Colonial pasts, intercultural present: The relationship between colonial history, language selection, and non-linguistic identity presentation in funerary inscriptions from Syracusae and Panhormus betweeen 1 and 300 CE
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2023
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en
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Within the multicultural society of Roman Imperial Sicily, contact between – mostly – Latin-speaking and Greek-speaking groups was omnipresent. This thesis shows that the choice for either language – Greek or Latin – in inscriptions was an active means to appeal to different social groups. It does so by analysing funerary inscriptions from two major sites on Sicily, Syracusae and Panhormus. I first look into the colonial backgrounds of cities and show that colonialism influenced their epigraphic production centuries later. This gives us insights into the possible audiences of inscriptions and the make-up of a local or regional community. The analysis of the inscriptions themselves shows that the choice for Latin was a means for both Romans and non-Romans to appeal to the political elite, while Greek was mainly chosen, by Greeks and non-Greeks, to appeal to an East-Mediterranean cultural elite. This shows the active selection of language in funerary inscriptions from these sites.
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Faculteit der Letteren