OpenUCT :: Browsing by Department "Classical Studies"

Browsing by Department "Classical Studies"

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Captatio in law, life and literature : a study of the topos of inheritance-hunting in the context of Roman testamentary legislation and social practice
(1991) Sharland, Suzanne; Coleman, K M
"Captatio and the captator are stock elements of literature and undoubtedly existed in life, but as actual practice and figure in Roman society they are nearly impossible to identify" (Champlin 1989: 212). Captatio (inheritancehunting), as it appears in Latin literature, can be defined as the systematic courtship of elderly, preferably sickly or dying, childless wealthy people by social adventurers known as captatores, with the aim of gaining inheritances from these people by will. The methods by which this is shown to be achieved include gift-giving, salutatio, sexual favours, flattery etc. Roman literature suggests that this practice often took place within the exchange network of amicitia. This thesis examines captatio, as presented in the Latin literature of the early Empire, in the context of definable legal and social structures. It is not so much the purpose of this study to decide whether captatio existed or was a purely literary conceit, as to examine this literary topos in its broader context.
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Divine childhood : a study of selected Homeric hymns in relation to ancient Greek societal practices
(2009) De Castro, Paula
This dissertation broadly addresses divine childhood, with particular reference to the Homeric hymns. Included in the discussion is an overview of ancient Greek practices involving the subjects of birth, midwifery, timai, kyrioi, theft, parent-child relationships, maturation and the role of female children and women in society. In addition to the Homeric hymns a variety of other sources ranging from Homer to Apollodorus is drawn upon. The methodologies employed to analyse this diverse material are eclectic but a comparative approach has been particularly productive. The comparative nature of this dissertation has allowed special emphasis to be placed on the relation between the human and divine worlds. The anthropomorphic nature of the Greek gods clearly allowed the mortal poets to superimpose their own conventions onto the divine realm. In sum this dissertation considers the way social practices shape myth and are themselves perpetuated and sustained by myth. The tendency exhibited by the ancient Greeks to write about mythological happenings clearly allows them to explore alternative ways of life. These alternatives allowed them to explore in turn the consequences of subverting the norm (as seen in the figure of Pandora). Paradoxically, while playing with these alternative and subversive possibilities, the myths, which we assume were composed by men, succeed in reinforcing these norms (take for example the Odyssey’s Penelope who represents an idealised version of how a woman was supposed to conduct herself).
Open Access
Fauna in archaic Greek and Kalanga oral wisdom literatures
(2016) Moyo, Madhlozi; Chandler, Clive
Animals play an important role in the communication of wisdom. In songs, proverbs, aphorisms, riddles and other oral modes of communication, animals sometimes play the roles of human beings. Homeric similes, Hesiodic and Aesopic fables, and numerous oral figures of speech in Greek lyric poetry often incorporate animals in their figurative language. Likewise, Kalanga folktales, proverbs, and other didactic modes attest to the importance of animals within this culture as vehicles to teach moral lessons. This tendency is visible among many cultures across the world. As such, the broad concerns of this thesis are to compare the way Archaic Greek and Kalanga wisdom literatures resort to animal imagery in the dissemination of moral lessons. The study evaluates the way animals are deployed as metaphors to signify and express human actions and human attitudes in oral thought. In a narrow sense, I study the deployment of animals insofar as they shed light upon the human attributes of cleverness and stupidity; the use of animals' characters in political commentary; as well as in the economic and erotic didactics in Archaic Greek and Kalanga oral wisdom literatures. Judging from the frequency of their appearance, it seems that animals are one of the preferred ways through which people offer insights into themselves. Commenting on the human habit of integrating animals into one's religious and moral views, Peter Lum says 'The animal world seems to the mind of primitive man to be only a very short step from the human.' This dissertation seeks to arrive at answers to a number of questions through a comparative study of selections from the two traditions. What are the premises and presuppositions behind the deployment of each animal in such literature? What are the bases for building a human character on an animal? How do we compare and contrast the human and animal natures? And, what makes an animal assume a specific role, and not another, in folklore? What ecological and ethical concerns can be observed in this type of literature? Most importantly, what similarities are there between Greek and Kalanga oral modes of expression? By revealing similarities in animal imagery between two diverse wisdom traditions, this work explores what may be described as a natural, cross-cultural basic component of didactic poetry: a common denominator that gets to the root of archaic wisdom. Furthermore, as a poetic element seemingly rooted in the realities of agrarian society, such symbolism leads us to consider whether the moral authority it represents is purely poetic or whether it actually holds cultural capital. This exercise entails using the dynamics of a living tradition to understand more about one we access through texts and commentaries.
