given-name (e.g., ’Αγαμέμνων) and the patronymic (e.g., ’Ατρεΐδης) was a decision based on metrical considerations alone, and importantly, not on semantic ones. The two terms cannot simply be substituted for the other without changing the meter of the whole line. The choice between the two is, according to Parry, driven by metrical necessity alone and hence any possible distinction of meaning is automatically bleached. The two names mean the same thing (i.e., Agamemnon). In this study I will look specifically at the use types of address within the narrative frame of the Iliad, in light of two potentially contributing factors. From a sociolinguistic standpoint, I will show that the distribution of these forms of address across the whole set of speakers is constrained by the relative social standing of the speaker in respect to the addressee. I will then give evidence for how pragmatic factors as well condition the appearance of one form of address over another. The evidence in this paper, then, will show that both sociolinguistic factors such as degree of social distance and relative position within the social hierarchy combine with specific situationally defined pragmatic factors to place constraints on the appropriateness of competing forms of address, forms whose distribution was earlier ascribable to metrical constraints alone. In other words, forms of address are effected by important matters of social hierarchy a nd the practical movement of the plot. Thus in line A.7 of the Iliad: ’Ατρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος ’Αχιλλεύς, Homer offers us a contest between Agamemnon, the holder of title and its concomitant privileged position, a man whose titles alone define him and the untitled but divinely defined and, importantly, named Akhilleus. It will be as much a contest between office and δῖος as it will be between individuals.
Advisors/Committee Members: Tracy, Stephen V.
Keywords: Ancient Greek; Homer; Iliad; Pragmatics; Politeness Theory; Address; Vocative Case; Direct Address; Patronymics
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7.
Buchholz, Bridget Susan.
Body Language: The Limits of Communication between Mortals and Immortals in the Homeric Hymns.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2009, Ohio State University
► This project explores issues of communication as represented in the Homeric Hymns.…
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▼ This project explores issues of communication as represented in the Homeric Hymns. Drawing on a cognitive model, which provides certain parameters and expectations for the representations of the gods, in particular, for the physical representations their bodies, I examine the anthropomorphic representation of the gods. I show how the narratives of the Homeric Hymns represent communication as based upon false assumptions between the mortals and immortals about the body. I argue that two methods are used to create and maintain the commonality between mortal bodies and immortal bodies; the allocation of skills among many gods and the transference of displays of power to tools used by the gods. However, despite these techniques, the texts represent communication based upon assumptions about the body as unsuccessful. Next, I analyze the instances in which the assumed body of the god is recognized by mortals, within a narrative. This recognition is not based upon physical attributes, but upon the spoken self identification by the god. Finally, I demonstrate how successful communication occurs, within the text, after the god has been recognized. Successful communication is represented as occurring in the presence of ritual references. That is, when the text contains elements that refer to ritual, whether or not these elements can be linked to any "real" ritual outside the text, communication between mortals and immortals is represented as being successful. It is successful in that it leads to the completion of an action to the satisifaction of both sides. I conclude that the Homeric Hymns offer as a message to their audience (both the mortal and immortal audience) a lesson about proper communication between gods and humans.
Advisors/Committee Members: Johnston, Sarah.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: GREEK RELIGION; HOMERIC HYMNS; ANTHROPOMORPHISM
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8.
Bungard, Christopher William.
Playing with Your Role in Plautine Theater.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2008, Ohio State University
► This dissertation seeks to open a discussion about the comedies of Titus…
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▼ This dissertation seeks to open a discussion about the comedies of Titus Maccius Plautus. It focuses on plays that explore how characters' attachments to particular roles affect the ways that they are able to interact with their world. Recent scholarship has focused on Plautus' use of metatheater for scripting his plots. This view often sees Plautus using the stock roles of New Comedy as building blocks for his plays. Instead of being descriptive, the roles of the angry old man, the pathetic young lover, and the tricky slave have set limits to our expectations. The old man will oppose the young lover. The clever slave will masterfully beguile all. I argue that Plautus does not privilege the role, but the character's relationship to that role. For Plautus, there is nothing essential in the role. The clever slave succeeds because of an attitude not because of his role. Provided that he does believe he is essentially his role, a free character can enjoy the same sort of comic freedom as the shape-shifting clever slave, who often plays any role he might like. In order to examine this topic, I have focused on four plays of Plautus in particular, Pseudolus, Menaechmi, Mercator, and Captivi. By carefully examining the interactions of characters and characters' own reflections on their situations, I have teased out a different way of approaching Plautine comedy. Plautus is not interested in the role society gives us to play, but what we do when given the chance to play that role. In taking this approach, I am interested in what Plautine theater has to say to Roman and modern audiences about our experiences off the stage, reminding us that any one given role is never sufficient for our daily interactions. We are always more than the roles we temporarily adopt, and thus, always a work in progress.
