Wednesday, October 21, 2026

“Into the Earth or Into the Womb”: Medico-Mythic Gynecology

“Into the Earth or Into the Womb”: Medico-Mythic Gynecology
Amey, Miranda

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Greek and Latin

This project uses mythology as a heuristic tool to enrich our understanding of the ancient female body and its processes. Alongside the important and necessary implications afforded by Greco-Roman myth, each of my chapters works through the prominent tripartite biological statuses of the ancient woman that appear in the surviving Greco-Roman gynecological documents—post-natal care, pregnancy/birth, and virginity. By approaching the material from three separate angles, my dissertation explores the complex relationship between medicine and mythology. In each life stage of an ancient woman, I reveal how “irrational” myth and “rational” Greco-Roman medicine support one another in the reckoning, mechanisms, and actions of the female body. Each chapter utilizes Soranus' Gynecology to commence an analysis of each life stage because, as a document speculated to be a manual for midwifery, it offers a viable proving ground due to its range of topics from virginity to raising children.

Committee: Fritz Graf (Advisor); Julia Nelson Hawkins (Committee Member); Sarah Iles Johnston (Committee Member) 
 

 

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The Birth of Sacrifice: Ritualized Deities in Eastern Mediterranean Mythology

The Birth of Sacrifice: Ritualized Deities in Eastern Mediterranean Mythology
Hütwohl, Dannu

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Greek and Latin

This dissertation explores myths from cultures of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean that depict gods performing sacrifice and gods as the victims of sacrifice. The author investigates how the motif of divine sacrifice or ritualized deities is connected to aitiologies of sacrifice and the typology of dying and rising gods. The author situates the myths within a historical framework of cultural exchange in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean to show how different cultures in contact adapted and creatively reworked myths about gods involved in sacrifice. The author begins with a new reading of the Mesopotamian story of Atrahasis and shows through an analysis of Mesopotamian ritual texts that the slaughter of the god Ilawela in Atrahasis should be interpreted as the first sacrifice, which results in the creation of humans who then provide offerings to the gods. The author then uses the Hebrew Bible as a case study to show how the theme of sacrifice and anthropogeny was adapted by a neighboring culture. Then, with a close reading of Hesiod's myth of Prometheus and Pandora and the Greek story of the flood preserved by Pseudo-Apollodoros, the author argues that Greek authors borrowed the Mesopotamian motif of sacrifice and anthropogeny and adapted it to fit Greek theology. Next, in an investigation of the fragmentary Phoenician myth of Melqart, the author offers a new reading of the myth about the attempted sacrifice of Herakles recorded by Herodotos and argues that the historian preserves a Greek adaptation of the myth of the sacrifice of Melqart, who was syncretized with Herakles by the fifth-century BCE. The author then reads the Phoenician myth of the sacrifice of the infant god Ieoud, preserved by the Roman period author Philo of Byblos, as an adaptation of the pattern of a dying and rising god known from the Ugaritic myth of Baal, the historical antecedent of Melqart. Accordingly, the author shows how Philo's myth of Ieoud provides crucial information for reconst (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carolina López-Ruiz (Advisor); Fritz Graf (Committee Member); Sam Meier (Committee Member) 
 

 

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Bet Rhomaye: Being and Belonging in Syriac in the Late Roman Empire

Wolfe, James

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Greek and Latin

My dissertation investigates how Syriac-speakers conceptualized their communal subjectivities within a Roman imperial context. I argue that Syriac literature from the Roman empire, and especially Syriac historiography and Syriac liturgical texts, provided Syriac-speakers with the discursive tools with which they could interpret recent history and formulate conceptions of the self within a Roman context. I argue that Syriac identity prior to the formation of the Syriac Orthodox Church was articulated through a dialectic with contemporary Roman imaginaries of ethnicity and citizenship. In doing so, I problematize scholarship that supposes `Syriacness' and `Romanness' were antithetical in the late Roman period. Instead, I contend that Syriac-speaking communities adopted, manipulated, and redefined discourses of Romanness in order to create their own Syriac-speaking Roman subjectivities.