Open Access
Female characterisation in the epic poetry of P. Papinius Statius
(1990) Jorge, Diane; Coleman, K M
"No serious Latinist will deny the probability that Statius will again emerge from the current scholarly re-evaluation of Silver Age Epic as the great poet he seemed to the finest spirits of High Middle Ages and Renaissance, rather than as the pale imitator of Virgil he appeared to the censorious criticism of the nineteenth century, obsessed as it was with its twin heresies of originality and inevitable progress." (Tanner, R G 1986. Epic Tradition and Epigram in Statius ANRW II 32.5, 3020) Publius Papinius Statius (c.AD 40-96) is best known for his occasional poetry, the Silvae, which is in scholarly vogue at present. He also composed a monumental twelve-book epic, little known until this century, concerning the myth of the Seven Against Thebes, as well as beginning a poem, popular in the Middle Ages, intended to chronicle the full career of the hero, Achilles. Death prevented the completion of the latter work, so that there are only 1127 lines extant. I here undertake an evaluation of female characterisation in the Thebaid and Achilleid, as a positive contribution to the rehabilitation programme described in the quotation above. Because Statius' poetry properly observes the ancient literary convention of imitatio, an examination of any feature thereof necessarily first takes account of the treatment of these myths before Statius. Although there is no precise literary precedent for the Achilleid, there are various possible Greek and Roman sources for the Thebaid, among them Euripides' Phoenissae and Hypsipyle, Apollonius' Argonautica and Seneca's Phoenissae. Naturally Homer's Iliad provided many of the poetical techniques for depicting the pathos of young warriors killed in battle and the subsequent grief of their relatives. A vital consideration, given Statius' reputation as a "pale imitator of Virgil", is to identify the influence of the Aeneid on Statius' techniques of characterisation, as well as to assess his usage of Virgilian style and phraseology. An equally significant contribution to Statius' presentation of women, and one of especial importance for the Achilleid, is made by Ovidian poetry, particularly the Metamorphoses and Heroides. To a lesser extent Statius was influenced by contemporary Latin epics: Valerius Flaccus' mythological Argonautica, Lucan's politico-historical Pharsalia and Silius Italicus' Punica. In analysing the presentation of heroines and goddesses in the Thebaid, little attempt is made to divine a method or spirit of characterisation "common" to both poems. Rather, the contrast between the portrayal of female personality in the two epics emphasises the very different tone of each: the distinctly comic tone of the Achilleid is reflected in the light-hearted portrayal of the three main characters Thetis, Deidamia and Achilles; on the other hand, the tragic atmosphere of the Thebaid is reflected in the intense portrayal of the chief female characters, Argia, Antigone, Jocasta and Hypsipyle. Insofar as it is ever valid or possible to expect literature to reflect the "real" perceptions and ideals of author and audience, I make some brief attempt to set Statius' treatment of his female characters against the prevailing attitudes and socio-cultural norms of his day. Statius' portrayal of women in his Silvae is of some relevance here, though chiefly the poems are to be regarded as literary texts rather than sociological documents.
Open Access
Fortune and family in the presentation of Octavian in Nicolaus of Damascus' Bios Kaisaros
(2006) Weightman, Clare; Wardle, David
This latter question necessitates a survey of the development of Greek biography through the Hellenistic era. Biography as a literary genre was characterised by a broad range of traits and styles, and was concerned with the character of the protagonist, details of his pirvate life, and his deeds, works or achievements. The belief that an investigation of a man's actions could shed light on his character was a feature of Hellenistic popular thought that had its origins with the Peripatetics. Nicolaus was a self-proclaimed follower of Aristotle's school, and certain motifs or features of Aristotelean thought permeate the Bios Kaisaros, particularly with regards to his characterisation of Octavian and Caesar. Nicolaus uses the theme of Fortune, a familliar topos of Hellenistic literature, at key moments during the text of the Caesar Extract, to highlight his presentation of Octavian and Caesar. The characterisation of Octavian and his relationship with his mother and Caesar forms the final focus of this dissertation, illustrating pertinent aspects of Nicolaus' technique in his presentation of Octavian as uniquely fitted to succeed to Caesar's political hegemony at Rome.
