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Project

Egyptian names from the late pharaonic until the Roman Period. The evolution of onomastic types in a multilingual and multicultural en vironment.

The Greek conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and the entry into the Roman Empire after Cleopatra's defeat in 30 BC brought about important linguistic, social, cultural, and religious changes in Egypt. This project intends to investigate how these are reflected in the evolution of names over almost 1000 years, by comparing the onomastic repertoire of the Graeco-Roman era with that of the earlier Late Pharaonic period, from the 7th century BC onwards. On the basis of strategically chosen samples it will study which types of names were given to people in which period, region and social stratum, on the basisof evidence both in the various Egyptian scripts and language stages (hieroglyphs, hieratic, and demotic) and in Greek or Latin. The innovation lies in the quantification and the broad interdisciplinary approach.
Date:1 Jan 2009 →  31 Dec 2012
Keywords:Roman period
Disciplines:History, Linguistics