▼ Located in the midst of the modern Athens, the Kerameikos necropolis site has yielded considerable information about ancient human activity in the area. The Early Middle Helladic population of the area buried their dead in the Kerameikos as early as the 3rd millennium B.C., and burials continued to take place in the same space throughout the Classical period. Archaeological evidence about these burials has accumulated as a result of almost 150 years of periodic excavation by the Greek Archaeological Service and the German Institute of Archaeology. A number of studies have analyzed the data from these excavations from culture historic and art historic perspectives, to great effect. One curiosity that arises from this previous scholarship on the Kerameikos necropolis is the culture of restraint evident in the burials of the late 6th and 5th century B.C. These graves, published by Karl Kübler in 1976 as volume VII of Kerameikos: Ergebnsse der Ausgrabungen from the German Archaeological Institute in 1976, have not yet been adequately considered from the perspective of archaeological and anthropological theory. This study aims to provide the first theoretical interpretation of the late 6th and 5th century data from the Kerameikos necropolis. Working from a post-processual framework, the categories of body treatment, spatial organization, and grave goods are evaluated and then integrated to provide as complete an understanding of burial practices as possible. From the picture that emerges from this analysis, it is clear that the late 6th and 5th century Athenians dramatically decreased the resources they spent on burying the dead, but still used burial culture as a medium for the communication of individual, family, and community identities. Additionally, this study can serve as a model of how a theoretical approach can complement other methods of analysis and provide additional insight into the data from old excavations. Advisors/Committee Members: Lynch, Kathleen.

▼ This project evaluates a range of social relationships between women in Greek and Roman comedy, focusing on the four authors from whom we have the most extant material: Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence. I examine how social and familial bonds between women affect the risks they are willing to take on behalf of other women in their social circles. Scholarship on women in comedy has focused on their relationships to men, but my research takes the study of women in a new direction by evaluating their relationships with each other. Although comedy itself focuses on the social world of men, I am able to uncover significant information about women’s subculture in comedy by reading the plays from an alternative perspective. References to relationships between women are scattered and often indirect, but by compiling the evidence I demonstrate in Chapter 2 that the depiction of women’s social networks is consistent across all four authors. With this background, I examine the bonds between women more closely in the remaining chapters. Chapter 3 looks at three plays of Aristophanes, in which large communities of women cooperate to improve the lives of all women, often requiring individuals to take personal risks for the betterment of the group. Chapter 4 investigates relationships between courtesans in New Comedy, a genre in which this type of character sometimes features prominently. A close reading of the texts makes it apparent that courtesans act not just as a result of economic constraints, but equally because of emotional bonds with friends and family members. Finally, Chapter 5 examines instances of ethical deliberation by females in New Comedy, showing that women of all social classes exhibit ethical behavior even when it requires serious social and physical risks. Advisors/Committee Members: Gutzwiller, Kathryn.

▼ Intensive archaeological research at the site of Gordion, Turkey, the ancient cultural and political capital of the Phrygians, has now reached its sixtieth consecutive year. Large-scale excavations carried out in 1950-1973 under the directorship of Rodney S. Young, in particular, have contributed greatly to our knowledge of Phrygian culture and the history of Gordion. However, Young’s culture-historic approach caused greater scholarly interest of the time periods in which the Phrygian empire was at the peak of its cultural influence, predominantly from the 10th-8th centuries B.C.E. Less attention has therefore been paid to the period in which the site was under Achaemenid rule, the Late Phrygian period (ca. 550-330 B.C.E), as this period represents a decline of Phrygian culture and political dominance. This study seeks to contribute to filling this chronological gap in our knowledge by examining changes in the topography and cultural climate during one of the site’s most complex and interesting periods. As such, this thesis stands as the first in-depth, comprehensive study of the archaeological record of the Late Phrygian period citadel at Gordion. Particular interest was placed on dating the destruction of the traditional, monumental Middle Phrygian (ca. 800-550 B.C.E) structures that is known to have occurred during this period and the subsequent rebuilding program. The gradual, ad hoc replacement of the monumental structures on the citadel with modest industrial and domestic buildings signals a dramatic change in Gordion’s administrative system and the absence of central authority by the mid-4th century B.C.E.a Advisors/Committee Members: Lynch, Kathleen.