Open Access
A historical commentary on Cornelius Nepos life of Themistocles
(2008) Musnick, Larry Jason; Wardle, D
In writing a biography on Themistocles, Nepos consulted Greek sources, mainly consulted Thucydides. Nepos often paraphrases and quotes Thucydides, while also expressing his opinion on the death of Themistocles. When he departs from Thucydides' account, he uses Ephorus. The other extant, ancient sources on Themistocles are predominantly Greek, namely Plutarch, Herodotus, and Diodorus. Justin's Latin epitome of Trogus also covers this period.
Open Access
Horace in dialogue : a Bakhtinian study of speakers, interlocutors, addressees and audiences in the moralising satires of horace sermones books one and two
(2000) Sharland, Suzanne Jane; Whitaker, Richard
This thesis examines a selection of poems from both books of Horace's Satires against a backdrop of the dialogic theoretical system conceptualised by the Russian thinker Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (1895-1975). The thesis proposes examining Horatian satire or sermo, as Horace himself termed his genre, as the 'conversation' that this name implies it is. Bakhtin himself observed that Horace's Satires were one of the works that could be considered ancient forebears of modern novelistic dialogic discourse, although he failed to elaborate on this. The thesis takes its cue from here, and seeks to explore the ways in which Bakhtinian theory can elucidate the many dialogic facets of the Satires of Horace.
Open Access
Luxury as a theme in Latin love elegy
(1991) Chandler, Clive; Whitaker, Richard A
The territorial expansion of Rome in the second and first centuries B.C. was accompanied by an influx of foreign luxuries and fashions into Italy. Roman,society and literature responded to this influx ambiguously, but the overall tone was one of disapproval. The association of luxury with women, attested dramatically at the rescinding of the lex Oppia, was firmly established in erotic literature by the latter part of the first century B.C. Latin Love Elegy provides an opportunity for studying the response of a particular genre to the phenomenon of luxury in an erotic context. After a general introduction to the role of luxury in the economic life of Republican Rome, the literary response to luxury is investigated with special emphasis on erotic literature. Following this, the elegies of Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid are analysed sequentially and in detail with respect to how these poems treat luxury. It is found that luxury in Latin Love Elegy retains the ambiguity associated with it outside erotic literature, and functions as a rhetorical tool in the process of seduction. ,The attitude of the elegiac persona to luxury sheds light on the fictional lover, and demonstrates how the elegists accommodate in their poetry traditional and contemporary views of a real phenomenon.
Open Access
Madness in Lucretius' De rerum natura
(2012) Shelton, Matthew James; Chandler, Clive
In the following thesis I examine the experience and etiology of madness in Epicurean philosophy and focus on Lucretius’ accounts of epistemology, disease and emotion in De rerum natura. I situate my general argument within Lucretius’ accounts of the physical and cognitive aspects of emotional disorder.
Open Access
Martial's Apophoreta : an introduction and commentary
(1993) Leary, Timothy John; Coleman, K M
No commentary on Martial Book 14 has appeared since that of Ludwig Friedlander (1886). Since Friedlӓnder dealt with Martial' s entire corpus, his introductory remarks to Book 14 were necessarily subordinated to his wider concerns. While his commentary is very superficial. This work hopes, therefore, to fill a significant gap. The thesis comprises three main parts. The introduction discusses the Roman Saturnalia, concentrating on its origins, the way it was celebrated, and the licence, lotteries and gifts which characterised these celebrations. Further discussion deals with the book's title and the order of the epigrams it contains. Another section defends Friedlӓnder' s dating of Book 14 against a recent challenge
Open Access
Narrative strategies in the gospel according to Luke : a Bakhtinian exploration
(2004) Fischer, Bettina Irene; Whitaker, Richard; Wanamaker, CA
Using the theory of the twentieth century Russian literary scholar and linguist, Mikhail Bakhtin, this thesis has set out to explore narrative strategy in the Gospel of Luke, the aim being to consider how this would affect a generic reading, and what implications this would have in assessing the discourse of this text. Bakhtin classifies early Christian writings as part of the Menippea, a collective name for a body of parodying-travestying literature ofthe Graeco-Roman period. In contrast to the classical genres of the mainstream, epic, love-poetry and tragedy, Bakhtin rates Menippean texts as being essentially dialogic, engaged in exploring ideas of life and death from the perspective of a carnivalistic view ofthe world. He uses the genre of the Greek Romance, seen by him as a forerunner of the European novel, to demonstrate some of his theory. Having selected the Romance, Chaereas and Callirhoe, by Chariton, as a comparative text to the Gospel of Luke, both texts are explored in terms of the Bakhtinian concepts of chronotope, carnival, and intertextuality.