Advisors/Committee Members: Batstone, William.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: Plautus; Roman comedy; ancient comedy; ancient theater; character; role
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10.
Dobyns, Norita Dalene.
Power, performance and the Pythia: the political use of Delphic oracles.
Degree: MA, Greek and Latin, 2005, Ohio State University
► Modern theories concerning the nature of operations at Delphi posit that Delphic…
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▼ Modern theories concerning the nature of operations at Delphi posit that Delphic oracles had strong pan-Hellenic and pan-Mediterranean political influence. Most often this influence is analyzed as a coherent Delphic political policy or active political control, maintained and communicated by the Pythia herself or her attendant priest(s), made legitimate and authoritative through claims of Apollo's authorship, and accepted and enacted by consultants to the shrine. This approach is flawed insofar as it focuses meaning and, thus, power within the oracular text as a fixed and transmitted message from a Delphic political source rather than involving both Delphic functionaries and consultants within the process of the oracle's production, interpretation, enactment and entextualization. Theories of Delphic power marginalize the control that consultants have over oracular discourse within and outside Delphic consultations, ultimately relegating consultants to passive roles of recipients and enactors of politically charged oracular messages. The linear relationship between the annunciated oracular text, interpretive meaning and consultant political action, evidenced in most major theories of Delphic operations, is too simplistic and does not adequately reflect the roles of consultants or Delphic functionaries. The examination of oracular interactions, both within and outside the Delphic shrine, underscores the active and essential role of consultants in shaping the form and content of the final oracular message, ultimately calling into question the power of the Delphic shrine as an independent political force.
Advisors/Committee Members: Johnston, Sarah Iles.
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11.
Dubina, Sarah Ann.
First and Lasting Impressions: The Didactic and Dialogic Exordia of Apuleius’ Florida.
Degree: MA, Greek and Latin, 2010, Ohio State University
► In response to recent scholarship on the function of the prologue to…
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▼ In response to recent scholarship on the function of the prologue to Apuleius’ Metamorphoses and the exordium of the Apologia, this thesis employs the intersection of these approaches in analysis of Apuleius’ Florida, a collection of rhetorical fragments. Although most of the fragments are incomplete, some can be identified as exordia which still retain some or all of their contextualizing narrationes; these fragments can be analyzed similarly to the exordium of the Apologia in that the themes introduced in the exordium can be traced intratextually throughout the course of the speech. Florida 1, although its narratio has not survived and thus cannot be analyzed as an introductory exordium, does occupy the position of the praefatio to the collection as it has survived in textual form. Florida 1 therefore occupies the same role for the collection as a whole as the prologue does for the Metamorphoses, preparing the reader for the literary text to follow. An analysis of the introductory passages to Apuleius’ Florida must take into account the text’s unusual plurality of introductions both in number and form, necessitating an approach that incorporates both the rhetorical and the literary. Analysis of these passages principally demonstrates Apuleius’ didacticism and dialogism, the foundations of which are the relationship which he cultivates with his audience, his own text, and other texts. Apuleius characterizes his relationship with his audience most prominently by means of captationes benevolentiae, statements generally dismissed by scholars as the means by which an orator ingratiates himself to his audience. Apuleius’ addresses to his audience, however, demonstrate the cultural and intellectual exchange which is the foundation of their relationship. He often presents his speech as a means of intellectual repayment to the city of Carthage, creating an intimate link between his audience, his speech, and education. In this manner, Apuleius invites his audience to participate in intellectual and philosophical discourse. Apuleius’ many introductions also display a high degree of intratextuality and intertextuality. These rhetorical devices are also often dismissed as sophistic displays, but the way in which Apuleius’ speeches and texts reference themselves allow Apuleius to cue his auditor or reader into the main themes which are explored throughout any given text. This self-referencing allows the ancient auditor or modern reader to more closely follow Apuleius’ arguments and to create connections between different sections of texts which on the surface may deal with different concepts. Such intratextuality therefore serves as a didactic tool, allowing Apuleius to lead his audience to greater understanding. Similarly, Apuleius’ intertextuality prompts the cognizant auditor to juxtapose new texts and new themes, prompting an intellectual and intertextual dialogue between Apuleius, auditor, and texts. An analysis of Apuleius’ introductory passages allows us to witness the manner in which his sophistic rhetoric allows him to lay the groundwork for philosophical discourse.
