Tag: Oral Session 2 S

Race, Ethnicity, and Jewish Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean

Presenter(s): Dimitra Fellman

Faculty Mentor(s): Kristen Seaman

Oral Session 2 S

Scholars often use modern constructs of “race” and “ethnicity” to interpret ancient texts about life in antiquity. Both terms connote a shared lineage through which traits, physical or cultural, are passed, and imply that those born outside a particular lineage cannot claim to be a part of it. However, an analysis of works by ancient Jewish authors — both historical and philosophical — reveals that Jewish identity was not a birthright, but cultivated through proper practice of Jewish laws. These authors reveal that the correct upholding of Jewish laws could be achieved by anyone, and encouraged mechanisms that promoted Jewish practices amongst non-Jews. The lack of racial or ethnic exclusivity in ancient Jewish practice serves as an example of the homogeneous and fluid environment of the ancient Mediterranean and provides a more accurate lens through which modern scholars should attempt to understand antiquity.

Water and Architecture: The Integration of the Binary

Water and Architecture: The Integration of the Binary

Emily Feicht

Oral Session 2 S

In “Water and Architecture: The Integration of the Binary,” this paper reviews the binaries of Roman architecture and their relationship to water. The facilitation of architecture is not without cultural influence both before and after construction. The paper looks at Hadrian’s Villa in
Tivoli, Italy, and specifically the Maritime Theater, during Imperial Rome. While scholarship is provided on spaces and scholar’s interpretations of binaries have been researched in other spaces, little has been found for a transparent and multipurpose space such as this. Therefore, in this paper, I research the concrete evidence of the Villa itself in the time of imperial Rome, while comparing this to research written about Hadrian and other Roman villas. In addition, this paper aims to draw connections to evidence we can infer about the Maritime Theater, through other architectural contexts that involve water, such as bathhouses and a fountain villa, and fusing them with gender theory in antiquity.

A Toast From the High Seat-The Feast in the Viking Age

Presenter(s): James Andersen

Faculty Mentor(s): Gantt Gurley

Oral Session 2 S

The purpose of this project is to examine feasting’s place in Viking Age Scandinavia as the primary cultural event, around which the entire society revolved. The feast has not been addressed properly in past scholarship, which has overlooked its’ significance as a mutable event used to commemorate a vast array of cultural and political events throughout Viking Age society. There has not yet been a proper study of feasting and its’ importance in the Viking Age; such a work is of vital importance to understanding this period and its cultures. Via reexamination of the historical sources (primarily the Icelandic sagas), and archaeological evidence, the practices and purposes of feasts in this culture will be explored. The feast in this period was integral to the proper functioning of society, and fits into a longer chronology of feasting practices (both before and after) which must be considered to provide a full context and understand how the Viking Age feast was unique. Research thus far has provided substantial support for this hypothesis, and hopefully will encourage further research and cooperation among scholars of the period.