Open Access
Panegyrici Latinei, 6 and 7 : Translated with introductions and commentary
(1979) Sang, John Campbell; Atkinson, John E
The j)rin;ary aim of this thesis is to make available in English for the first time a translation of, and full commentary on, the panegyrics in question. A general introduction contains sections on the collection of panegyrics known as the XII Panegyrici Latini, the term panegyricus, the uses to which panegyrics might be put, and the scope of the present study. Attention is then turned to the two panegyrics themselves and, in each case; an introduction, dealing with the occasion and the date, the question of authorship, and the place of delivery, is followed by a translation and commentary, which concentrates on historical problems. In the introduction to Pan. VII, proposed delivery dates of 31 March 307 (Seston et al.) and 25 December 307 (Lafaurie and Bruun) are discussed and rejected, along with the proposal of a third dies nataZis for Constantine; Sutherland's date of late April is upheld, but it is emphasized (pace Sutherland) that the speech jointly celebrates Constantine's marriage to Fausta and his promotion as Augustus. In the introduction to Pan. VI, a precise date of delivery of August 310 is suggested, and it is considered unlikely that the orator was a jurist or had held a full-time post in the imperial administration; the eviuence of the speech itself indicates that he combined occasional ewployment by the palace as orator, with a career as master of rhetoric. An appendix contains an index of the imperial virtues and attributes found in Pans. VI and VII.
Open Access
Plague in the Graeco-Roman world, 430 B.C.-A.D. 600
(1988) Truter, Elsie; Atkinson, John; Forder, A
This dissertation concerns itself with the study of epidemics between 430 B.C. - A.D. 600, in an attempt to find positive evidence for the existence of bubonic plague in the ancient world. Most major studies on the Black Death have concerned themselves with the great pandemics of the Middle Ages and none (to my knowledge), have systematically examined the ancient records for earlier evidence of the disease. The time period chosen for this study, from the Athenian Plague to the Plague of Justinian, contains some relatively well documented epidemics, which has made it possible, in some cases, to identify the disease. Plague is a complicated disease, dependent on numerous factors for its successful spread, but few historians have considered this. The word 'plague' was loosely used in ancient texts to denote any epidemic disease with a high mortality rate and not a specific microbial infection. Most historians however translate 'plague' as bubonic plague and make no attempt at a medical analysis of the symptoms given by a particular author. The point of this dissertation is to examine the ancient epidemics from a medical as well as a historical angle. Our evidence for the existence of epidemic diseases comes from a variety of sources, and these are examined. Sculptures and frescoes show numerous chronic and acute disorders. Human remains have shown evidence of certain diseases, while animal and parasitic remains have helped to confirm the existence of certain species instrumental in the spread of a specific disease. However, written texts are the most reliable source for obtaining a detailed account of the symptoms and accurate interpretation of these texts is therefore important. To achieve this, the symptoms mentioned by an ancient author are compared and contrasted, through the use of tables, with the symptoms of some of the known infectious diseases of today. This dissertation will show that epidemics which were previously labelled plague could either not be identified as such, or were misdiagnosed. Evidence does point to the existence of bubonic plague in the ancient world, but it never reached epidemic proportions until A.D. 600.