▼ This dissertation elaborates on previous interpretations of cultural change in Ptolemaic (294-58 B.C.E.) and Roman (58 B.C.E.-293 C.E.) Cyprus by presenting a postcolonial archaeology of cultural identity that comparatively analyzes coins, sculptures, and architecture. Although these artifacts all betray the cultural influence of Alexandria or Rome, this study shows that both local and imperial agents played a role in determining how material culture might express one’s socially recognized sense of belonging, i.e., their identity. Furthermore, by contextualizing such interactions in relation to each empire’s strategic agenda and Cyprus’ geographical and cultural values, this thesis illustrates how different empires can affect the same region in diverse ways and emphasizes the significance of geohistorical factors within colonial encounters. An analysis of Ptolemaic motives and strategies indicates that the empire valued Cyprus for its strategic location and resources. Thus Cyprus was militarily occupied and Cypriots lost their political autonomy. Yet, because local and imperial agents shared cultural values, new identities could be interactively constructed. Ptolemaic officials dominated coin production, but used designs that linked imperial and local religious and linguistic affinities. The dialogue between imperial and local statues reveals how Cypriots manipulated Alexandrian styles within traditional contexts. Ptolemaic architecture expressed imperial power locally, but had little effect on Cypriot buildings. Alternatively, an examination of Rome’s attitude towards Cyprus shows that the empire viewed the island as strategically insignificant. This factor resulted in the increased participation of Cypriot elites in local affairs. Hence, Roman Cypriot coins reveal a dialogue between imperial and local symbols, whereas sculpture and architecture demonstrate that local elites emulated imperial types because they communicated a sense humanitas that reinforced one’s socio-political position. Overall, this dissertation expands on colonialist interpretations of cultural change to reveal how imperial agendas, local geographies, social class, and cultural histories all influence the nature of imperial/local interactions. Moreover, its conclusions suggest that elite Cypriots adopted imperial fashions—especially in sculpture and architecture— primarily because they were polyvocal and appealed to both imperial and local sensibilities. These adoptions could then be actively adapted to suit local practices, and sometimes certain symbols, such as those associated with Aphrodite, could even influence the cultural identities of imperial agents. Thus, most importantly, this study proves that Cypriots were not merely “Hellenized” or “Romanized,” but rather that they often played an active role in constructing their local cultural identities within greater imperial worlds. Advisors/Committee Members: Lynch, Kathleen.

▼ This reconstruction of a terracotta figurine and lamp workshop in Roman Athens is based on unpublished workshop debris unearthed in recent excavations outside the northwest corner of the Athenian Agora. Through a detailed analysis of the debris left behind during a century of craft production, I reconstruct the workshop location, chaîne opératoire, and repertoire of a coroplastic workshop on the periphery of the Athenian Agora from the late 1st through the 2nd century A.D. I present here a study of the Commercial-Industrial Building, a structure with evidence for over 500 years of crafting, located at the northwest corner of the Athenian Agora. The depositional pattern of the workshop debris indicates that a coroplastic workshop was located in one of the three southern rooms of the building. I argue that the craftsmen employed in this workshop maintained close relationships with craftsmen in other industries, namely lampmakers, potters, and bronze sculptors. Finally, I show that the wide range of types manufactured in the workshop reveals artistic influences from Hellenistic traditions, contemporary artistic media, and coroplastic production centers outside of Athens. The late 1st to 2nd century A.D. was a pivotal time in the history of Athens, as private and imperial benefactors contributed to the physical transformation of the city center, but it was also a period of revitalization in craft production in Athens. This work paints a vivid picture of the daily activities of craftsmen working on the fringes of the Athenian Agora to serve the domestic, ritual, and funerary needs of the local population. Advisors/Committee Members: Davis, Jack.

