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This paper uses recent finds and reinterpretations (archaeological, epigraphic, and historical) to re-examine and place in a wider context Herod the Great's actions towards honoring Augustus in his realm. As a king formerly allied with Antony, Herod needed to placate Augustus quickly after Actium. At first he showered his new overlord with service, money, and supplies, but it may have been in imitation of cities like Pergamon in Asia that he established a festival in Augustus's honor in Jerusalem. We hear nothing of actual temples, however, until after Augustus granted Herod new territories; it was there, in non-Jewish areas, that Herod founded cities (which was what kings did), named them in honor of his sole superior, and built in them temples to Augustus and Roma, perhaps again on the model of Hellenic cities of Asia or Bithynia, or of Alexandria in Egypt. Herod did this not for the sake of Hellenization or Romanization, but to reify his relationship with Augustus before his kingdom and the world, enshrining him in the sole place in the hierarchy that a king could tolerate, and also, not incidentally, to show his own magnificence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses King Herod the Great's architectural legacies. Topics include author Flavius Josephus' books “The Jewish War" and “Antiquities of the Jews", Herod's regime which was occupied with suspicion and conspiracies subsequently leading to the First Jewish Revolt, and the state of Herod's archaeological works such as; Promontory Palace and Temple Mount after the war. Archaeologists facing debates and Herod's influence on Rome's archaeology and vice-versa are stated.

This study analyzes public opinion data on would-be first ladies during the presidential campaign season from 1992 to 2008. By comparing attitudes toward would-be first ladies over the last five presidential cycles, we identify key areas of stability and change in Americans' attitudes toward these individuals. Additionally, survey data are used to explore how attitudes about these women differ across key demographics, to identify factors that shape the public's attitudes concerning presidential candidates' wives, and to explore the impact of these women on their husbands' favorability ratings. The results indicate that spouses who embody the traditional role of first lady tend to be more popular, while spouses who assume an active role in advocating policy, such as Hillary Clinton, garner less support. Most candidate spouses generate highly polarized reactions along partisan lines, although more traditional spouses evoke a less divisive response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion polls show consistently that a substantial portion of the American public would vote for a qualified female presidential candidate. Because of the controversial nature of such questions, however, the responses may suffer from social desirability effects. In other words, respondents may be purposely giving false answers as not to violate societal norms. Using an unobtrusive measure called the "list experiment," we find that public opinion polls are indeed exaggerating support for a female president. Roughly 26 percent of the public is "angry or upset" about the prospect of a female president. Moreover, this level of dissatisfaction is constant across several demographic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When found in the central rooms of gymnasia of Roman Asia Minor, the multiple-column, multistory aedicular facade of the "marble style" has been thought to symbolize "the imperial cult." Yet that design is never used for actual provincial temples dedicated to the worship of emperors. This article shows how the theory that aedicular facades set the scene for worshipping emperors lacks any foundation; the inscriptions, sculpture, and furnishings of tile so-called Kaisersäle honor tile patron deities and benefactors of the cities in question as much as the emperors, and have been taken to signify cult when they in fact do not. The meaning behind this ostentatious decor is then pursued beyond gymnasia, to theaters, bouleuteria, temples, gates, libraries, nymphaea, and even tombs. It was a sign of the theater, of Roman elite status, and even a form of conspicuous consumption; but many gods, personifications, and civic donors, not just the emperors, were associated with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long-misinterpreted Roman provincial coin shows a mythological scene in order to make a remarkable claim: that Iphigeneia, Orestes, and Pylades fled from the land of the Taurians to Philadelphia in Lydia (modern Alaşehir in Turkey), and there set up their stolen image, identified by the Philadelphians as their patron Artemis Anaitis. This Persianized goddess was generally depicted as an Anatolian image almost identical to the Artemis of Ephesos; it is the bond between the two goddesses that may be the immediate basis of this coin's alliance with Ephesos, but the long-term intent may have been to form a voting bloc within the provincial association of cities. Philadelphia, though a relatively recent foundation, often allied itself with the oldest and greatest of Asia's cities and petitioned Roman emperors in order to raise its rank to rival that of its eminent neighbor Sardis. With this coin Philadelphia sought not only to gain allies, but, by grounding its history in the depth of mythological time, to advance itself among its rivals in Roman Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of a quarter century of gender politics in presidential elections in the United States stressing the dual importance of differences between men and women, the gender gap, and women as a political force as they have come not only to exceed men in their voting numbers but also in their turnout rate. It reviews the way women's votes have affected presidential campaigns, drawing attention to the effect women's and men's votes have had on the Electoral College which is what counts in presidential elections. It raises the important question of what impact the attention to women voters has had on the public policies of administrations between elections. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines Hillary Rodham Clinton's relationship with the public. Policy advice to the president; Divergent views between men and women; Presidential politics and gender roles in American politics and society.

The lack of access to equal financial resources with male candidates has been viewed as a major contributing factor in women's inability to gain public office. Analysis of the campaign finance records for election to the U.S House of Representatives from 1972 to 1982 shows that although on the average women nominees have never raised or spent as much as men, the size of their disparity is curvilinear over these years, and the correlation between gender and campaign financing is weak. Within candidate status groups (incumbents, challengers, and open races) and within the parties female nominees have not been consistently disadvantaged. Women candidates of both parties even have outdistanced their male counterparts on occasion. Data from the 1980 and 1982 elections also indicate that the structure of male and female fund raising is similar in their support from large contributors, political action committees, and the parties. Further, for women challengers, expenditures have a larger impact on votes than for male challengers. The financial problem for women candidates would appear not to lie at the general election stage of the process. Earlier stages, however, may account for women's relative absence from the elected political elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is the first to successfully address the identification of the botanical components of a garden in the 2000-year-old palatial courtyard of Herod the Great's Promontory Palace in Caesarea Maritima. Based on the extraction and identification of fossil pollen grains, we were able to reconstruct at least part of the garden's flora, which, we argue, could only have grown within the confines of a garden of this splendid seaside palace which was protected architecturally from salty sea spray. The palynological spectrum included, among other taxa, high percentages of Cupressaceae pollen (cypress) as well as pollen of the non-local treeCorylussp. (hazelnut), which was most probably introduced as an ornamental from the northeast Mediterranean or from Italy. These trees appear to have been accompanied by other ornamental plants (e.g.Salviaand various Rosaceae plants). The choice of flora to be planted in the garden is consistent with our knowledge of prestige Roman gardens dated to Herod's time. This exceptional and magnificent palace, with its luxurious architectural features and its impressive, well-maintained garden, symbolized the power and the abilities of King Herod, the greatest builder in ancient Jewish history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]