A01.031.0.pdf

PREFACE
This book represents the first fruits of an enterprise inaugurated in 1989 with the creation of the
international programme "Nomina romana in the Greek speaking provinces of the Roman Empire".
This programme is intended as a response to the suggestion, formulated most notably by G. Daux and
H.G. Pflaum 1 , for a systematic record of individuals with Roman personal names in the eastern
provinces of the Roman Empire. The present volume and the one that will follow it provide a framework
for the study of the evolution of Roman onomastic formulas and the gradual assimilation into
the Roman system of peregrini living in the cities of the Péloponnèse. It also contributes to an
improved understanding of the cultural milieu and modes of Romanisation.
The first phase of the programme aimed at the creation of an electronic data base of inscriptions
and names in specific eastern provinces (Achaia, Epirus, Macedonia, Crete and Cyrenaica, Syria and
part of Asia). This work was generously assisted by many epigraphers and historians, who undertook
the arduous task of gathering and studing the inscriptions, according to geographical regions, with the
eventual goal of creating a data base of inscriptions and a catalogue of the names they contain. 2 Early
on, A. Bresson of the University of Bordeaux III developed and placed at our disposal the computer
program "Nomina romana", which facilitates electronic processing of the epigraphical material. This
effort was further strengthened by the moral and scholarly support of the Finnish specialists in onomastics,
H. Solin, O. Salomies, M. Kajava, J. Frösen and M. Leiwo. It was in collaboration with these
scholars that we organised in Athens in 1993 an international onomastics conference later published
under the title Roman onomastics in the Greek East. This conference provided the opportunity for a
discussion of progress so far, as also for the drafting of plans for future research. 3
The programme included the publication of a full catalogue of persons with Roman names drawing
on material from large geographical units. This catalogue follows the precedents set by similar
work on the western provinces. The Greek team chose to cover the Péloponnèse as its first region
since it offers material of particular interest from both the political and cultural point of view - that
is to say, the whole spectrum of political bodies are represented in the Roman Péloponnèse: colonies,
free or tribute-paying cities, and also panhellenic sanctuaries. Another advantage was the team mem-
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