Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This thesis explores the way women in selected Euripidean tragedies engage with verbal communication and proposes that this female verbal repertoire can serve as a foundation for a feminist...Show moreThis thesis explores the way women in selected Euripidean tragedies engage with verbal communication and proposes that this female verbal repertoire can serve as a foundation for a feminist interpretation of the respective plays. Female interaction with verbal communication can be separated into three distinct categories: a) silence, b) song, and c) speech. Following this categorization, this thesis firstly delves into specific verses from Medea (259-268) and Hippolytus (710-723, 800-805) to indicate that female tragic silence entails a skillful manipulation of speech. Secondly, verses from Medea (410-430) and two fragments from Hypsipyle (752h 3-9, 759a 80-89) are examined to demonstrate how female tragic song can function as a lyrical form of feminine language. Thirdly, Pasiphae’s apologia (472e 4-12, 34-41) in the Cretans is analyzed to pinpoint how female tragic speech can be rhetorically constructed, serving as a springboard for self-exculpation and female empowerment. Drawing from French feminism and American post-structuralist feminism, this study orchestrates a dialogue between the Euripidean corpus and (post) modern feminist theory and indicates how a reader-oriented approach to the ancient texts can both honor a historically grounded reception of tragedy and suggest how modern audiences can imbue classical tragic texts with fresh meaning.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This thesis focuses on the epigraphic material found in monumental tombs from both Palmyra and the Nabataean kingdom in the ancient Middle East, discussing the use of the various terms for funerary...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the epigraphic material found in monumental tombs from both Palmyra and the Nabataean kingdom in the ancient Middle East, discussing the use of the various terms for funerary architecture in their dialects of Aramaic and Greek. The subject is approached from a sociolinguistic perspective, discussing the socio-cultural implications of the distribution and the use of the vocabulary. The combined evidence shows that the funerary sphere, as the most local sphere visible through the epigraphic evidence, is strongly impacted by social change. Different terms are used for different funerary complexes, depending on their location above or below the surface, or on whether they housed individual or grouped burials. The socio-economic developments in Palmyra and Nabataea in the first centuries of our era led to groups from a new upper middle class gaining interest in expressing their cultural identity through funerary complexes, which were previously reserved for the upper elite. These social developments and their consequences are also partly reflected in the vocabulary used for funerary architecture. This thesis hopes to show what a thorough analytical approach on a specific set of vocabulary can bring to the study of identity in the Roman Near East. Diachronic developments in the Aramaic and Greek vocabulary, divisions across region, tomb type and time will be examined, as they show how the funerary landscape developed in the ancient Middle East from the 1st century BCE up to the 3rd century CE. A database of all attested terms for funerary architecture will be provided and analysed, allowing for a detailed view into the use of these different terms across time and place.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
What does it mean to be a good person? How should one behave? What is our soul like? How is it structured? And how does our soul affect our behaviour? These are questions that have occupied us...Show moreWhat does it mean to be a good person? How should one behave? What is our soul like? How is it structured? And how does our soul affect our behaviour? These are questions that have occupied us since the dawn of time. This thesis explores the ways in which Middle Platonist thinkers of the second century AD in particular approach such questions of good moral behaviour. As it turns out, these thinkers tend to focus on the human soul and its constitution in order to tackle moral conundrums. Therefore, the research question this thesis aims to answer is as follows: how do the Middle Platonists of the second century AD use the structure of the human soul in order to enforce practical ethics? By examining the works of Maximus of Tyre, Alcinous, and Galen – authors active in different genres within the Middle Platonic philosophical movement – through the lenses of both ancient psychology as well as ancient moral psychology, this thesis aims to advocate for the presence of a methodology of psychological morality in Middle Platonism: the structure of the human soul is noticeably being used in order to enforce ideal behaviour.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
2024-03-02T00:00:00Z
This thesis tries to review the traditional categories of 'pagan' and 'Christian' in late antique Roman literature by studying the literary afterlife of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. Symmachus is a...Show moreThis thesis tries to review the traditional categories of 'pagan' and 'Christian' in late antique Roman literature by studying the literary afterlife of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. Symmachus is a figure that plays a prominent role in the invention of 'paganism' in late antique Christian apologetics. Through the lens of Ambrose's apologetic letters and Prudentius' epic poem 'Contra Symmachum', Symmachus has often been branded a 'prototypical pagan', even though his own works (especially Relatio 3) and Macrobius' near-contemporary 'Saturnalia' show very different pictures of the Roman senator. The case of the reception of Symmachus and the invention of 'paganism' in late antique literature highlight the biases of our reference system to interpret late antique literature.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2024-08-30
2024-08-30T00:00:00Z