Committee: Anthony Kaldellis (Advisor); David Brakke (Committee Member); Fritz Graf (Committee Member) 

 

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Newly Open Access Journal: Journal of Ancient History

Journal of Ancient History 

About this journal

The current volume of <journal name> is open access via Subscribe to Open (S2O). All accepted articles will be published under a Creative Commons license at no cost to authors. Learn more about De Gruyter Brill’s Subscribe to Open program.

Objective
The Journal of Ancient History aims to provide a forum for scholarship covering all aspects of ancient history and culture from the Archaic Period to Late Antiquity (roughly the ninth century BCE through the eighth century CE). The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles concerning the history and historiography (ancient and modern) of the ancient Mediterranean world and of neighboring civilizations in their relations with it. The journal is open to submissions in discipline s closely related to ancient history, including epigraphy, numismatics, religion and law. The journal does not currently publish book reviews.

Vol. 14 (2026):  

 

See AWOL's full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies


 

 

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Tuesday, October 20, 2026

The Porphyry Ceiling. Ethnicity and Power in the Late Roman Empire

Storti, Gemma

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Greek and Latin

My dissertation investigates how questions of ethnicity affected social mobility in the military and political context of the late Roman empire. In particular, I focus on individuals of the fourth and fifth centuries whose ethnic profiles can be defined as non-Roman, and I illustrate how their ethnic `otherness' could be considered as a liability for advancement in the Roman state. Through the analysis of selected case studies, I show that invisible barriers to recognition and promotion were in place in the late Roman world for individuals with a non-Roman pedigree. The careers of Alaric, Gainas, Stilicho, Aspar, Arbogast, Ricimer, Magnentius, and Zeno testify to the existence of these barriers, which I call the `Porphyry Ceiling' after the modern notion of the Glass Ceiling.

Committee: Anthony Kaldellis (Advisor) 

 

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Bishops and Books: Literary Authenticity and Authority in Early Christianity

Bishops and Books: Literary Authenticity and Authority in Early Christianity
Koperski, Andrew

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

This dissertation examines early Christian literary hierarchies and categories, beginning in the pre-Christian context of the Hellenistic world and ending in the early Middle Ages. While scholars have long studied the formation of the biblical canon and the development of ancillary classes of text, such as the so-called “apocrypha,” many accounts of this history struggle to evince how these intellectual and institutional categories changed over time, which tends to obscure early Christian intellectual nuance and circumspection. This project improves our understanding by rooting early Christian evaluation of sacred (or potentially sacred) literature in the literary criticism of the classical world. It finds that, over the course of centuries, early Christianity generally moved away from the question of textual authenticity to the question of theological authority. In many cases, this movement corresponded to the maturation of the institutional episcopacy, particularly in the post-Constantinian era. Consequently, while Hellenistic literary criticism had once provided the chief template for Christians to evaluate books, hierarchies of text became increasingly institutionalized and supposed to have been settled by earlier authorities. By the sixth century, some Christian commentators forgot the meaning of the older categories altogether.

Committee: Kristina Sessa (Advisor) 
 

 

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Coastal Archaeology in Small Islands: Prehistoric Lifeways, Research Perceptions, Biases, Methods and Approaches

Edited by Maaike S. de Waal

The potential of investigating archaeology on small islands has long been underestimated. Non-local archaeologists often regard such islands as offering (too) few opportunities for prehistoric use and habitation due to limited resources and isolation, whereas prehistoric communities saw them as resource-rich and well-connected. Accessibility and logistical challenges further affect research on small or remote islands, reflecting modern biases shaped by reliance on cars and (digital) infrastructure.