▼ Relict agricultural terraces, although difficult to date, are features of the Greek landscape that reflect the expansion of cultivation at various times in the past and can, in some circumstances, suggest the nature of agricultural regimes at particular moments in the past. The data presented in this dissertation document agricultural terraces at and in the vicinity of the important Mycenaean settlement of Korphos-Kalamianos in the southeastern Corinthia. My data, together with that collected through an intensive archaeological surface survey conducted under the auspices of the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project, suggest that the earliest phase of terracing in the area dates to the Late Bronze Age, when the Mycenaean palaces of the Argolid were at the height of their power. I suggest that the palace at Mycenae then controlled and exploited the agricultural resources of the region and that the palace contributed labor and technical skills for the construction of these terraces. By so doing, Mycenae played an active role in expanding the amount of land that could be cultivated and in determining the way in which the land could be farmed. I argue that the relationship between Mycenae and Korphos was closer than between Mycenae and other parts of its hinterland. Advisors/Committee Members: Davis, Jack.

▼ This project, a new examination of the construction, life, destruction, and afterlife of the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor at Pylos based on careful study of Carl Blegen’s excavation archives, is testimony to the value of reinvestigating old excavations and long-forgotten material. Through detailed analysis of the stratigraphic records I offer a new reconstruction for the upper floor of the palace and demonstrate that parts of the palace’s second floor remained standing for some time following the final destructive fire. The destruction is also reconsidered using modern forensic fire analysis and it is concluded that the severity of the fire varied throughout the structure leaving some rooms intact. I present evidence that the interior of the palace was thereafter accessible for looting and small-scale, domestic reuse in the Iron Age. No archaeological evidence is found to support the suggestion that a historical cult was founded over the remains of the Palace of Nestor; the oral tradition of wise King Nestor’s “echoing colonnade” and “lofty house” was fixed (Od. 3.445, 449), but the location of the site was lost. The Palace of Nestor is contextualized in the history of Messenia as a landmark forgotten during the years of enslavement by Sparta, but whose legacy was preserved in the region’s collective memory. Advisors/Committee Members: Davis, Jack.

▼ This dissertation is the first systematic description and analysis of the sepulchral and commemorative monuments at Aytas Mevkii, an ancient cemetery set in the hills just north of modern Islamlar in the Elmali basin. This is a liminal location, surrounded by the better-known and more politically powerful territories of Lycia, Pisidia, and the Cibyratis. The sepulchral remains at Aytas Mevkii exhibit local characteristics unique to the region, although influence from most of its neighbors is easily detectable. I engage in a detailed examination of the iconography, style, construction methods, and chronology of the funerary monuments at Aytas Mevkii. Through this analysis I locate them within the wider cultural and political contexts of southern Anatolia. Despite the liminal location of the Elmali basin and subsequent paucity of references to the area in ancient literature, I argue, through a close reading of these sources in conjunction with epigraphic evidence, that the region was part of an area known in antiquity as the Milyas. With this geographical context in mind, I describe, date, and analyze the monuments at Aytas Mevkii, including rock-cut tombs, sculpture, sarcophagi and chamosoria, and architecture. Having established a chronology for the physical remains, I then present the first reconstruction of the political history of the Elmali basin, creating a local context within which the monuments at Aytas Mevkii are placed. I propose that these monuments were created by a local Milyan population, one that is difficult to define by applying modern ethnic theory to the available evidence, due mostly to the lack of a first-person voice in ancient literary accounts and clear self-identification in inscriptions. Despite this, my analysis of the evidence shows that the local population was able to adopt cultural characteristics such as tomb forms and iconography from surrounding peoples, to adapt them to their own particular requirements and tastes, and to add their own unique elements to them, thereby resulting in a distinctive, local culture. The examination of the physical evidence shows that cultural connections between the basin and other areas shifted diachronically from nearby central (Phrygian) to southwestern (Lycian) Anatolia, and that in the periods before Roman domination, these shifts may also shed light on the political situation of the local population. Within the broader political theater of Roman Anatolia, the locations of the comparanda for the monuments at Aytas Mevkii also broaden geographically, including the appearance of clear correlations with the material culture of Rough Cilicia. Advisors/Committee Members: Lynch, Kathleen.

