Grote culturele veranderingen brengen ook grote religieuse veranderingen. Dionysos groeide van een angstaanjagende natuurgod uit tot het middelpunt van sociale beschaving en persoonlijk genot. Wat...Show moreGrote culturele veranderingen brengen ook grote religieuse veranderingen. Dionysos groeide van een angstaanjagende natuurgod uit tot het middelpunt van sociale beschaving en persoonlijk genot. Wat zat hier achter?Show less
Historiography has characterised Roman North Africa as consisting of 'two worlds', a world of Roman cities on the one hand and indigenous rural hinterlands on the other. Using geographical analysis...Show moreHistoriography has characterised Roman North Africa as consisting of 'two worlds', a world of Roman cities on the one hand and indigenous rural hinterlands on the other. Using geographical analysis, survey archaeology and discourse analysis, this thesis researches the extent to which the marginal hinterlands (or 'shatter zones') of Late Antique North Africa were integrated into the wider Roman, Mediterranean state space. Despite the topographic difficulties for the Roman Empire to control the mountainous and steppe inland of the region, survey archaeology reveals a landscape that became thoroughly transformed under the later Roman Empire. Integration in the third to fifth centuries ended in the sixth century under the pressure of emperor Justinian's ideology of imperial renovatio.Show less
The Ravenna Papyri is a set of documents from Late Antiquity. The documents provide insight into the system and structure of land ownership in this rather understudied period (445 AD - 700 AD)....Show moreThe Ravenna Papyri is a set of documents from Late Antiquity. The documents provide insight into the system and structure of land ownership in this rather understudied period (445 AD - 700 AD). This study examines both the social and economic aspects of the papyri, with an emphasis on (1) the organization of agriculture in the sources, (2) the social structure of landowners and those who are connected to landholdings (often by working on it as tenant), and (3) how landholdings circulated (between owners).Show less
Emperor Justinian (r.527 to 565) was one of the most famous and infamous emperors of Late Antiquity. One of his most remarkable qualities had been his legislative fervour. Early on, he had...Show moreEmperor Justinian (r.527 to 565) was one of the most famous and infamous emperors of Late Antiquity. One of his most remarkable qualities had been his legislative fervour. Early on, he had completed what would later be called the Corpus Iuris Civilis, incorporating the Codex, the Digesta and the Institutiones. However, in the wake of this Corpus, his reign produced another 155 ‘new laws’ that have not yet received the scholarly attention they deserve. This thesis has taken these Novellae seriously as a corpus of its own and has explored how we should understand this multitude of laws in their socio-political context and how these innovations were anchored in a sixth-century worldview. The Novellae performed a multi-layered balancing act between tradition and innovation, subject and emperor, and being shaped by and shaping society. However, these laws singled out one person whose presence invaded every corner of the text: the emperor. He was ruler of the eternal Roman Empire and Christian father of the people. In the end, he knew what was best.Show less
In the 5th century BC, athletes in Greece increasingly became heroized and celebrated in legend and cult. Through alleged displays of dúnamis, aretē, and other parts of their narratives, athletes...Show moreIn the 5th century BC, athletes in Greece increasingly became heroized and celebrated in legend and cult. Through alleged displays of dúnamis, aretē, and other parts of their narratives, athletes were compared to mythic heroes and associated with a ‘heroic paradigm’ that made it possible for them to gain enough kleos or ‘fame’ to turn into new heroes and to become incorporated in Greek legends. The aim of this thesis is to compare these ‘heroic athletes’ to non-heroized athletes in a threefold way: by looking at athletic feats and displays of strength (dúnamis), other ways in which athletes measured up to a heroic paradigm in life (aretē), and alleged manners of death and possible cults as they were narrated in Greek legends. In doing so, it lays bare similarities and differences between accounts of heroic athletes and those who were not heroized, and takes a step towards applying the notion of kleos to the ideological motivations behind Greek processes of heroization in the 5th century BC.Show less
This study searches for an answer to the question who the Palestinian leistes was and which role he played within early Roman Palestinian society. It starts with a re-examination of earlier models,...Show moreThis study searches for an answer to the question who the Palestinian leistes was and which role he played within early Roman Palestinian society. It starts with a re-examination of earlier models, mainly the Zealot model and the social banditry model. Due to dissatisfaction with both major models, it continues by seeing latrocinium as a means used by both regional strongmen and Palestinian peasant communities to fulfil economic, social, and political goals. Peasants entered into patronal relations with regional strongmen and performed latrocinium-like activities for the former in exchange for protection against subsistence crises and external enemies. The regional strongmen on the other hand, used their leistai to strengthen their own position in society. This study looks at how latrocinium worked in Early Roman Palestine and how it penetrated into all levels of society. Furthermore, making use of both the model developed in this study and the model of multi-polar network-centric insurgency, it proposes a new way of looking at the First Jewish War (66-74AD) and at the role of leistai within this event.Show less
Welke relaties bestaan er tussen de Romein en de hond, welke inzichten in de Romeinse samenleving verschaffen deze relaties en hoe verhouden die zich met hoe men tegenwoordig in Nederland met...Show moreWelke relaties bestaan er tussen de Romein en de hond, welke inzichten in de Romeinse samenleving verschaffen deze relaties en hoe verhouden die zich met hoe men tegenwoordig in Nederland met honden omgaat? Deze hoofdvraag onderzoek ik in drie categoriën. De eerste gaat over de daadwerkelijke omgang met honden, de tweede over verhalen over de (gedeeltelijke) transformatie van mens in hond en de laatste categorie gaat over de rol van honden in de bovennatuur. De daadwerkelijke omgang gaat over de relatie tussen hond en baas, of het nu om waakhonden of schoothonden gaat, de puppytijd of juist het overlijden van het dier. Het transformatiegedeelte zal gaan over alles wat tussen het menselijke en het dierlijke in zit, met name weerwolven en cynocefalen. Deze categorie is zeer interessant voor de perceptie van de Romein van de hond, omdat er hier sprake is van mythes over hybridewezens die mens noch dier zijn, maar iets ertussenin. Deze verhalen geven extra inzicht in wat nu eigenlijk mens-zijn definieert. De goddelijke categorie zal gaan over goden die met honden worden geassocieerd, honden als attribuut hebben en de rol die honden spelen in verband met de bovennatuur. Deze drie thema’s samen geven ons een inkijkje in de antieke samenleveing. Ze geven inzicht in hoe men tegenover dieren, goden en zichzelf staat. In combinatie met elkaar werpen de thema’s licht op hoe men denkt over de verschillen tussen mens en dier, hoe menselijke eigenschappen worden geprojecteerd op dieren en of de godenwereld door de alledaagse realiteit wordt vormgegeven. Of anders gezegd, het geeft ons iets meer inzicht in het antieke menselijke gedrag en ook het denken, door zowel verhalen en ideeën als de werkelijkheid te bekijken.Show less