This volume brings together research projects on prehistoric coastal archaeology in islands now perceived as ‘small’ or ‘remote’. Divided into five sections, it includes 14 chapters by 23 contributors, covering case studies from the Cyclades (Greece), Adriatic (Croatia), Mediterranean, Galician Atlantic (Spain), Kalmarsund (Sweden), Scotland, Fiji, Japan, and the Caribbean.

The contributions address themes such as insularity, interaction, and connectivity, as well as biases linked to ideas of remoteness and isolation. By examining what islands offered to prehistoric communities and tracing the continuous use of coastal locations, the volume shows that these were not marginal areas but activity hotspots. It also considers coastal erosion, threatened heritage, island ecology, and prehistoric resource use and adaptation.

It is hoped that this volume will inspire local and non-local archaeologists and archaeology enthusiasts to collaborate in documenting, investigating, and protecting coastal heritage in small islands.

Paperback ISBN: 9789464264630 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464264647 | Imprint: Sidestone Press | Format: 182x257mm | 282 pp. | Language: English | 5 illus. (bw) | 71 illus. (fc) | Keywords: small islands; coastal archaeology; prehistory; coastal processes; remoteness; site survival | download cover | DOI: 10.59641/s3v9p0q1r2 | CC-license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

 

List of Figures and Tables

SECTION ONE. INTRODUCTION

Foreword
Helen Dawson

1. Introduction: Coastal Archaeology in Small Islands
Maaike S. de Waal

2. Island Archaeology: An Integrative Review from a Maritime Perspective
Veronica Walker Vadillo, & Kristin Ilves

SECTION TWO. MOBILITY, CONNECTEDNESS, AND INSULARITY

3. Connecting the Coastline. Visibility and Coastal Navigation in the Southern Coastline of Menorca during the Late Bronze Age
Alejandra Galmés-Alba, & Manuel Calvo Trias

4. Transporting Parian and Naxian Marble in the Cyclades
Judith Muñoz-Sogas

5. The Relevance of ‘Far-Flung’ Island Landscapes in Prehistoric Scotland: Loch Roag and the Complex of Calanais
Gail Higginbottom, Vincent Mom, & Mike Efstathiou

6. Challenging Concepts of Remoteness in the Outer Hebrides
Emily Gal, & Rebecca Rennell

7. Beachware as a Cultural Resource in Prehistoric Small Island Societies: Examples from the Western Isles, Scotland, and the Ryukyu Islands, Japan
Matt Law

SECTION THREE. METHODS

8. Project SENTINELA. Monitoring and Documenting the Erosive Processes on the Cultural Heritage of the Galician Atlantic Islands
Patricia Valle Abad, Alba Antía Rodríguez Novoa, Marta Lago Cerviño, & Adolfo Fernández Fernández

9. Three Eroding Shetland Sites: Community Monitoring and Targeted Investigation
Ellie Graham

10. Pre-colonial Indigenous Settlement in Eroding Coastal Landscapes. The Sites of Little Bay, Boscobelle Bay, and Skeetes Bay Plateau, Barbados
Maaike S. de Waal

SECTION FOUR. LANDSCAPE NARRATIVES

11. From Defense to Display: Bronze Age Hillforts on the Small Adriatic Island of Ist
Pio Domines Peter

12. What a Clam Can Reveal: Understanding Settlement Realignment c. 2500 cal yr BP in Southwestern Viti Levu, Fiji
Roselyn Kumar, Frank R. Thomas, and Amy Prendergast

13. Within the Stories of a Landscape – Archaeology and Folklore on The Blue Maiden, a Pristine Island in the Kalmar Strait
Kenneth Alexandersson & Anna-Karin Karlsson

SECTION FIVE. CONCLUSIONS

14. Epilogue: Looking Back and Looking Forwards
Maaike S. de Waal

Acknowledgements
Author Biographies

 

 

 
 

 

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Unforeseeable Futures: Confronting Crises in the Archaeology of Highland Societies

Edited by Susan Pollock, Reinhard Bernbeck, Gisela Eberhardt, and Martin Kehl 

Despite their apparent ubiquity today, archaeologists have seldom focused explicitly on crises. The authors in this book take up the challenge of doing so, drawing on archaeological cases from a wide temporal and spatial range. In addition to identifying crises, the contributions search for the factors that underlie them. These range from climate to disease, environmental destruction, sudden natural events such as volcanic eruptions, and intra- or intersocietal conflicts.

