School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 4 of 4
-
ItemSocial, civic and architectural unity at Aspendos, Aphrodisias and Oenoanda: three Greek agoras in Asia Minor( 2011)This thesis discusses the development of the Greek agora in three cities in Asia Minor: Aspendos, Aphrodisias and Oenoanda, from the Hellenistic period to the end of new major public building work in the late Imperial period. Previous scholarship of Greek agoras in Asia Minor has tended to focus on individual buildings, using a comparative methodology to establish the extent to which any building was representative of its type. This approach has been essential in understanding the evolution of specific buildings but has at times overlooked the interplay of the architecture on the agora and its relationship with other elements which were typically found there such as honorific inscriptions, statue monuments and altars. The agora was the political and social heart of a Classical-style polis and most likely originated as a large open space for citizens to participate in public life. The agora subsequently evolved specific building types to accommodate for the increasingly wide range of activities practised there. It also came to be one of the preferred locations for local and foreign elite to practice euergetism in order to legitimise their positions of power and right to rule within the social hierarchy of the city. This thesis takes up the concept of ‘urban armature’ and focuses this approach on the agora’s role in a city as the provider of social and civic unity as well as a space for the expression of the identity of its citizens. Apart from the discussion of the architectural development of the buildings which could be found on the agora, this thesis also takes into account historical, social, political and economic factors especially in terms of their effect on the architectural development of the agoras in the three cities discussed in this thesis. By applying this approach to three case studies, new observations are made about the agora and its development in these cities.
-
ItemThe context of wall brackets during the Late Bronze Age on Cyprus( 2011)Wall brackets are enigmatic ceramic objects which begin to be found on Cyprus during the Late Cypriot (ca. 1600-1050 B.C.) and proceeding Cypro-Geometric period (ca. 1050-750 B.C.). They have been found in diverse contexts including domestic structures, sanctuaries, industrial areas and tombs. Their function is not known although a number have been suggested, including lamps, incense burners, coal scoops, water ladles and figure holders. This has made it difficult to determine their meaning and until recently they have mostly been interpreted through stylistic and iconographic comparisons with other objects, or through the use of analogy with wall brackets found outside of Cyprus or from much later periods. The results of these interpretations have usually been paradoxically either that they are perfectly mundane objects or that they are a ritual/religious object. Several recent approaches have used contextual analysis to attempt to determine the meaning and function of wall brackets outside of Cyprus. Although they have been more successful than previous analyses, they were hampered by the uncritical inclusion of earlier less rigorous investigations. A contextual analyses of the wall brackets from the Late Cypriot period on Cyprus indicates that a multiplicity of functions including as lamps, incense burners, scoops and as holders for other objects was possible. Their context of use also indicates a broad range of meanings. This ranged from them being integral to ritual activity and ceremonially disposed of, to being discarded as part of a feasting deposit with either fragments being included because this was a meaningful act or because other fragments were curated as tokens, to them being simply discarded as refuse when broken and no longer functional.
-
ItemMinoan stone vessels with Linear A inscriptions( 2011)Minoan stone vessels with Linear A inscriptions are ritual vessels whose stone and inscriptions denoted the permanence of the dedicants’ devotion. The vessels were dedicated to deities, and were used in a variety of Minoan rituals, some of which can be tentatively reconstructed. Most of the vessels come from peak sanctuaries, the most important of which probably doubled as observatories for marking the passage of the equinoxes and solstices; thus the concentration of inscribed vessels at these sites suggests that the vessels played a part in seasonal rituals whose timing was determined by the sun and moon. The seasonality of these rituals suggests that they were focused on aspects of the cycle of life: fertility, birth, death and renewal. However, offerings left with the vessels also suggest that people visited these sanctuaries for other, more personal reasons—for example, to give thanks for good fortune, to request healing, or to seek divine protection before a dangerous journey. Inscribed stone vessels may have played a part in any of these rituals. A smaller number of inscribed stone vessels come from Kato Syme, a very important shrine built high on a flank of Mt Dikte, on the spot where a perpetual spring issues from the mountain. This spring is an important water source for the valleys and arable lands below; thus the location of the sanctuary again suggests that the inscribed vessels found there were used in rituals focussed on the divine source(s) of fertility. Most inscribed stone vessels can be interpreted as receptacles for liquid and/or solid offerings. The so-called Minoan ‘ladles’ are a special case: I interpret them as pouring vessels meant to be held in cupped hands. Iconographic evidence suggests that ‘ladles’ may have been used in male maturation rites. Though Linear A remains undeciphered, linguistic analysis of the inscriptions on the vessels is still possible on several fronts. Clues to the phonology of Minoan can be found in the structure of Linear A itself, and in the way in which it was borrowed by the Mycenaeans to create Linear B. Mycenaean spellings of Minoan words and names also contain clues as to the sounds of Minoan, while alternating Classical spellings of some Minoan words suggest that Minoan had some sounds that were not native to Greek. The morphology of Minoan can be investigated through statistical analyses of the frequency with which the various Linear A signs occur. Inflection in human languages usually involves affixes; thus signs that appear inordinately often at the beginnings or ends of Linear A words are likely to be prefixes and suffixes. Finally: most inscribed Minoan stone vessels contain a version of the so-called ‘Libation formula’, a lengthy sequence of Minoan words; comparing these versions yields valuable clues about the nature of Minoan syntax. The results of these investigations suggest that Minoan is a non-Indo-European, non-Semitic language with a fairly standard set of phonemes, an agglutinative morphology incorporating both prefixes and suffixes, and (possibly) VSO word order.
-
ItemWhat are these queer stones? Baetyls: epistemology of a Minoan fetish( 2011)This thesis examines the aniconic cult stones, or baetyls, of the Aegean Bronze Age. Minoan baetyls are commonly understood by reference to the interpretive vocabularies of ancient Near Eastern traditions adopted by comparative ethnographies popular in the early 20th century. This study presents and interrogates the Aegean evidence for baetyl cult, providing the first comprehensive catalogue of archaeological evidence attesting to this cultic practice. A rigorous contextual analysis provides the basis for interpreting and (re)constructing aspects of the cult. It is argued that the ambiguity inherent in these aniconic stones renders them uniquely flexible in serving multiple functions across different contexts.