The ‘Galatians’ are often stereotypically depicted as warlike barbarians that migrated to Asia Minor during the early third century BCE. After they plundered their way through Greece and Anatolia,...Show moreThe ‘Galatians’ are often stereotypically depicted as warlike barbarians that migrated to Asia Minor during the early third century BCE. After they plundered their way through Greece and Anatolia, they adapted themselves to the customs of the superior ‘Greeks’ of the Hellenistic world. This research aims to change this conventional paradigm through the investigation of their fortifications. Three ‘Galatian’ fortifications are analysed, these are called Tabanlioğlu Kale, Zengibar Kale and Karalar. The ‘Hellenistic'-style of these undervalued military fortifications are until now interpreted as the unidirectional result of dominant ethnic ‘Greek’ cultural influence. The goal of this study is to re-examine these traditional thoughts in light of the globalisation theory. It will investigate the relationship between the local and global characteristics of the fortifications and try to understand the various cultural relationships that appeared in central Anatolia during the Hellenistic-Roman period. The research finally exposes that the ‘Galatian’ fortifications were local creations but that they were also used as active agents to express a notion of ‘belonging’ to the wider global Hellenistic world.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
This thesis investigates the presence of Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects at the Villa Hadriana – a large Imperial Villa built 19 Roman miles from Rome by the Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd...Show moreThis thesis investigates the presence of Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects at the Villa Hadriana – a large Imperial Villa built 19 Roman miles from Rome by the Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century A.D.. The Villa was rediscovered in the 15th century and from very early on, ‘Egypt’ at the Villa played a prominent role in the understanding and interpretation of the site. In traditional approaches, Hadrian’s mourning for his young lover Antinous who drowned in the Nile and a subsequent fascination with Egypt are commonly brought forward as explanations for the presence of ‘Egypt’ at the Villa. The Egyptian and Egyptianzing objects are seen in isolation, believed to have originated in specifically ‘Egyptian’ localities within the Villa. Subsequently, an exotic and/or religious meaning was awarded to them, because that was how Egypt was perceived to have been. This approach to Egypt was not unique to the Villa but deeply embedded in the discourse that investigated ‘Egypt’ in the Roman world. However, recently scholars in the field have started to move away from a priori interpretations of Aegyptiaca in the Roman world and towards a more contextual approach in which both the wider cultural-historical framework and the direct spatial context are considered. In this thesis, three localities from within the Villa have been selected: The Canopus, The Antinoeion and the Palestra. Although they have very different research trajectories, all three have been interpreted as Egyptian religious monuments built out of a special relation between Hadrian and Egypt, based on the presence of Aegyptiaca. This thesis has challenged these interpretations and has taken an object-centered approach to Aegyptiaca at the Villa to understand why Hadrian used and appropriated Egypt at the Villa, and how he did it. Aegyptiaca were studied not as an isolated and conceptually different category, but in dialogue with the architecture and (Hellenistic-Roman) material culture around them. In this thesis, objects were first studied at the level of the individual object, second at the level of the spatial context and lastly at the level of the wider Imperial Roman context. The resulting conclusion of this alternative approach is that Egypt was used and appropriated differently in the so-called Canopus, Antinoeion and Palestra and that it cannot be assumed that they were isolated localities with religious or exotic meaning. On a more general level, this thesis argues that Egypt could mean and do different things in different contexts. At the Palestra, for example, Egyptian and Hellenistic-Roman styles can be seen fully integrated within indicidual objects. An important answer to the question why Hadrian used and appropriated Egypt is the legitimization of his Imperial power. At the Canopus, Hadrian stressed Egypt’s deep past as a cultural constituent for the Roman world, in opposition to Greece. As such, he created a long term Mediterranean-wide continuity that stretched far back. At the Antinoeion, amongst other things through associations with the Flavian Iseum Campense, Egypt is stressed as a more historical continuity. Egypt had been symbolically very important to both the Julio-Claudian and Flavian dynasties and as such had become a powerful symbol Hadrian could use for his own new Dynastic rule.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
Central to this thesis is an object from Rome dating to the fourth century CE, the so-called Hylas panel from the ‘Basilica of Iunius Bassus'. This object is usually categorized under the heading...Show moreCentral to this thesis is an object from Rome dating to the fourth century CE, the so-called Hylas panel from the ‘Basilica of Iunius Bassus'. This object is usually categorized under the heading of ‘Aegyptiaca’; Egyptian or Egyptianizing objects that, due to their style, provenance or iconography, are assumed to be connected with Egypt or ‘Egypt as an idea’. This thesis, in the first place, intends to add to existing debates concerning this Late Roman ‘Aegyptiacum’, asking questions about the way it functioned in its fourth century CE context, with a specific interest in its ‘Egyptian’ dimensions. Furthermore, it attempts to provide a better understanding of 'Egypt' as a cultural concept in fourth century CE Rome by applying recent theoretical insights on 'cultural biography' and material agency.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