Factors are often intertwined in complex ways that lead to emergent properties and that can neither be attributable solely to anthropogenic nor to natural causes. Coping with crises include rearrangements of ways of life, such as increasing or decreasing mobility, the use of alternative (‘second-choice’) food sources, recourse to intensified or newly developed rituals, demise of old institutions and/or the building of new ones, and small-scale acts of subversion.

This book is the fifth volume of a series published by the German-Iranian research cooperation “The Iranian Highlands: Resiliences and Integration in Premodern Societies”. The goal of the research project is to shine a new light on communities and societies that populated the Iranian highlands and their more or less successful strategies to cope with the many vagaries, the constant changes and risks of their natural and humanly shaped environments.

 Paperback ISBN: 9789464271713 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464271720 | Imprint: Sidestone Press Academics | Format: 210x280mm | 228 pp. | The Iranian Highlands. Early Societies between Resilience and Integration 5 | Language: English | 19 illus. (bw) | 63 illus. (fc) | Keywords: crisis in archaeology; crisis factors; coping with crisis; highland societies; resilience; climate change; migration | download cover | DOI: 10.59641/y3b9v0w1x2 | CC-license: CC BY 4.0

 

Crises – An Introduction
Reinhard Bernbeck, Susan Pollock, and Martin Kehl

Characterising crises

Crises of Our Own Making: Finding a Way Out of the Resilience Myth for Archaeology
Matthew C. Reilly

Are Archaeologists Crisis-philic? Exploring the Nexus of Climate Change and Migration
Sepideh Maziar

Politics, religion, and crises

How did the Elamites Cope with Crises? Looking at the Gap between the Middle and the Neo-Elamite Period
Rafiei-Alavi

Is This Burning an Eternal Flame? Political Crises and Dynastic Cults in Southwest Asia during Antiquity
Michael Brown

Death at the beginning of life. Medieval and early modern infant burial as response to multiple crises and what we can learn from it today
Barbara Hausmair

Environment and Crises

Climate and Crises: Towards an Eventful and Punctuated Prehistory
Felix Riede

Dehqaed’s Natural Crises and the Challenge of Flooding
Zohreh Zehbari

Fending off Crises with Porosity: Sand, Water and Wind in the Helmand Basin
Moslem Mishmastnehi and Reinhard Bernbeck

Resources, technology, and crisis

Probing Criticality: Sliding Scales of Crisis in Two Highland Societies
Reinhard Bernbeck, Susan Pollock, and Jana Eger

On the Edge of Crisis – A View from Archaeometry
Kristina A Franke

Metal and Crisis: Crisis Phenomena in the Production, Distribution and Utilisation of Copper and Other Metals Between the 4th and the Late 2nd Millennium BCE in West Asia
Thomas Stöllner

No Risk, No Neolithisation
Judith Thomalsky and Akbar Abedi

 

 

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Monday, October 19, 2026

›Se necare‹: Il suicidio in Seneca filosofo

›Se necare‹: Il suicidio in Seneca filosofo
Ivan Spurio Venarucci 
book: ›Se necare‹ 
This book is in the series
Volume 14 | CICERO

 This study examines the theme of suicide in Seneca, analyzing all relevant passages from his prose works. Adopting a rhetorical and pragmatic approach, it treats the texts as communicative acts within a multifaceted debate—both philosophical and historical-political—set against the backdrop of the Julio-Claudian era, when the choice between life and mors voluntaria was a pressing and controversial issue.