▼ Octavian’s capture of Egypt in 30 B.C. brought an end to Ptolemaic rule and marked the beginning of Roman control of a province which would become one of the most important sources of grain and other material goods within the empire. As in other provinces, Roman officials tried to incorporate their own ideological constructs regarding imperial authority into long-standing local traditions (which, in post-Ptolemaic Egypt, included a distinctly indigenous Egyptian mode of ethnic and religious expression, as well as a Greek and an increasingly syncretized Greco-Egyptian one). The present work focuses on the reflections both of their efforts and of how they were received, primarily through the examination of visual media created within two realms: namely, the body of coin-types produced at the Roman mint in Alexandria and the vast range of pharaonic-style reliefs carved on, within, or near the indigenous temples. These two distinct media have been selected for their informative value vis-à-vis the Roman attempts to shape provincial perceptions and the Egyptian religious views of the emperor’s legitimacy as an inheritor of the pharaonic mantle. The present analysis of the images produced in these two realms centers on the imperial reigns comprising the first century of Roman rule over the Egyptian province (30 B.C. – A.D. 69). This time-frame allows for a close examination of the full array of socio-economic, religious, artistic, and archaeological effects related to the transition from Ptolemaic rule. While many of these effects are already observable during the reign of Augustus, the inclusion of the entire line of Julio-Claudian emperors in this study allows for the analysis of a wider and even more illustrative range of images (including potential “dynastic” examples). The Alexandrian coins were by far the most widely circulated material products of Roman agency in Egypt. Although the degree of intervention in type-selection from Rome itself is a matter of debate (one also treated in the present work), the exclusive representation of Roman interests in the full range of Alexandrian types can be readily demonstrated. On the other hand, the creation of pharaonic-style relief images remained under the direct control of the Egyptian clergy, far removed from the possibility of consistent intervention on the part of Roman authorities. As the priests were directly responsible for the propagation of notions of the ritual role played by the emperor as pharaoh, the reliefs and their associated texts constitute faithful sources regarding the probable religious perceptions of the Roman ruler among ethnic Egyptians. Along these lines, an analysis of the reliefs and of the context of their creation present the opportunity to gain insight on two levels: first and foremost, they facilitate an evaluation of the impact of the novel nature of Roman rule, Roman economic policies, and the various “messages” issued by provincial officials on the Egyptian priests and temples; in addition, they offer a glimpse into the conception of Roman authority as it was formulated within the culture embraced by the majority of provincials. Advisors/Committee Members: Van Minnen, Peter.

▼ This dissertation focuses on the Roman city of Augusta Emerita, modern Mérida, Spain, as a case study for understanding changes in the culture, economy, and society of Hispania in late antiquity. The evidence presented here shows that some of the major cultural shifts that appear in the archaeological record for the sixth and seventh centuries have their roots in the fourth century, when Emerita was still fully integrated into the Roman Empire. This evidence also shows that Visigothic period residents were driven by a different set of values and interests from those that inspired urban investment in the Roman period, while the wealthy Christian hierarchy was a key stabilizing force throughout the Late Antique period. A presentation of the physical setting and the infrastructure of the Roman city serves as the foundation for my analysis of the ancient city of Emerita. Public buildings were important venues for elite display, at times even receiving attention from provincial and imperial officials, especially in the early Roman period. In the Late Roman period, the class that had built the Roman face of the city was also instrumental in the de-Romanization of Emerita, by permitting or even participating in the deconstruction and privatization of the public monuments and spaces. For the Visigothic period, archaeological and textual evidence, including the Vitae Patrum Emeritensium, both point to shifting venues for elite investment, away from structures associated with traditional Roman identity to those associated with Christianity. The elite of Visigothic Emerita expressed and enhanced their status not through further contributions to the city’s Roman identity, but through new contributions to the promotion of Christian ideals. My unprecedented analysis of the ceramic record from a cross-section of Emerita’s late antique sites has allowed me to provide new insights into changing trade networks, dining habits, and the technology of pottery production. I have included a discussion of the potential causes for, and ramifications of, these changes, in order to flesh out the image of the city that is cast by architectural remains and written sources. By offering a comprehensive analysis of the available evidence, this dissertation goes beyond the narrative of decline and stagnation that often frames discussion of the late antique West. Advisors/Committee Members: Van Minnen, Peter.