Advisors/Committee Members: Fletcher, Richard.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: Apuleius; Florida; introductions; programmatic; intertextuality; intratextuality; didactic; dialogic; exordium; exordia
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12.
Freeble, Douglas.
The Other Greeks: Metaphors and Ironies of Hellenism in Livy's Fourth Decade.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2004, Ohio State University
► Already in the Praefatio of Livy’s work the metaphor of the importation…
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▼ Already in the Praefatio of Livy’s work the metaphor of the importation of foreign influence is apparent. Livy chooses the annalistic narrative style as the most Roman form possible and a self -construction as an author who valorizes traditional Roman values. These authorial decisions on the modality of the narrative are intimately linked to tropology and the manufacturing of the metaphors and ironies that frame Livy’s text in books 31-45. Roman control in Thessaly is asserted by manufacturing communities in its image. These collapse miserably when the guiding Roman metaphors are questioned. The failure of Roman institutions is depicted as evidence of the restless nature of the Thessalians. A representative image of Thessaly is given in the character of Theoxena, a Thessalian exile who kills herself at a festival of Aeneas. Her story allows Romans to form an emotional bond with the Thessalians, although it maintains their essential alterity. The Galatian campaign of Manlius Vulso shows the dangers of Rome’s encounter with Hellenism. The Galatians are presented as Gallic-Greek hybrids who are no longer the great Gallic warriors of the past. Manlius defeats them, but the anecdotes of extortion and rape show that the Roman general is corrupted by his encounter with Asia. In the end, his methods are indistinguishable from those of his Galatian opponents. These themes are emphasized in the speech of the Commissioners against Manlius’ request for a triumph. The Bacchanalia shows Hellenism as a contamination that spreads through Italy and infects Rome. Throughout the narrative, Hellenism is depicted as a virus that threatens Rome. Its source is an ignoble Greek, and it eventually infects the Roman nobles. Eventually the consul reasserts Roman control in Italy through a bloody purge. The story shows the close connection of home and abroad or city and empire. Similar themes of infectious Hellenism are described in the story of Cato’s censorship and the discovery of Numa’s books on the Janiculum. These metaphors of Hellenism as an infectious hybridity culminate in the Macedonian ironies of book 40. The description of Perseus and Demetrius involves an implicit contrast to the rivalry of Romulus and Remus. Their antagonism is placed in a ritual context that invites comparison to Roman customs. The story conveys differences between Rome and Macedon, as if to dissolve the hybridities that threaten Roman purity. These are particularly shown as a threat to empire in the career of Marcus Philippus, whose deceptive foreign policy is depicted as embodying Hellenistic rather than Roman values. This reading shows the unity of Livy’s narrative of the Macedonian wars. Its theoretical use is shown in an examination of a Livy’s story about a lunar eclipse before the battle of Pydna and the defeat of Macedonia.
Advisors/Committee Members: Gunderson, Erik.
Keywords: Livy; Roman Historography; Ancient Historiography; Ethnography; Thessaly; Manlius; Gaul; Bacchanalia
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13.
Gentile, Kristen Marie.