eBook published on:
October 5, 2026
eBook ISBN:
9783112241974
Hardcover published on:
October 5, 2026
Hardcover ISBN:
9783112241967
Front matter:
10
Main content:
582
Tables:
1


 

 

 


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Open Access Journal: Heritage of Southwest Asia (Mīrās̠-i junūb-i gharbī-i Asiyā)

ISSN: 3116-028X
Heritage of Southwest Asia 

 

The scientific journal Heritage of Southwest Asia (Mīrās̠-i junūb-i gharbī-i Asiyā), affiliated with the Ancient Research Encyclopedia Institute, is published annually in two issues in Persian and English (with standard articles in the second language). This journal examines topics related to cultural heritage sciences, art, and architecture across the expanse of the lands of Southwest Asia.

  • Access to the Heritage of Southwest Asia journal is completely free for authors and readers.
  • The journal publishes various related and original articles.
  • The journal serves as a platform for progressive achievements in the study of West Asian heritage.
  • It emphasizes all disciplines of archaeological sciences, art, and architecture, with a focus on the heritage identity aspect.

 

See AWOL's full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies

 

 

 

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Das spätrömische Kastell Boiotro zu Passau-Innenstadt

Altjohann, Michael

1974 hatte die Entdeckung von mächtigen Mauerresten der spätantiken Befestigung Boitro in Passau-Innstadt eine berechtigte Aufregung hervorgerufen, zeigt sie doch eine Verbindung zur Tätigkeit des hl. Severin. Jetzt weiß man, daß die Anlage noch im 5. Jahrhundert in Benutzung war und nicht nur die Datierung, sondern auch der prominente Befund eines Speicherbaus sowie die abschließende Zerstörung bestätigen die Beschreibung der im frühen 6. Jahrhundert abgefaßten Vita Severini.

Lizenz

Creative Commons License

Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Nicht-kommerziell 4.0 International.

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.1895
ISBN 978-3-96929-569-4 (PDF)

Veröffentlicht

19.10.2026
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Seiten
PDF
Titelei
Inhaltsverzeichnis
5-6
Egon Johannes Greipl, C. Sebastian Sommer
Vorwort der Herausgeber
7
Vorwort
9
Einleitung
11-17
Die Befunde
18-58
Die Funde
59-100
Zusammenfassung
101-102
Katalog
103-124
Literaturverzeichnis
125-141
Tafeln
Beilagen

 

 
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Sulpicia / Carmina

Sulpicia / Carmina
William Turpin, Florian Shah, Katya Lyubivaya 
marble head of a girl, broken off at left 

Dickinson College Commentaries 

This site contains a Latin text of the love elegies of Sulpicia, which are preserved in the Appendix Tibulliana, along with notes, vocabulary lists, and audio recordings. It is intended for readers of Latin, so no translation is given. The notes focus on matters of Latin idiom and try to elucidate Sulpicia's sometimes difficult syntax, with the goal of relatively expeditious reading. Those interested in more in-depth interpretation should consult Laurel Fulkerson's A Literary Commentary on the Elegies of the Appendix Tibulliana (Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 268–294, from which we occasionally quote. All students of Sulpicia will benefit from N.J. Lowe's seminal article, “Sulpicia’s Syntax,” Classical Quarterly 38 (1988): 193–205, to which this edition is indebted. Our text is based on J.P. Postgate's Loeb edition, Catullus. Tibullus. Pervigilium Veneris (Harvard University Press, 1913) as revised by G.P. Goold in 1987, the lone exception being that at 3.14.8 we accept the main manuscript's reading quamvīs nōn sinis, rather than the emendation quam vis non sinit, which is accepted by Goold and printed in Postgate's Oxford Classical Text. We have added macrons over long vowels and initial capitals for words beginning a sentence.

