Convener

M. Cristina de la Escosura (Universidad de Zaragoza) [mcescosura@unizar.es]

 

Nowadays, in the Digital Humanities era, plenty of projects have been creating new prosopographic databases, all of them with different approaches and interdisciplinary visions. This is an appealing research field that is quickly evolving thanks to digital tools and online resources. This panel aims to be a meeting point to discuss the new directions and perspectives on the studies of the ancient populations.

Like Benet Salway wrote 25 years ago in his paper “What’s in a name. A Survey of Roman Onomastic Practice from c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700”, JRS 84 (1994), pp. 124-145: “the fluid nature of onomastic practice reflects its susceptibility not only to linguistic factors but also political and social developments”. We need to address also the economic, juridical, methodological and technological aspects of onomastic research. Although the main focus will be the Graeco-Roman World, the interest of the panel would not be restricted to this.

 

The papers may relate to:

- Ancient population databases

- Interdisciplinary and/or transversal approaches to onomastic (epigraphy, linguistic, etc.)

- Prosopography versus onomastic

- Interpretation of the naming practices: juridical, political, economic and social aspects

 

The panel aims to bring together epigraphists, historians, papyrologists, philologists, computer experts in any stage of their careers (professors, postdoc, PhD candidates). It wants to connect researchers working on these topics and help to enlarge and develop the networks in the ancient onomastic branch of the Digital Humanities.