The incredible rock-cut architecture at the Nabataean capital of Petra, Jordan, has marveled many. They have been, and still are, the subject of many archaeological projects in the region. However,...Show moreThe incredible rock-cut architecture at the Nabataean capital of Petra, Jordan, has marveled many. They have been, and still are, the subject of many archaeological projects in the region. However, the scholarly emphasis on these Nabataean monuments has casted a shadow over all things mundane. Due to this focus, surprisingly little is known about the Nabataean kingdom (second century BC- AD 106), and the people within. Although houses have been excavated from the beginning of the research in the 1930’s onwards, and successfulness of the study of societies through houses in the archaeological record has been well established for other periods in the Near East, the results of these studies are not yet integrated in the study of the Nabataean society as a whole. This thesis aims to give an overview of the available information about houses which were excavated in the past, and to use this information to reconstruct these buildings and their function. Subsequently, this information is used, together with information from epigraphic and ethnographic sources, to study the different social structures which are represented in the dataset. Lastly, on the basis of the Nabataean material culture (small finds, public and private architecture) this culture is placed into the regional context of the Hellenised world. From this study, it becomes apparent that the perspective on non-monumental architecture is a useful one to study the Nabataean society and complement the data from previous studies. It is shown that the houses do not only provide more information about the society, but that they can also be used to contextualize the monuments, and especially their architectural styles.Show less
This thesis has the subject of the Apulo-Corinthian Helmet, a south-east Italian helmet type and what it can say about the culture in which it was used. After establishing what an apulo-Corinthian...Show moreThis thesis has the subject of the Apulo-Corinthian Helmet, a south-east Italian helmet type and what it can say about the culture in which it was used. After establishing what an apulo-Corinthian helmet exactly is and which Type’s there are, I went on and found out that we can also order these helmets by Groups that were made by the same craftsman. After this I investigated the spreading, which very clearly pointed out Apulia was the region were these helmets originate from. Then I explained that to helmets with a known context were all from tombs, some very rich, some of them poorer than other graves of their time, but most of the tombs had the same objects within them; military equipment, metal vessels, Lucanian, Campanian and local pottery, and some had Attic pottery. In the conclusion I answered the research questions, Where, when and in which contexts do these helmets occur? And What is the meaning of this type helmet in these contexts and what does this meaning of the helmets say about the cultural character of Apulia between the end of the 6th and the end of the 4th century B.C.?Show less
The engraved Tridacna shell in the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden the Netherlands fits into a corpus of engraved Tridacna shells, engraved Tridacna shell and Lambis shell...Show moreThe engraved Tridacna shell in the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden the Netherlands fits into a corpus of engraved Tridacna shells, engraved Tridacna shell and Lambis shell discs and cosmetic palette’s. These object have been interpreted as luxury items and cosmetic containers produced by Phoenicians, in the past. However, the use and meaning of the Tridacna shells is complex and differs by region, such this study shows. Their meaning is layered and defined by the context of use. Some were evidently connected to the ritual sphere as in the case of votive offerings, some however were of more personal utilitarian character These objects are representative ‘s of the omnidirectional connections in the Iron Age Mediterranean world. They show the connections to be active deep in-land, in the East Mediterranean. They also show that the boundaries scholars set between cultural regions for decades are fluid or not existing at all. The stylistic features observed in the iconography of depictions on the engraved Tridanca’s, palette’s and engraved shell discs are not illustrative of several cultural influences converging in Phoenician artistic expression, but of an interregional koinè. A language of visual expression spoken throughout the Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions. It consists of ‘styles’ and motives not bounded by any ‘culture’. No longer attached to ‘a’ single meaning within a region. Thus stylistic features that have been guiding the origin debate about these objects should not be leading. Evaluation of the archaeological context, set in the framework as postulated by Horden and Purcell of interconnected regions in the Mediterranean, gives reason to revise. New objects have come to light that lead to a production among the semi-settled pastoral and nomadic tribes in the region of Edom situated in the South of present day Jordan. The engraved Tridacna shells could have been traded toward the West by Phoenician sailing merchants but this is not the only possible means of distribution.Show less