Reclaiming the Role of the Old Priestess: Ritual Agency and the Post-Menopausal Body in Ancient Greece.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2009, Ohio State University
► This dissertation examines the roles of old priestesses in the Greek religious…
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▼ This dissertation examines the roles of old priestesses in the Greek religious system. In addition to providing a comprehensive survey of the evidence for these priestesses, I present a theoretical model to explain the appointment of old women to these cults. I argue that their post-menopausal identity is fundamental for their selection as priestesses. This conception of post-menopausal identity has two facets—the physiological and the social. In each chapter, I discuss how different aspects of post-menopausal identity were relevant to specific cults and the ritual tasks performed by the priestess. Ultimately, it is their post-menopausal identity that necessitated the selection of post-menopausal women to these priesthoods. As an introduction to this study of old priestesses, I discuss the history of scholarship on old women and the priestess in Chapter 1. I then explore the ancient conception of the old female body in order to clarify the physiological facet of post-menopausal identity in Chapter 2. I undertake a systematic study of menopause in the Greek world, using both ancient and modern comparative evidence. In subsequent chapters, I examine the different priesthoods to which post-menopausal women were appointed, each of which emphasizes different aspects of post-menopausal identity. In Chapter 3, I discuss the tendency of the Greek religious system to equate young and old women as ritual agents, using the Delphic Pythia as a case study. I propose that post-menopausal women were able to renew their virginity. With their “renewed virginity,” post-menopausal women were ritually equivalent to physical virgins and were able to attain the same high level of ritual purity. The debates concerning women and sacrifice are addressed in Chapter 4, specifically in relation to the role of the sacrificing and slaughtering priestesses at the Chthonia. These post-menopausal priestesses were exceptional within the Greek sacrificial system as they are the only known example of female cult agents who slaughtered the sacrificial animal. I address the issues of why these women could sacrifice and why they were involved in the Chthonia specifically. I argue that these post-menopausal women were accepted as slaughterers because they were no longer viewed as a threat to the male patrilineal system. In addition, the female focus of the Chthonia as a mystery cult in honor of Demeter prompted the choice of post-menopausal priestesses. In Chapter 5, I utilize the cross-cultural perception of the old woman as the bearer of wisdom and transmitter of cultural traditions to examine the Sixteen Women of Elis and the Gerarai of Athens. Although the cult traditions of these two collective priesthoods differ, they are linked because of their connection to marriage and a younger female generation. In this study, I offer an explanation for the appointment of old priestesses by focusing on the conception of post-menopausal identity with both its physiological and social facets. Post-menopausal identity, and specifically renewed virginity, is the initial step toward a more complete understanding of the post-menopausal woman’s role in ancient society.
Advisors/Committee Members: Johnston, Sarah Iles.
Subjects: Classical studies; Religion; Womens studies
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16.
Gura, David Turco.
A critical edition and study of Arnulf of Orléans’ philological commentary to Ovid's “Metamorphoses”.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2010, Ohio State University
► Arnulf of Orléans ca. 1170 produced a composite commentary on Ovid's Metamorphoses.…
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▼ Arnulf of Orléans ca. 1170 produced a composite commentary on Ovid's Metamorphoses. This multifaceted commentary, which includes philological and allegorical interpretations, has left behind a large amount of manuscript evidence from various geographical locations and different time periods. To date, no complete medieval commentary on the Metamorphoses has ever been critically edited in full. The purpose of this dissertation is to bring to the modern reader a critically edited version of one of the most influential commentaries on the Metamorphoses, which also happens to be one of the earliest full commentaries on the poem still extant. This study also analyzes fully the extant manuscript evidence paleographically and codicologically to make accessible to the reader the textual relationships of the manuscripts, and also to examine the ways in which their physical formats affected the use of the commentary throughout its long tradition. The commentary and its manuscript tradition shed valuable insight into both the medieval and humanistic classrooms, their pedagogy and styles of instruction, as well as various approaches to the study and teaching of Classical Latin poetry.
Advisors/Committee Members: Coulson, Frank T.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: Arnulf of Orleans; Ovid's Metamorphoses; medieval latin; textual criticism; latin paleography
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17.
Haluszka, Adria R.
THE SACRED DOMAIN: A SEMIOTIC AND COGNITIVE ANALYSIS OF RELIGION AND MAGIC IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2010, Ohio State University
► Throughout the corpus of texts scholars have decided to call the Greek…
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▼ Throughout the corpus of texts scholars have decided to call the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM), most simply defined as a “recipe-book” for ancient magicians, there are many spells describing the manufacture and use of sacred images that, by the end of the ritual actions incorporated throughout the spell, become invested with essences and traits that are not necessarily ontologically apparent or natural. For example, there are statues invested with social agency that can perform all manner of fantastical feats. There are engraved rings that are ritually invested with great powers and come to be specifically described in terms of adjectives such as “beneficent,” “ merciful,” “sexually pleasing,” and so forth. This dissertation takes a close look at the specific ritual actions that allow for objects in the profane world – such as clay or stone, for example – being ascribed these kinds of powers and abilities. For this purpose, I use cognitive and semiotic frameworks to draw out deeper meanings, analyses, and typologies of ritual action. I use the PGM as my primary source, although part of the semiotic theory that I incorporate also involves looking at how these images fit into a wider conception of the portrayal of divine interaction in literature and iconography in the ancient world. A second important aspect of this dissertation is a closer look at the practitioner of magic himself as a figure who also has (or comes to have, through the course of the ritual action) an inner essence that bestows upon him special and divine powers. An essential contribution of semiotic domain theory to this topic is the manner in which it allows us to analyze the practitioner of magic as a “specialist” thinker within the domain of religion. In this way the practitioner of magic can be compared to other “specialists” who also create new content within the semiotic domain of religion, such as the figure of the poet. Both of these figures create new content, however one happens to create very marginalized content, in the form of magic, while the other creates what is commonly interpreted as more normal “religious” content, in the form of epic and hymns about the gods. I use semiotic domain theory to offer an explanation as to why this is the case. How is it that the way magic “works,” on semiotic and cognitive levels, especially, results in it being something specifically marginalized in terms of what defines religious action? The theories I present and the topics under discussion help to explain this, thus fitting my dissertation into the ever-present debate about the definitions of magic and religion.