William Turpin, Scheuer Family Chair of Humanities and Classics at Swarthmore College, drafted the notes in 2023. Ashley Roman Francese, Adjunct Faculty in Classical Studies at Dickinson, extensively revised and supplemented them. During the revision process Ashley worked closely with two high school students who had participated in the Dickinson College Commentaries Summer Online Internship Program. In spring and summer 2026 Florian Shah (Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, Pennsylvania) read through the Latin and notes three times and suggested notes. Katya Lyubivaya (Walter Johnson High School, Bethesda, Maryland) edited the English sections and read through the edited Latin notes over the summer of 2026. The introduction combines material from Christopher Francese and R. Scott Smith, Ancient Rome: An Anthology of Sources (Hackett, 2014), which includes my English translation of these poems, with remarks by William and Ashley. I created the vocabulary lists using the Commentarius, a tool created by Raana Thacker, another veteran of the DCC high school internship program. Keziah Armstrong, who teaches Latin at Shenendehowa Highschool East in Saratoga, New York, created the lovely audio recordings of the poems. I am deeply grateful to all the contributors for their work on what I trust will be very useful resource for all lovers of Latin poetry. 

Christopher Francese, Dickinson College, October 16, 2026

 

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Saturday, October 17, 2026

Performing Greek Comedies and Satyr Plays by Restoring, Reconstructing, and Reseeding Their Fragments

Performing Greek Comedies and Satyr Plays by Restoring, Reconstructing, and Reseeding Their Fragments
Streeter, Joshua

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Theatre

This dissertation examines growing trends in the practice and theory of performing fragments from Greek Comedies and Satyr Plays for contemporary audiences. The surviving fragments are adapted according to their size after “careful research and artistic mastery” (Timothy Wutrich, 1995). Fragmentary plays with 75% of their text intact, such as Menander's New Comedy 'Samia,' are restored by filling up the play's lacunae. Fragmentary plays with 50% of their text intact, such as Sophocles' Satyr Play 'The Trackers,' are restored by using metatheatrical techniques. Fragmentary plays with less than 25% of their text intact, like Nikokhares' Old Comedy 'Herakles the Producer,' are reseeded and made into new creative works. This dissertation outlines different methodologies for effectively reviving fragmentary comedies and satyr plays.

Committee: Stratos Constantinidis (Advisor); Benjamin Acosta-Hughes (Committee Member); Thomas Dugdale (Committee Member) 
 

 

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Biological variation, population aggregation, and social differentiation: an examination of dental markers of developmental stress at Neolithic Catalhoyuk

Biological variation, population aggregation, and social differentiation: an examination of dental markers of developmental stress at Neolithic Catalhoyuk
Betz, Barbara

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Anthropology

Across three articles, this dissertation analyzes patterns of dental defect formation and childhood physiological stress within the population of Neolithic Catalhoyuk (ca. 7100-5950 BCE), in order to contribute to a better understanding of biological, temporal, and social variation within this important early “megasite” community. Article one addresses biological questions with important methodological implications regarding the impact of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) defects on inter- and intra-population variability in relationships between incremental enamel microstructures. Relationships between perikymata (PK) periodicity and distribution were tested from high-definition epoxy replicas and histological thin-sections of unworn mandibular canines (n = 15) with high LEH prevalence from Catalhoyuk. Findings re-affirm the existence of significant inter-population variability and suggest that high LEH prevalence likely increases PK distribution variability and weakens relationships with periodicity. PK distribution-based methods may nevertheless help narrow likely periodicity ranges and improve microstructure-based chronological age estimation accuracy even in highly LEH-impacted samples. To better understand relationships between population aggregation and physiological stress in early human settlements, Article two tests whether LEH prevalence or timing change significantly over time alongside population levels at Neolithic Catalhoyuk. LEH defect frequency scores (n = 109), defect-per-individual (DPI, n = 44), and defect initiation age (DIA, n = 44) were collected from epoxy canine replicas. LEH measures did not differ significantly by sex or age-at-death, nor did they significantly change over time in parallel with population size. Developmental stress episodes were very common (DPI: all defects M = 11, pronounced defects M = 6; DIA: all defect M = 3.9 years, pronounced defects M = 4.0 years), with 100% of observable individuals experiencing at least one de (open full item for complete abstract)
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Committee: Clark Spencer Larsen (Advisor); Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg (Advisor); Mark Hubbe (Committee Member) 
 