▼ Since antiquity, critical reception of Theocritus has focused on bucolic as the poet’s quintessential domain, whether in the belief that the term designates a small, separable portion of his total corpus or more generally applies to many, most, or all of his hexameter works. As a result, many of Theocritus’ non-herding poems have received, on the whole, less critical attention than the herding ones. The book-length studies of Griffiths (1979b), Burton (1995), and Hunter (1996) attempt to redress this imbalance in treatment by dividing the non-herding works into various sub-genres, such as patronage poetry, mimes, hymns, and pederastic poetry, and dealing with each in relative isolation from the rest of the corpus. While this approach may finally give less scrutinized poems their due, it results in the same kind of tunnel vision vis-à-vis the figure of the poet as bucolic-centered studies. A more unitary view of Theocritus is called for. Analysis of the Idylls as a whole from the standpoint of themes and imagery, as opposed to genre, may hold the key to that view. Advisors/Committee Members: Gutzwiller, Kathryn.

▼ This thesis examines archaeological evidence for the economic and social changes which occurred in the Cyclades, Greece, while the area was under Roman influence and control from the second century BC to the fourth century AD. I will use specific islands (Melos, Paros, Sikinos, Keos, Delos, Syros, and Tenos) as case studies to demonstrate larger trends or characteristics of economic strategies and expressions of identity on several scales, ranging from individual settlements to island landscapes to the island group as a whole. Among both modern and ancient scholars, the preconception exists that compared to the former glory of the islands during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, the period of Roman administration in the Cycladic islands was characterized by economic and cultural poverty, offering little of value to the rest of the empire. In fact, the archaeology of the Cyclades offers strong indications of successful local economies, as well as an excellent opportunity to examine the complex dialogue between Greek and Roman culture and to explore aspects of identity expressed through material culture. The dynamic nature of the power landscape in the Cyclades is reflected in the architecture, settlement patterns, and waxing and waning in significance of various island polities throughout the Roman period, and a resilient sense of local island identity is evident in the archaeological remains. Advisors/Committee Members: Ellis, Steven.

▼ This dissertation examines the role of architectural patrons in North African cities during the Roman empire. Through a combination of epigraphic and archaeological evidence, I investigate how benefactors impacted the lived experience of inhabitants of Roman African cities. A three-fold theoretical rubric governs the interpretation, using agency theory, reception studies, and phenomenology to uncover the motives behind benefactors’ choices and the visibility of their choices in urban life. Case studies of individual buildings at several cities in North Africa, and a diachronic examination of Thugga, offer glimpses into the nature of euergetism over a period of four centuries. Architectural donors consciously sought to communicate messages of their own identity—based on gender, familial relationships, and political offices—through buildings. For example, in some cases buildings and their contents communicated information about their donors’ gender identities, creating complex visual messages that placed donors in their social context on both local and regional levels. In other instances, the fragmentary archaeological record hinders our understanding of donors’ gender identities, but topographic, archaeological, and epigraphic clues emphasize repeatedly the complex nature of civic identity in Roman North Africa. This mixed civic identity can be most clearly seen at Thugga. In the first century C.E., donations in the city’s forum mimicked buildings being erected in Augustan Carthage. At Thugga, construction in the Julio-Claudian period looked both to the provincial capital and to its own pre-Roman history, focusing on the Numidian shrine of the deified king Massinissa as the centerpiece of the Roman civic space. Thugga’s African past contributed to the character of donations throughout the Roman period, particularly of temples. In the second and third centuries C.E., Carthage continued to be an important source of architectural inspiration for Thugga’s benefactors, many of whom were citizens and public officials of the colonia Julia Concordia Karthago. The role of these public officials at Thugga increased in importance over time. The earliest donors of the city presented themselves as benefactors eager to contribute to the development of the city’s urban landscape and to establish familial traditions of architectural patronage in the city. In the late first century, donations more explicitly connected to public office-holding replaced these traditions of benefaction based on civic duty and familial responsibility. In particular, priests of the imperial cult (flamines and flaminicae) were particularly active in the second and third centuries, and donations not linked directly to public office-holding apparently disappeared by the third century. In the Christian period, euergetism continued, but it was directed toward the Christian community rather than toward the civic life of the city. Donors employed visual cues, like architectural styles; topographic cues, including proximity and orientation; and epigraphic cues, such as similar phrasing, to explicitly link their work with that of others. Additional response to benefactions came in the form of honorific statues and bases set up in public spaces. At Thugga these honors were reserved for donors whose work had the greatest impact on public life, emphasizing how visible architectural patronage was in the urban landscapes of North Africa. Advisors/Committee Members: Ellis, Steven.