Advisors/Committee Members: Iles Johnston, Sarah.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: Ancient magic; ancient religion; semiotics and religion; cognitive theory of religion
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19.
Hodges, Gregory W.Q.
Ethnographic characterization in Lucan's 'Bellum Civile'.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2004, Ohio State University
► Lucan’s Bellum Civile is a commentary upon and criticism of the Neronian…
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▼ Lucan’s Bellum Civile is a commentary upon and criticism of the Neronian principate and the deteriorated Roman character of the first century. The poet’s success would be marked initially by imperial censorship, followed by his avowed involvement in the Pisonian conspiracy, the inevitable result of which was Lucan’s death sentence in 65 A.D. In his epic Lucan laments the state of Roman citizenship that has precipitated the fall of the Republic. The true Roman, the hero that would sacrifice all for the state, is absent from the poem. Instead the promotion of the individual, effected by military and political successes among foreign peoples at and beyond the edges of empire, has dismantled simultaneously the ethnic construct of the Roman. To underscore this loss of native Roman identity Lucan employs various non-Roman ethnic models when developing the characters of Caesar, Pompey, and Cato. The stereotypical traits of the European Gaul, the Asiatic despot, and the North African nomad, as generated by such sources as Polybius and Cato the Elder, structure the character of Lucan’s protagonists. They have divested themselves of their Roman aspects and assumed rather those of the peoples among whom they produced their public strength. No longer can this be seen as a legitimate civil war fought between Romans for Rome. Instead these leaders have become as foreigners, each posing a distinct threat to the state. These three men, representative of the poet’s tripartite world view, enact the promised destruction that will leave the empty city of Rome to be rushed and occupied by the foreign enemies that had so long been held at bay. Lucan’s ethnographic characterizations of his heroes are illustrative of his disaffection with a Rome that has been abandoned by its protectors. Even the poet, upon recounting Caesar’s desecration of the temple to Saturn, is unable to return in thought or narrative to the city. Instead he, his audience, his poem, and his characters are condemned to wander far from the security and strength that was once the bounty of Republican Rome.
Advisors/Committee Members: Gunderson, Erik.
Keywords: Lucan; Latin Epic; Ethnography; Pompey; Caesar; Cato
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21.
Hohlfelder, Cynthia Anne.
Modes of Expression and Representation in Modern Greek Women’s Prose from 1938-1987.
Degree: MA, Greek and Latin, 1997, Ohio State University
► This thesis examines four different works of modern Greek women’sprose from 1938-1987,…
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▼ This thesis examines four different works of modern Greek women’sprose from 1938-1987, and explores how four different authors approach issues of expression and representation. It also considers the implications of these narrative practices within the scope of feminist theory while maintaining the specificity of the Greek case. The first chapter focuses on Margarita Lymberaki’s Τα ΨάΘινα Καπελλα [Straw Hats] (1946), and analyzes the novel within the context of both the Bildungsroman and the egalitarian feminism of Greece in the 1940’s. The second and third chapters correspond to the works Δύσκολες Νύχτες [Difficult Nights] (1938) and Η Κασσάνδρα και Ο Λύκος [Kassandra and the Wolf] (1977) by Melpo Axioti and Margarita Karapanou, respectively. Both of these texts question the definitions and boundaries of narrative: Axioti through radical poetic experimentation and Karapanou through grotesque subject matter. Finally, the thesis concludes with an analysis of Alki Zei’s Η Αρραβωνιαστικιά τον Αχιλλέα [Achilles’ Fiancee] (1987) as a novel which incorporates both experimental and traditional narrative techniques in order to articulate women’s experience through an artistic medium. Although these works are not always representative of general trends or movements in Greek literature, they are paradigmatic of different approaches to women’s writing and provide a useful format for exploring different techniques that women have adopted when entering a predominantly male literary canon in Greece.
