| This dissertation presents a diachronic study of the Greek and Roman technology of navigational beacons and an analysis of the symbolic and metaphorical meaning of navigation in ancient culture. While it concentrates more on the Roman aspects of navigation, there is necessarily considerable discussion of the Greek contribution, because the Greeks greatly influenced the Romans in nautical and maritime affairs. Chapters One through Four investigate the processes and functions of ancient navigational technology as it relates to various divinities. Archeological and literary evidence demonstrates that the ancients used images of a number of deities, including Neptune, Priapus, Janus, Isis, and the Dioscuri, as religious icons requiring worship (as would any cult statue) and as navigational tools that aided and protected mariners and inland boatmen by marking out navigable channels and by designating hazards such as reefs.; Chapters Five and Six examine the cultural symbolism of navigation that also played an important role in Greco-Roman culture. In both literature and iconography, navigation was a metaphor for the hegemony of civilization, especially for its control over nature. Greco-Roman mythology depicts a number of navigational deities who, in addition to their role in navigational technology, also tame savage lands by bringing laws, by fostering civilization, and by establishing agriculture. Moreover, ancient belief reveals a strong correlation between navigation and dying because the Greeks and Romans perceived each as a mysterious passage, the former physical and the latter conceptual.; By studying the technology of navigation with attention to the cultural implications, this dissertation aims to provide a better understanding of an important aspect of ancient practical knowledge and the role it played in the religious beliefs of Greco-Roman culture. |
