This thesis deals with the characterization of Japan and Japanese people by Swedish travelers during the Meiji period. It seeks to answer what aspects of Japanese people two Swedish travelers chose to highlight, and how these aspects were presented in their travelogues. This thesis also has a second aim. By applying Edward Said?s theory of orientalism, it wants to answer if Swedish travelogues were influenced by western 19th century ideas of colonialism and imperialism.

This essay deals with the political upheavals which occurred in Japan with the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and its impact on the Samurai Class. This transitional period in Japanese history is portrayed in the film The Last Samurai from 2003, and it's the comparison between this Hollywood production and the current research on the subject on which this essay focuses. Two key figures who are portrayed in the film are Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), an American soldier from the Indian Wars of the 1860/70s who travels to Japan to quell the Samurai rebellion but ends up in captivity; only to learn their codex of honor and way of life and eventually become a Samurai himself. The other character calls himself Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and becomes the representative of the Samurai's struggle for their existence. Their friendship and cultural exchanges will remain a cornerstone throughout the film.

Den judiske historieskrivaren Flavius Josefus som i Rom skrev sitt verk Antiquitates Judaicae om det hebreiska folkets historia betonade starkt den hebreiska profetismen, profeterna och profetian. Den tidiga kristna kyrkan byggde sin tro på de gamla hebreiska profeternas skrifter och den fortsatta uppenbarelsen man uppfattade under första århundradet. Föreliggande studie bygger dock på frågeställningen om vad som var den hebreiska profetismens egentliga väsen och religiösa funktion enligt Josefus beskrivning i Antiquitates Judaicae 5-11? I studien används Mircea Eliades religionsteori som heuristiskt redskap för att finna svar på frågeställningen. Undersökningen visar att den hebreiska profetismens egentliga väsen enligt Josefus var Guds manifestation, hierofani och uppenbarelse hos vissa människor, genom att de blev uppfyllda av Guds ande (????? ??????).