 

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The Virgin Mary in Ritual in Late Antique Egypt: Origins, Practice, and Legacy

Beshay, Michael

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, History

“The Virgin Mary in Ritual in Late Antique Egypt: Origins, Practice, and Legacy” examines the significance of the Virgin Mary for the ritual activities of Christians in Egypt, from the early conceptual roots of Marian veneration in the second century, to its diffusion among the monks of Egypt ca. 500 CE. In addition to patristics and the New Testament, this project emphasizes esoteric treatises, apocryphal stories, and ritual devices, and considers writings predominantly in Coptic, Greek, Syriac, and Latin. The dissertation challenges longstanding views that make the cult of Mary either a reflex of pagan goddess worship or a response to Christological controversy—above all, the “heresy” of docetism (i.e., the belief that Jesus' humanity and/or suffering were merely apparent). In contrast, the dissertations argues that the earliest association of Mary with divine powers was inspired by mythologies related to “heterodox” Christians—such as Valentinians, Gnostics, and Manichaeans—who variously linked Mary to spiritual powers like the primordial church, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin of Light, and the Mother of Life. These developments in doctrine and praxis reflect distinct forms of social and ritual authority among the Christians of late antiquity, who expressed competing notions of ecclesiastical and anthropological harmony, and visionary experiences. The history of Mary's ritual authority, and Christianity more generally, must always account for the contributions of so-called “heterodox” Christians even in the most unlikely ways, not within some fleeting period of early diversity, but as part of a continuous process well into the Middle Ages.

Committee: David Brakke (Advisor); Kristina Sessa (Committee Member); J. Albert Harrill (Committee Member) Subjects: Ancient History; Religion
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The Chronicle of John of Nikiu: Historical Writing in Post-Roman Egypt

The Chronicle of John of Nikiu: Historical Writing in Post-Roman Egypt
Yirga, Felege-Selam

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, History

While there has been a great deal of work on the late seventh-century Chronicle of John, the anti-Chalcedonian Bishop of Nikiu, since its 1883 publication and French translation by Hermann Zotenberg, there have been few modern studies devoted exclusively to the author and his work. What is more, these modern studies primarily engage with the text as a source of data for the reign of Emperor Herakleios, and the Arab conquest of Egypt, meaning that modern historians often read past the author to a layer of sources beneath them. This positivist utilitarian view of the Chornicle often involves reducing John's worldview to that of a monophysite historian and a Coptic proto-nationalist, and as such interprets the relevant data through this framework. Modern scholarship has further transposed this world view onto the author's world, creating the impression that the Chronicle presents a narrative which reflects the development of a Coptic identity characterized primarily by hostility towards the Chalcedonian church, and the Roman state which had previously supported it. Anything in the text which challenges this view is dismissed as the product of John of Nikiu's method of compiling sources and inverting pro-Chalcedonian and pro-Roman sentiments where they appear. This dissertation moves beyond the heretofore utilitarian-positivist approaches. It instead argues that the entire Chronicle must be viewed as a complete work which, while compiled from a variety of identifiable and unidentifiable sources, still reveals a coherent and distinct historical narrative and theory of history, and one that does not neatly align with the theological and historical positions of the Egyptian Severan Church. This dissertation examines John of Nikiu's theory of history and prescriptive guidelines through a series of challenges to established scholarly views of the Chronicle. The first chapter challenges the notion that the Chronicle reflects a parochial view of world history centered pr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Bernhard Brakke (Advisor); Anthony Kaldellis (Committee Member); Kristina Marie Sessa (Committee Member) 
 

 

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