Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
This study describes the realization of Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a specific variety of Western Aramaic, roughly attested during the first 1,500 years of the...Show moreThis study describes the realization of Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a specific variety of Western Aramaic, roughly attested during the first 1,500 years of the common era. It compares it to the realization of TAM in both Biblical Hebrew (with which JPA was in contact through the legacy of the Bible) and Achaemenid Official Aramaic (which is more closely related in a genealogical sense).Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2025-01-01
2025-01-01T00:00:00Z
The ancestors and conceptions of the afterlife have always been one of the most prevalent topics of research within Egyptology. From the ‘scenes of daily life’ in the tombs of the Old Kingdom to...Show moreThe ancestors and conceptions of the afterlife have always been one of the most prevalent topics of research within Egyptology. From the ‘scenes of daily life’ in the tombs of the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom books of the afterlife, a variety in interpretation is not lacking. It is perhaps due to this wealth of later evidence that the Early Dynastic period (c. 3000 – 2613 BCE) remains somewhat of a ‘Dark Age’ in the history of ancient Egypt. This dissertation explores the Early Dynastic attitude towards the tomb, the ancestors, and the afterlife by a holistic examination of the parts of the Early Dynastic tombs that were accessible after the interment of the tomb owner: the tomb superstructure and enclosure space. The corpus of the thesis consists of published superstructures from the Memphite area, that being the capital of Egypt at the time and most densely populated. The spaces are examined in a heuristic manner in Chapter One, with little initial reliance of previous identification and theory. Chapter Two features an examination of the material through the lenses of modern theories and methodologies. Included here are landscape biographies, the structure of the authority of things, human-thing entanglement, ancestor identity, and the ontological turn. The final chapter sees the reintegration of the material into a wider Egyptological framework. The resulting thesis has suggested that little to no uniformity can be seen in regards to post-mortem existence other than the social importance of the individual, and a subsequent wish for acknowledgement and offerings.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
closed access
It is a well-known fact that hunting was an integral part of the ancient Egyptian society. From the Early-dynastic period onwards, hunting appears as an important subject in iconographical as well...Show moreIt is a well-known fact that hunting was an integral part of the ancient Egyptian society. From the Early-dynastic period onwards, hunting appears as an important subject in iconographical as well as in textual sources. In Egyptology hunting is often represented as a symbolic act of fighting the forces of evil, manifesting itself in animals. This idea is often applied to many sources in every historical period of Egyptian history, without taking into consideration the occurring changes on how hunting is represented to us in Egypt’s long history. The question is then: how did the concept of hunting and its significance develop from the Early-Dynastic Period to the New Kingdom 20th dynasty, and what are the main problems encountered when studying the development, and significance of hunting in ancient Egypt? In order to answer this question we must analyse the primary sources themselves. Iconographic depictions of hunting appear on royal monuments as well on monuments dedicated to the elite such as tombs, but also on objects used in daily life. Besides there are also textual sources which tell us about hunt. This great variety in contexts means it is paramount to study these sources in their proper context. This proves that most sources have their own significance in their own context, and that we cannot apply one single interpretation to all sources concerned with hunting. The primary sources indicate that the iconographical representation, and ideological meaning of hunting changed throughout Egyptian history. It is these changes that will be discussed during in this thesis. Different kinds of hunting will be discussed such as fishing, fowling, the hippopotamus hunt, and desert hunt.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis examines how Heinsius, in his Monobiblos, engages with his Greek and Latin literary models in terms of imitation and allusion, illustrated by a commentary on the first and the third...Show moreThis thesis examines how Heinsius, in his Monobiblos, engages with his Greek and Latin literary models in terms of imitation and allusion, illustrated by a commentary on the first and the third elegy of the first edition of the Monobiblos.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
Death is a topic that is rarely discussed in Sumerian texts. Few literary texts deal with this topic while some only touch upon it, even though death was, and still is, unavoidable. The literary...Show moreDeath is a topic that is rarely discussed in Sumerian texts. Few literary texts deal with this topic while some only touch upon it, even though death was, and still is, unavoidable. The literary texts that concern death originate predominantly from the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods (2100 – 1600 BC). The subjects of these texts, the ones that die, are wide-ranging: humans, both kings and non-royal Mesopotamians had to come to terms with their mortality; gods, who, although immortal, were not invincible; and cities, which could ‘die’ by being destroyed and abandoned. Since there was a great variety in subjects dying, the question arises as to whether they were all treated the same in the texts. This forms the first research question: did the scribes follow a literary tradition when describing death? Furthermore, the preserved copies of these texts all date to the period after the transition from the Ur III dynasty to the first dynasty of Isin, and might reflect some of the ideological developments that are characteristic of this transition, such as in the ideology of divine kingship. The second research question addresses the issue of how the texts are related to royal ideology and whether during this post-Ur III period death was consistently described in similar terms or that other, perhaps political, influences are noticeable.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis examines all the material (reliefs, stelae, a statue and a papyrus) that in the past and/or the present have been/are connected to (the Memphite lost tomb of) Hormin. Hormin served as...Show moreThis thesis examines all the material (reliefs, stelae, a statue and a papyrus) that in the past and/or the present have been/are connected to (the Memphite lost tomb of) Hormin. Hormin served as the Overseer of the Royal Appartments of Memphis under the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II. Based on criteria such as style, the Hormin material is defined and the origins of the incorrect connections to Hormin are investigated. Next to this, all the information is gathered in the Hormin material in order to attempt to reconstruct the life and career of Hormin. Moreover, the nineteenth century discovery and exploitation of the tomb, resulting in the material being spread over at least five museums (Bologna, Paris, Cairo, Leiden, Berlin), is examined. This information assists in deciding what can be said of Hormin's lost tomb and what not (architecture of the tomb; further material that can still be found in the tomb etc.). This thesis highlights the issues involved when studying New Kingdom Saqqara, especially material without a tomb context.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis aims to give an in depth look at the dummy writing and painting palettes of ancient Egypt. A suggested terminology of the subject is presented together with a corpus of dummy palettes...Show moreThis thesis aims to give an in depth look at the dummy writing and painting palettes of ancient Egypt. A suggested terminology of the subject is presented together with a corpus of dummy palettes and related objects. On the basis of this corpus the different aspects of the dummy palettes, such as their materials, symbolism, archaeological context, and ownership, are studied in order to reach a better understanding of why these objects were made and how they were meant to function.Show less
