L’histoire par les noms

The goal of this series of studies is to synthesize our knowledge of the onomastics of the area between the Palmyrene region and Upper Mesopotamia in Roman times. The study of local onomastic "landscapes" is done in a region where on an Aramaic substrate everywhere present, the successive contributions of Greek, Latin, even Iranian or Babylonian elements have been superimposed in proportions and conditions that vary in space and time. The rural or steppe areas of Palmyrene or Cyrrhestica border Greek cities founded by Macedonian kings in Doura or Zeugma, as well as cities with more Semitic roots in Hierapolis or Edessa. The starting point of the reflection was the exceptional documentation concerning the Palmyra troops of the Roman army in garrison at Dura Europos: it gives the names of more than a thousand individuals. By comparing this documentation with the Palmyra onomastics, that of the Palmyrene diaspora and that of the neighbouring areas, in Dura Europos and along the Euphrates, from Commagene to Mesopotamia, this book aims to examine the different onomastic types while trying to place them in their geographical and social context and thus to propose a history of the region. --Publisher's website.