Open Access
The politics of public records at Rome in the late republic and early empire
(1991) Hastings, Ingrid; Atkinson, John E
This study explores the relationship between political developments and the keeping of public records at Rome during a crucial time of transition in the inter-connected fields of constitutional law, politics, and administrative practices. The political value of control over records is illustrated in the Struggle of the Orders and remained a dominant issue. That knowledge is power was a reality implicitly recognised in the aristocratic constitution of the Republic, geared as it was to maintain popular political ignorance generally and so to perpetuate the dominance of a particular minority class. Throughout Republican history the question of exposure or repression of such knowledge was grounded in the socio-political tensions of a class-struggle. Translated into the changed setting of the early Principate, the same awareness of the value of control over access to state knowledge is exhibited by the emperor. Particularly relevant was the Augustan ban on the publication of senatorial proceedings, since the relationship between senate and emperor was an area where the increasingly autocratic nature of the emperor's position was most difficult to disguise.
Open Access
Polybius' theory of the anacyclosis of constitutions
(1991) Hermans, Mark Anthony
Open Access
The prose prefaces of Martial and Statius : a study in literary purpose
(1991) Parker, Grant; Coleman, K M
In this thesis I offer a detailed examination of the ten prose prefaces which head the Epigrams of Martial (AD c45-c96) and the Siluae of Statius (c45-c96). The most remarkable feature of these ten short pieces of prose lies in the field of literary history: these are the first extant instances of collections of verse which are headed with pieces of prose, and it is chiefly from this angle that the prefaces are studied. The body of the thesis (Section B) is devoted to a close thematic examination of the prefaces. Their content is discussed under three main headings, namely justification, information and request (chapters 5, 6 and 7 respectively). Within this framework the prefaces are examined in the terms suggested by the four chapters of Section A - the literary history of prefacing (both prose prefaces per se and proems to collections of verse), the production and dissemination of ancient literature, the patronage of letters, and the biographies of the two poets (chapters 1 to 4 respectively). All these topics are treated broadly in Section A and then with specific reference to the prefaces in Section B.
Open Access
The role of the traditional Mediterranean diet in the development of Minoan Crete : archaeological, nutritional and biochemical evidence
(1997) Riley, Frank Richard; Atkinson, John
Archaeological evidence reveals that a diet consisting of mainly of cereals, pulses and olives, supplemented by fish and with a low percentage of animal products, was consumed on Crete in the Minoan period, as it was up to this century. Modem clinical and biochemical research indicates that this traditional 'Mediterranean diet' offers certain nutritional and health benefits depending on the balances of the components - particularly relating to moderately high carbohydrate intake, low saturated (mainly animal) fatty acids and the presence of beneficial fatty acids of vegetable (especially olive) and fish origin. It has been demonstrated that intake of these latter fatty acids is associated with reduction in cardiac pathology and the development of visual and mental acuity in neonatal infants. Beneficial effects in certain cancers and auto-immune diseases are also being investigated. Lipid analyses of samples of Cretan olive oil and Aegean fish (identified taxonomically from faunal remains and Minoan frescoes) confirm good levels of both essential and other dietary fatty foods. An assessment of the nutritional benefits of the Minoan diet and its possible role in the development of Minoan Crete are investigated, using archaeological, demographic, biochemical and skeletal evidence.
Open Access
The semantic development of some Roman ethical concepts in the second century B.C. : based on contemporary literary epigraphical and numismatical evidence
(1968) Van Gysen, Nico; Atkinson, John E
In almost any general study of Roman history, references can be found to the character of the Roman people. Roman character forms the explanation of their conquests, the justification of their empire. Roman character and its resultant code of behaviour influenced early Christian writers; Roman ethical concepts form the firm foundation of Western civilization. Augustine used the Roman spirit of sacrifice for the common good as an example for the inhabitants of the City of God. Dante claims that the Roman people were ordained by nature for empire by foregoing their own advantage to secure the public safety of mankind. Many modern authors echo these sentiments: R.H. Barrow says: 'His virtues are honesty and thrift, forethought and patience, work and endurance and courage, self-reliance, simplicity and humility in the face of what is greater than himself.' He even gives a 'catalogue of virtues' which Romans regarded as characteristically Roman throughout their history. Religio, pietas, officium, gravitas, discipline, industria, virtus, clementia, mores maiorum are the character traits of the Roman people. F.R. Cowell gives a much shorter list (pietas, virtus, gravitas) but he at least warns his readers that these are the virtues which Cicero regarded as typically Roman. Cowell regards them as symptoms of Cicero's enthusiasm for the good old days, and he adds: 'we have learnt in our own day that there are few more misleading imaginative exercises than that of generalizing about the supposed character of so large and complete an organism as a nation.' The purpose of this study is to investigate some of these concepts, their development and importance in early Roman sources. The approach will be ideogrammatic, but to make more general conclusions possible the group of concepts has to be fairly large and this of course means sacrificing depth for the sake of breadth.