Advisors/Committee Members: Jusdanis, Gregory.
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23.
Jazdzewska, Katarzyna Anna.
Platonic Receptions in the Second Sophistic.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2011, Ohio State University
► The dissertation examines interactions of three Second Sophistic authors (Plutarch, Dio Chrysostom,…
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▼ The dissertation examines interactions of three Second Sophistic authors (Plutarch, Dio Chrysostom, and Ailios Aristeides) with Plato and his dialogues. Although the significance of Plato and his dialogues for Greek literature of the imperial period is well-known, there is lack of nuanced case studies attempting to uncover the mechanics and purpose of literary interactions with Plato. Scholarship tends to explain Plato’s presence in the Second Sophistic literature en masse as a socio-cultural phenomenon, interpreting Platonic presence in the Greek imperial authors as a cultural and stylistic statement on their part: as a means by which authors create their cultural identity and construct the cultural status of the present. Consequently, particular instances of the interaction between Second Sophistic authors and Plato frequently remain unexamined. In my examination of texts by Dio, Plutarch, and Ailios Aristeides, I focus on their meaning and how it is shaped and modified by placing Plato in the background. In the Introduction, I offer a broad picture of the reception of Plato and his dialogues before and during the Second Sophistic. I draw attention to the fact that by interacting with Plato, a Second Sophistic author located himself within a lengthy and complex tradition of Platonic reception. I examine different literary strategies by means of which Second Sophistic authors interact with Plato, with special emphasis on a literary allusion and a dialogic genre as two ways of positioning one’s work vis-à-vis Plato’s text(s). The three chapters of my dissertation examine different approaches to Plato and Platonic legacy. In the first chapter, I examine two dialogues which evoke Plato both structurally and verbally: Dio Chrysostom’s Charidemos and Plutarch’s Symposion of the Seven Sages. Both these texts make a considerable use of Plato’s Phaidon. I examine literary techniques by means of which Dio and Plutarch evoke Platonic text and ask the question about the function and significance of the Platonic background. In the second chapter I focus on Platonic allusions in two non-dialogic works by these two same authors: Plutarch’s On listening, a work focused on philosophical education, and Dio’s Euboïkos. The affinity of these two works lies in their choice of the Republic as a subtext; in my examination I argue that recurrent references to the Republic are a sign of an intense interaction with Plato’s views on education and politics as expressed in this particular dialogue. In the third chapter I move to a slightly younger author and examine Ailios Aristeides’ To Plato: in Defence of Oratory, to show an author actively engaged in the discussion over the Platonic legacy and the values and perils that it involved.
Advisors/Committee Members: Kaldellis, Anthony.
Subjects: Classical Studies
Keywords: Greek literature, Second Sophistic, Plato, Plutarch, Dio Chrysostom, Aelius Aristides
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24.
Jones Lewis, Molly Ayn.
A Dangerous Art: Greek Physicians and Medical Risk in Imperial Rome.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2009, Ohio State University
► Recent scholarship of identity issues in Imperial Rome has focused on…
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▼ Recent scholarship of identity issues in Imperial Rome has focused on the complicated intersections of “Greek” and “Roman” identity, a perfect microcosm in which to examine the issue in the high-stakes world of medical practice where physicians from competing Greek-speaking traditions interacted with wealthy Roman patients. I argue that not only did Roman patients and politicians have a variety of methods at their disposal for neutralizing the perceived threat of foreign physicians, but that the foreign physicians also were given ways to mitigate the substantial dangers involved in treating the Roman elite. I approach the issue from three standpoints: the political rhetoric surrounding foreign medicines, the legislation in place to protect doctors and patients, and the ethical issues debated by physicians and laypeople alike. I show that Roman lawmakers, policy makers, and physicians had a variety of ways by which the physical, political, and financial dangers of foreign doctors and Roman patients posed to one another could be mitigated. The dissertation argues that despite barriers of xenophobia and ethnic identity, physicians practicing in Greek traditions were fairly well integrated into the cultural milieu of imperial Rome, and were accepted (if not always trusted) members of society. Their inclusion into the fabric of Romanitas prefigures the later integration of Roman and Greek identity that was to culminate in the Greek-speaking Romans of the Byzantine Empire.
Advisors/Committee Members: Roller, Duane W.
Subjects: Classical studies; Health care; History
Keywords: Rome; medicine; history. Greco-Roman Medicine; Greece; Malpractice; Legal Risk; Roman Law
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26.
