Alice\u27s Adventures in Oz: Revealing the Man Behind the Curtain

According to the Supreme Court\u27s contrariwise thinking, in the world of Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Internation, Section 101 can and should be used early in litigation to distinguish a genuine, patentable invention from a sham-that is, to expose to scrutiny the idea behind the curtain

Egypt in the Roman imagination: A study of <italic>aegyptiaca</italic> from Pompeii.

This thesis develops the concept of aegyptiaca as a framework for interpreting both Egyptian objects imported to Roman Italy and objects of Roman manufacture in styles that were perceived to be Egyptian by their creators. This framework enables me to study both categories of material together within their Roman contexts, recognizing that for their viewers both imported objects and those made in Italy catered to the same taste for the exotic and foreign. By avoiding the existing problem of treating Roman-made objects primarily as poor quality imitation of Egyptian materials, the thesis examines the broader significance of both kinds of objects for a viewership composed of men and women of a wide range of social stations. I begin by uncovering Roman attitudes toward Egypt, as evidenced by literature relating to Roman tourism in Egypt. I then define and develop the concept of aegyptiaca, looking at ways in which it can help refine our understanding of how Romans in Italy, and specifically in Pompeii, would have understood and engaged with artifacts they believed to exhibit and Egyptian style. I examine the display of aegyptiaca I a range of contexts, from private gardens to public temples. I then focus on especially informative context, the Temple of Isis in Pompeii, from which there is rich evidence for the display of aegyptiaca to male and female viewers of different social classes. I conclude that Romans in Italy embraced seemingly inconsistent notions about the land of Egypt, their understandings largely created from their own imaginations. Egypt was admired for its antiquity, yet reputed to harbor fantastic animals and barbaric peoples. In keeping with such, often contradictory, preconceptions, Egyptian imports and objects made in Italy in Egyptian styles were inherently multivalent for their diverse viewers. As the decorative scheme of the Temple of Isis shows, both types of aegyptiaca engaged in a subtle dialogue with each other, drawing on and reinforcing Roman preconceptions of an imagined Egypt.Ph.D.Ancient historyArchaeologyArt historyCommunication and the ArtsSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123295/2/3068977.pd

New Light on the Relationship between the Montecitorio Obelisk and Ara Pacis of Augustus

The article takes as its point of departure recent work (Frischer forthcoming) critiquing the theory of Edmund Buchner about the relationship of the gnomonical instrument known as the Horologium Augusti and the Ara Pacis Augustae. As a result of this critique, the Montecitorio Obelisk could be situated with greater precision on the map of the city. A computer simulation showed that Buchner erred in positing that the shadow of the Montecitorio Obelisk went into the center of the Ara Pacis on Augustus’ birthday. In this article, computer simulations are used to develop a post-Buchnerian interpretation of the relationship of the obelisk and altar. Over 230 hitherto unrecognized solar and shadow alignments are reported. The first part of the article defines four zones around the monuments where the solar and shadows observations were made. In the second part of the article, specialists interpret the significance of the annual solar and shadow spectacle from various points of view. The conclusion synthesizes the results, arguing that the monuments were intentionally aligned and situated in order to propagate the same message as the one inscribed on two sides of the Montecitorio Obelisk [CIL 6.702 = ILS 91]: that Augustus was a devoted worshipper of the sun god (Sol), who brings Rome victory in war, peace, and prosperity through his earthly representative, the emperor