Open Access
The shepherd of Hermas : some aspects of its composition and transmission
(1990) Kirkland, Alastair; Atkinson, John E; Ettlinger, G H
The authorship and time of origin of the Shepherd have not been subjected to the same rigorous enquiry as the First Epistle of Clement and the Epistles of Ignatius. The reason for this is probably that the Shepherd has had little to contribute to contemporary polemics in the way that the other two Apostolic Fathers did. The method followed in this study is the reconstruction, where possible, of the contents of each codex of which we have fragments or quotations, and the comparison of the contents of these codices. Where the content of the original codex appears to have been only a part of the Shepherd, calculations based on the traditional three sections - Visions, Mandates and Similitudes - have been used. Where these have not sufficed, manuscript notations have been called into play. The results indicate that there are a number of lines of cleavage within the Shepherd where ancient codices began or ended their selection of material. These lines of cleavage, it is hypothesised, must have originated in the process of composition of the Shepherd. Yet at the same time there was in the ancient codices a perception of the various parts of the Shepherd as a unity. The oldest codex known to us contains the Shepherd in its entirety. Once the lines of cleavage have been established by means of the reconstructed codices and the manuscript notations, a study of internal inconsistences of the sort traditional in "Quellenkritik" or "Literary Criticism" is undertaken, and a chronological schema of the different strands which make up the Shepherd is offered. It is suggested that the core (Viss. I to IV, Mandd. I to XIIa, Simm. I singular parts only, II to VIII) came from one hand, probably towards the end of the first century. This core underwent four subsequent editorial reworkings which produced the text known to us today by the end of the second century.
Open Access
The Byzantine system from within: a comparison of Procopius' Secret History and Lydus' On the Magistracies, and their presentation of the regime of Justinian
(2002) Carew, Gregory
[pg 124,129 is missing] The reason for choosing Procopius and John the Lydian (or Lydus, as he will be referred to for convenience hereafter) for this study of the reign of Justinian is that they both provide contemporary accounts from within the imperial system and portray different persepectives on the reactions to radical change. In this regard, it will be argued that Procopius reflected a reactionary aristocratic point of view and Lydus a bureaucratic one, yet their origins were similar. In his useful content analysis on the work of Lydus, Carney describes him as a representative of the sub-elite. Although the work of other sources contemporary to the reign of Justinian, or dealing with it directly in the later Byzantine period, will be referred to, the comparison in this discussion has been made between Lydus and Procopius for a number of reasons. Firstly, Procopius is by far the most detailed and comprehensive source for the reign of Justinian extant. Moreover, although he doesn't emphasize the role of Christianity in this period in the same manner that those writing ecclesiastical histories and world chronicles do, he has left us with three very different works from different perspectives on Justinian's reign, yet bearing a commonality. Lydus in turn, although not producing a classic of literature as such, has left us with three works detailing aspects of the Roman use of the calendar, portents and the functioning and history of the civil service. The two works that I shall be considering in the most detail will be Procopius' Secret History (or Anecdota, hereafter S.H.) and Lydus' On the Magistracies (referred to for convenience by its Latin title De Magistratibus, abbreviated to De Mag.). At first glance, the former appears unique in classical literature, yet it will be argued that it was not entirely without precedent and needs to be seen in its literary and historical context. Furthermore, the emphasis that it places on administrative history makes it a suitable comparison to Lydus. The latter, however was less controversial, but reveals unique details about one writer's attempt to understand what Justinian's changes meant and what their effect on the Praetorian Prefecture was (which by the reign of Justinian had become the most powerful magistracy in the empire).

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