Kritsotakis, Demetrios.
Hadrian and the Greek East: Imperial Policy and Communication.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2008, Ohio State University
► The Roman Emperor Hadrian pursued a policy of unification of the vast…
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▼ The Roman Emperor Hadrian pursued a policy of unification of the vast Empire. After his accession, he abandoned the expansionist policy of his predecessor Trajan and focused on securing the frontiers of the empire and on maintaining its stability. Of the utmost importance was the further integration and participation in his program of the peoples of the Greek East, especially of the Greek mainland and Asia Minor. Hadrian now invited them to become active members of the empire. By his lengthy travels and benefactions to the people of the region and by the creation of the Panhellenion, Hadrian attempted to create a second center of the Empire. Rome, in the West, was the first center. Now a second one, in the East, would draw together the Greek people on both sides of the Aegean Sea. Thus he could accelerate the unification of the empire by focusing on its two most important elements, Romans and Greeks. Hadrian channeled his intentions in a number of ways, including the use of specific iconographical types on the coinage of his reign and religious language and themes in his interactions with the Greeks. In both cases it becomes evident that the Greeks not only understood his messages, but they also reacted in a positive way. Thus an exchange of ideas began between emperor and the Greeks and helped him advance his program. By the medium of coinage and religion, Hadrian placed himself in the heart of the Greek world, its history and culture. At the same time, he remained loyal to Roman traditions and imperial ideology. As a result, the emperor succeeded in his plans: the participation of the Greek people in his imperial program, the creation of two imperial centers, and, finally, the unification of the Empire.
Advisors/Committee Members: Graf, Fritz.
Subjects: History
Keywords: Hadrian; Rome; Greece; Panhellenion; policy; coinage; propaganda
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28.
Ladianou, Aikaterini.
Logos Gynaikos: Feminine Voice in Archaic Greek Poetry.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2009, Ohio State University
► This dissertation argues that feminine voice can be found in Archaic Greek…
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▼ This dissertation argues that feminine voice can be found in Archaic Greek poetry. Attempting to answer this question, I tried to build a case for a feminine voice that is historically contextualized, since it is constructed within the context of archaic Greece. For this thesis, such a voice is not as a natural, physical voice but a constructed gendered voice. In the beginning, Sappho’s construction of feminine voice is considered as dialogic. Sappho re-reads, re-writes Homeric epic as a feminine epic: polyphonic, against dichotomies and hierarchies. In the case of Sappho, feminine voice is constructed as the voice of the persona loquens, be that Sappho or the female performer. In Homer, a similar feminine voice is constructed as the voice of Helen, a poetic female figure. Thus, Homer constructs a double, unfixed, polyphonic feminine voice that functions as an alternative poetic discourse within the Iliad. Finally, in Alcman the female voice of the chorus proves to be essentially masculine. Thus, emphasizing hierarchical models, or male models of desire, the chorus is reinforcing patriarchal structures. Building on French feminist theory and late Bakhtinian discussions, this thesis attempts to map down polyphony, multiplicity, fluidity and mutability as the main characteristics of a feminine voice. By demonstrating how both male and female authors are able to construct a feminine voice with the aforementioned characteristics essentialist arguments are avoided. Hence, both Sappho and Homer produce a feminine voice, a multiple, dialogic, unfixed voice. The use of such a feminine voice is an ideological choice with sociopolitical implications. My objective was to explore a feminine voice that is neither essentialist nor victimized: if Sappho’s feminine voice is not anchored on her gender, it is a position in language rather than a biologically defined position, then, an écriture feminine can be composed by male writers as well. Moreover, if Sappho is able to speak at the same time within and against the specific androcentric society, then, indeed, the subaltern woman, and her voice, does exist.
Advisors/Committee Members: Batstone, William.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: archaic poetry; greek; Sappho; Homer; Alcman; gender; feminine voice; french feminist theory
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29.
Lunsford, Amber Dawn.