This thesis searches for a profile of the upper classes of the Judean capita in the centuries leading up to the exile. The research combines archaeological and textual evidence to come to a...Show moreThis thesis searches for a profile of the upper classes of the Judean capita in the centuries leading up to the exile. The research combines archaeological and textual evidence to come to a critical approach to studying elites in the ancient Levant. The position of women as part of the elite is discussed explicitly.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis focuses on the philosophical meaning of literal silence in the later Platonic tradition (first to sixth century AD). With ‘literal silence’ I mean the phenomenon or act of silence...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the philosophical meaning of literal silence in the later Platonic tradition (first to sixth century AD). With ‘literal silence’ I mean the phenomenon or act of silence itself that is explicitly indicated in a text. As this thesis shows, silence is not a static but a dynamic concept whose meaning is transformed over time. The first chapter treats the silent philosopher trope in the (Neo)Pythagorean tradition and shows that silence was seen as a philosophical virtue and a (better) alternative to language. These types of silence were intentional and immanent, and also often communicative. The second chapter focuses on quietness as a characteristic of the first principle and as an ontological posture in Middle Platonic and Neoplatonic thought. In this philosophical development, silence is no longer immanent to speech but transcends the human capacity for language. In the last chapter, I show how the thoughts on the limits of language impact the dialectical method and the literary form of some Christian Platonic dialogues that stand out for their silent interlocutors. The conclusion reflects on the different instances of silence and shows how their meanings flow into each other while being transformed throughout antiquity with every author.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
Throughout history people have tried to explain phenomena that were abstract to them, attributing to these events all kinds of reasons ranging from physical to supernatural ones. A system of shared...Show moreThroughout history people have tried to explain phenomena that were abstract to them, attributing to these events all kinds of reasons ranging from physical to supernatural ones. A system of shared beliefs and norms develops, guiding and explaining to them how to act and respond to all kinds of events, among which is death. How people behave after a death has occurred varies widely across cultures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of death held in ancient Mesopotamia and to try to find answers of how it came to be. The first two chapters are dedicated to providing an overview of the Mesopotamian concept of death. The remaining chapters of the current study analyse certain facets of the concept of death which can be traced back to environmental factors. The facets included are: the realm of death, examining its portrayal, location, hierarchy, and type of government; death and burial; the concept of death related to everyday life.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
open access
Were ancient Greek habitual drunks considered mentally ill? This thesis attempts to answer whether ancient Greek drinkers who did not drink according to the drinking rules of the social group they...Show moreWere ancient Greek habitual drunks considered mentally ill? This thesis attempts to answer whether ancient Greek drinkers who did not drink according to the drinking rules of the social group they belonged to (and did so in an excessive fashion) were viewed as behaving in a pathological way from a socio-cultural point of view (to stress: not from a bio-medical one). The study heavily depends on research from the social sciences that focuses on the social function of alcohol consumption, mainly Douglas 1987, and concludes by saying that in ancient Greece certain social conditions that are crucial for a a socio-cultural pathology of problematic drinking to develop were absent in ancient Greek society. Therefore, it appears as improbable that a socio-cultural pathology for 'problematic drinking' was already conceptualised in the ancient Greek world. The aim of the thesis primarily was to contribute to the field of Classics that studies ancient mental illnesses and to attempt to provide more information on the ancient Greek mind and social world. However, the findings also underline that alcoholism, the modern pathology for problematic drinking, should not be perceived as a universal concept, but as a relative one that depends heavily on the current milieu of the modern world.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
closed access
In 1573, the Spanish humanist Juan Latino wrote the Latin epic Austrias carmen, commissioned by the inquisitor Pedro de Deza. This is one of many literary celebrations of the Holy League victory...Show moreIn 1573, the Spanish humanist Juan Latino wrote the Latin epic Austrias carmen, commissioned by the inquisitor Pedro de Deza. This is one of many literary celebrations of the Holy League victory over an Ottoman fleet in the 1571 naval battle of Lepanto. This thesis deals with the work's depiction of the Ottomans: both its more generalised depiction of the Ottomans as a people, and its depiction of a specific Ottoman character, the admiral Ali Pasha. While at first glance, the work appears to paint the Ottomans in a hostile light, some scholars have argued that it also contains scenes that are more empathetic, even sympathetic to the Ottoman 'enemy'. By considering the epic's depiction of the Ottomans in light of its classical intertexts and other contemporaneous Western European responses to the Ottoman Empire, this thesis seeks to nuance this claim. I argue that the work uses many of the tropes of contemporary anti-Ottoman rhetoric, while having less in common with more 'positive' contemporaneous Western European evaluations of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, I aim to demonstrate that the epic's 'sympathetic' passages on the Ottomans tend to have a strong European, and particularly Spanish imperial, bias: any sympathy hinges on Ottoman characters' acceptance of, or submission to, a Spanish imperialist worldview. Finally, I will connect the epic's depiction of the Ottomans to its depiction of the Spanish 'Moriscos' - the part of the Spanish Islamic population that had been forcibly converted to Christianity. The epic links them to the Ottomans, and the recent suppressed revolt of 'Moriscos' in Granada to the battle of Lepanto, thereby presenting these people as an internal enemy of Spain. Here, the epic may show the influence of Latino's patron Deza, who played an important role in the violent repression of the revolt.Show less
