This volume, which contains the onomastic material from Messenia and Sparta sees the light of day exactly three years after the publication of the preceding volume, which contained the Roman names from Eleia, Achaea, Corinthia, the Argolida and Arcadia. A third volumes is projected; this will contain a collection of studies, some of which will be directly concerned with the typology of Roman onomastic formulations and the multiple forms in witch they appear in the Greek word. Other studies in the volume will deal with political and social history and draw upon the material in the first two volumes.
This present volume is the fruit of many years of a group effort, carried out as part of the international research programme Nomina Romana. The aim of the programme is twofold. The first goal is the creation of an electronic database of inscriptions and names from specific eastern Roman provinces. Our second aim is to draw upon material from large geographic units to create a full catalogue of persons with Roman names. These will, we hope, in the future constitute the basic research tools that will 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 Roman East. Such tools will also contribute to an improved understanding of the cultural milieu and modes of Romanization.
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