Romans on parade: representations of Romanness in the Triumph.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2004, Ohio State University
► We find in the Roman triumph one of the most dazzling examples…
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▼ We find in the Roman triumph one of the most dazzling examples of the theme of spectacle in Roman culture. The triumph, though, was much more than a parade thrown in honor of a conquering general. Nearly every aspect of this tribute has the feel of theatricality. Even the fact that it was not voluntarily bestowed upon a general has characteristics of a spectacle. One must work to present oneself as worthy of a triumph in order to gain one; military victories alone are not enough. Looking at the machinations behind being granted a triumph may possibly lead to a better understanding of how important self-representation was to the Romans. The triumph itself is, quite obviously, a spectacle. However, within the triumph, smaller and more intricate spectacles are staged. The Roman audience, the captured people and spoils, and the triumphant general himself are all intermeshed into a complex web of spectacle and spectator. Not only is the triumph itself a spectacle of a victorious general, but it also contains sub-spectacles, which, when analyzed, may give us clues as to how the Romans looke upon non-Romans, and, in turn, how they saw themselves in relation to others. If the questions at hand is one of Roman representation, then the sources for out information on triumphs become a further complication. We must consider the motivations of the authors who describe triumphs and configure them into the equation. Whether or not the author is representing the Romans in a particular way through his descriptions must be taken into account when one tries to figure out how the ROmans were representing themselves and others. Although the sources of our knowledge of triumphs may cause further complications to that same knowledge, they also make the task at hand infinitely more interesting and worthy of pursuit. Because the triumph brings out so many intricate ideas and questions about the Romans, by analyzing both the specific primary texts and the idea of hte triumph in general, we can better appreciate the cultural logic of what it means to be Romans as it is negotiated within the triumph.
Advisors/Committee Members: Gunderson, Erik.
Keywords: TRIUMPH; ROMANS; Cicero; Plutarch; spectacle; Livy
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30.
Maiullo, Stephen Anthony.
From Philosopher to Priest: The Transformation of the Persona of the Platonic Philosopher.
Degree: PhD, Greek and Latin, 2010, Ohio State University
► This dissertation examines the transformation of philosophers into priests and demonstrates that…
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▼ This dissertation examines the transformation of philosophers into priests and demonstrates that the fusion of philosophy with religion was a complex literary and philosophical process that ultimately responded to metaphysical and epistemological questions raised by Plato himself. I focus on the period between the first and early fourth centuries CE, when Platonic philosophers such as Plutarch, Numenius, and Iamblichus began to energize the role that religion played in the philosopher’s search for the truth. In their texts, these authors gradually and increasingly adopted the persona of priests, which changed not only the textual presentation of philosophy, but also the very substance of that philosophy. The first two chapters study Iamblichus, who, in the De Mysteriis, adopted the persona of an Egyptian priest in order to answer Porphyry’s objections to his programmatic fusion of Plato with theurgy, a set of rituals derived from the “Chaldeans.” I argue that Iamblichus’ main philosophical divergence from the Platonic tradition was related to his epistemological view that knowledge of the Good is possible, but attainable only through the grace of the gods. The third chapter turns to Plutarch, whose textual identity was primarily defined by his dual role as Platonic philosopher and priest of Apollo at Delphi. I specifically examine his Delphic Dialogues and his Isis and Osiris to show that Plutarch viewed his role as priest at Delphi as a means to incite the shrine’s visitors to philosophy, and that both the religious rituals performed and the mysterious truths revealed there presented their participants with the unique opportunity to study them philosophically. The fourth chapter looks at centuries between Plutarch and Iamblichus by focusing on one transformative figure in particular: Numenius of Apameia. Numenius was a second-century Platonist, who called for a complete cleansing of the impurities of the Platonic tradition. I argue that Numenius represented the formative exemplar of Platonists who readily admitted that Plato’s inconclusiveness presented a challenge to the philosopher in search of wisdom. Because “Plato’s doctrines” were so obscured by the dialogue form, his successors actually subverted Platonic doctrine. His goal was to arrive at the true dogma of Plato, but this required divine aid and an appeal to other traditions, a claim that formed the fundamental basis for Iamblichus. The conclusion studies Plato himself, focusing in particular on two priestly figures, Diotima and Euthyphro, in order to show that while Plato did allow for priestly figures in philosophy, he did problematize the role that they played in the philosophical search for wisdom. I conclude that Iamblichus explicitly resolved both Plato’s and the Platonic tradition’s implicit ambivalence about whether knowledge is possible by invoking the help of the gods as the end, not the beginning of the philosopher’s search; that Iamblichus took direct aim at Plutarch and his mode of exegesis and was authorized to do so by the Platonic tradition itself; and that during the centuries in question, Plato and the Platonic texts had become apologetic tools for everyone.
Advisors/Committee Members: Kaldellis, Anthony.
Subjects: Classical studies
Keywords: Religion; Philosophy; Plato; Iamblichus; Plutarch; Numenius
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