Masters Degrees (Ancient Studies)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Ancient Studies) by browse.metadata.advisor "Kotze, A."

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    Bakens op die weg : die bekeringsverhale van Augustinus en C.S. Lewis
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2005-12) Smit, Christine; Kotze, A.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Two literary conversion narratives with much historical detail, are compared in this thesis: the Confessiones written by the renowned fourth century church-father, St. Augustine, and Surprised by Joy written by the twentieth century writer and scholar, C.S. Lewis. In order to understand St. Augustine's conversion to the Christian faith, Christian religion as a social phenomenon in the Ancient World is discussed. As background for the discussion and comparison of the two conversion narratives, a brief biography is given of St. Augustine and of Lewis, as well as a description of each one's course of conversion. The research is structured In terms of beacons that St. Augustine identified during the course of his conversion: people who played a significant role, events that influenced his life, and inner conflict that spurred him on his way. By means of an analysis regarding theme and content, it is shown that there are clear similarities between the beacons identified by Augustine and Lewis in their conversion narratives.
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    Celeritas Caesariana : reputation, representation and reality
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Danon, Bart; De Villiers, A.; Kotze, A.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Julius Caesar had a demonstrable reputation for celeritas, to the extent that Cicero in one of his letters added the epithet Caesariana to celeritas when describing another general’s swiftness. This reputation can be further traced in various other ancient sources, such as Suetonius’ biography on Caesar and Velleius Paterculus’ history of Rome. Two potential bases for a Roman general’s reputation to possess a particular virtue can be identified, i.e. representation and reality. In this study, these two bases are examined in detail for Caesar’s reputation for celeritas. The first part of this study focusses on the representation aspect and constitutes a statistical frequency study of words that explicitly indicate swiftness of military movements. For the second part, in which the reality component is assessed, legionary marching speeds are reconstructed (using Monte Carlo calculations) based on information supplied in the ancient sources. The results are assessed both intratextually (comparing Romans and their enemies within texts) and intertextually (comparing various Roman generals described in different texts). For data on Caesar the focus is on the first seven books of the De Bello Gallico, while for the data on the other Roman generals Sallustius’ Iugurtha and a corpus of Cicero’s letters on his Cilician campaign are included. The representation study shows that Caesar in the De Bello Gallico significantly more frequently refers to his own celeritas, both as compared to his enemies and as compared to the generals described by the other authors. Moreover, from a methodological point of view, it is concluded that a statistical frequency study should be based on the contextual meanings of words and not just on word forms. The results of the reality study point less unequivocally to Caesar being demonstrably more swift as compared to the other generals; the reconstructed marching speeds for all generals cover more or less similar ranges. However, the estimated probabilities for the marching speeds suggest that their values are considerably lower as compared to the widely applied values Vegetius mentions in his Epitoma de rei militari. Considering the results of the two parts together, the hypothesis that Caesar’s reputation for celeritas was for a considerable part based on the emphasis on his own celeritas in the De Bello Gallico, can thus be validated.
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    “Giving Up the Ghost in Ancient Roman Literature” A Comparative Discussion of the Ghosts in selected texts from Plautus, Virgil, Ovid, and Pliny the Younger
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Duke, Belinda Sheryn; Kotze, A.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Through an intensive comparative discussion of selected texts from Plautus, Virgil, Ovid, and Pliny the Younger, this thesis aims to bring forward insights into the ancient Roman understanding of death and the dead. The chosen works (Plautus’ Mostellaria, Books II and III of Virgil’s Aeneid, Books II and V of Ovid’s Fasti, and Letter 7.27 from Pliny’s Epistles) each feature a manifestation of the dead, or “ghost”. The introductory chapter establishes the definitions and approaches used in this thesis, the criteria for the selection of texts, and the rationale for my topic. The second chapter is a brief presentation of the existing scholarship on death in the Roman world. This includes a brief discussion of the Roman beliefs and rites concerning death, the concept of ghosts in the Roman culture, and a contextualization and summary of the selected texts. The third chapter compares and contrasts the selected works according to the Latin terminology used, the ways in which the featured ghosts are characterized in their approaches and interactions with the living, and the extent to which the overarching theme of Tragic Death and its supporting motif, Laying the Ghost to Rest, are present in these works. The insights into Roman thought about death and the dead that are found in this research are highlighted in the concluding chapter’s summary and reflection.
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    The myth is with us : Star Wars, Jung's archetypes, and the journey of the mythic hero
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2006-03) Botha, Jacqueline; Kotze, A.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    This thesis explores the Star Wars films in terms of C.G. Jung's theories on the archetypes and the collective unconscious, particularly as described by Joseph Campbell in his discussion of the journey of the mythic hero. In Chapter 1 short definitions of relevant terms such as “myth,” “the collective unconscious” and “archetypes” are given. Chapter 2 is a short discussion of four Jungian archetypes relevant to the topic, namely the Shadow, Guide, Mother, and Father. Chapter 3 focuses on the archetype of the Self and the psychological process of individuation as described by Jung, and its relation to the mythic hero and his journey. In Chapter 4 Star Wars is analysed in terms of the theoretical framework set out in Chapters 1-3. Chapter 5 is the concluding chapter, in which certain conclusions are made pertaining to the mythic character and psychological function of Star Wars, i.e., that the films contain elements that are mythic in character and may therefore perform the same psychological functions as myth. It is also argued that the popularity of Star Wars can therefore be ascribed to the same psychological reasons as the popularity of myth. Some attention is also given to possible further areas of study in this field, such as the mythic character of some other popular phenomena (for example Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings) and the function of myth and modern mythic equivalents as a community-shaping factor in people’s lives.