▼ The archaeological site of Gordion is located in central Anatolia, near the confluence of the Sakarya and Porsuk Rivers. Settlement at the site extended from the Early Bronze Age (third millennium B.C.E.) through the Hellenistic period (late fourth through early second centuries B.C.E.). Gordion is perhaps best known for its most famous king Midas, who ruled the Phrygian Empire in the late eighth century B.C.E., and for its most famous visitor, Alexander the Great, who cut the Gordian Knot in 333 B.C.E. Through the success of his military campaigns, Alexander established an empire stretching from Greece to the Himalayas and inaugurated a new cultural and historical era, the Hellenistic period. The material culture of Hellenistic Anatolia has received only limited attention from researchers, leaving a vast lacuna in our view of the Hellenistic world, which this dissertation begins to emend by documenting and analyzing the Hellenistic pottery recovered during the Rodney S. Young excavations at Gordion (1950–1973). A cultural history of the site in pre-Hellenistic periods examines religious, linguistic, and material characteristics that are retained, modified, or abandoned in the Hellenistic period. A review of the written accounts of Hellenistic Gordion is supplemented by a cultural history, which synthesizes over a century of research on several categories of material evidence. The Hellenistic pottery is then examined in terms of fabrics, wares, forms, and types. The implications of the ceramic evidence are discussed in a series of nested contexts, from how vessels facilitated the daily activities of the domestic sphere, to the scale and organization of the ceramic industry at Hellenistic Gordion, to the cultural connections between Gordion and other Hellenistic settlements in Anatolia. The Gordion Hellenistic pottery is then used to reassess the nature of Hellenization by challenging common assumptions about the processes, motivations, and results of this phenomenon. Advisors/Committee Members: Lynch, Kathleen.

▼ In this dissertation I explore how people in the eastern Mediterranean responded to imperial rule under the Achaemenid Persians (539-331 BCE) and Alexander the Great and his Greco-Macedonian successors, the Ptolemies (c. 300-201 BCE) and Seleucids (c. 201-104 BCE). To get an intimate perspective on these responses, I approach them through the recently excavated Persian and Hellenistic Administrative building (hereafter PHAB) at Tel Kedesh in the Upper Galilee of modern day Israel. The PHAB was in use under the Persians, the Ptolemies, and the Seleucids before being abandoned after the Seleucids were defeated in a nearby battle against a Judean army led by Jonathan Maccabee in 143 BCE. People moved north from the Central Hills a few years after this battle and inhabited the site of the semi-ruined building as squatters for a generation. From the vantage of the PHAB, it is possible to consider how economies and lifestyles changed against the dramatic historical backdrop of Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire, the five Syrian Wars fought between his Ptolemaic and Seleucid successors over the southern Levant in the 3rd century, and the Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule in the mid 2nd century. In this dissertation I consider the largest body of evidence for economic and cultural interconnections of the staff of the PHAB, the pottery, in a regional context in order to characterize the daily habits and tastes of the administrators and squatters who lived at Kedesh. By considering changes in these tastes and habits over time as regimes and borders shifted, I show that people responded to the limitations and opportunities presented by Persian, Ptolemaic, and Seleucid rule (and its aftermath) in thoroughly local ways and at different paces according to political circumstances, economic opportunity, and their own sense of taste and tradition. Advisors/Committee Members: Lynch, Kathleen.