Comments | sineala: Best. Book. Ever.

sineala

Best. Book. Ever.

Aug 19, 2011 00:15

So lysimache (♥ ♥) just brought me the very bestest present from the used bookstore: A. R. Burn, The Romans in Britain: An Anthology of Inscriptions.

Why is this awesome, you ask? Let me present to you a section from chapter 3 ("The Northern Wars and Roman Scotland"), pages 102-3:

( A BRIGANTIAN SOLDIER )

squee, fandom: the eagle, languages: latin

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lady_lurker August 19 2011, 23:07:56 UTC

Wow that's pretty amazing! What's particularly interesting is that Vindex would choose to give his son a British name when assimilating would probably have made things simpler for him. Wouldn't he see the advanatges for his son too? And would be less likely to get flack for their heritage.

WOOT WOOT PLAUSIBLE FICCAGE YEAH!

sineala August 20 2011, 01:40:19 UTC

I actually think Vindex is probably still a British name; the only Vindex I can find is Gaius Julius Vindex, who was a Gaul, which makes me inclined to assume his cognomen is still Gaulish.

BUT YAY PLAUSIBILITY.

carmarthen August 20 2011, 22:19:07 UTC

I'm not sure that having a non-Roman cognomen was really a disadvantage in the Empire--it was really really common, especially for soldiers, and a lot of the surveys of soldier data estimate ethnic heritage based on cognomina--I think the important part was that you had a tria nomina and were a Roman citizen, regardless of your ancestry. The Romans didn't have quite the same attitude towards "assimilation" as many modern cultures do.

(Bilingual and code-switching epitaphs were also common; people hung on to their heritage.)

lady_lurker August 20 2011, 22:42:11 UTC

See I think that's really interesting, if I understand this correctly, it seems like the Romans conscripted lots of soldiers from the various lands they occupied and citizenship was offered and there was no barrier to rising to the top of the armed forces? but would the same have applied to political office, I would think it was something else to be a senator or magistrate etc

I suppose like with the Ptolemies in Egypt?

carmarthen August 20 2011, 23:11:26 UTC

Most of the soldiers were not conscripts, unless Rome got desperate--citizenship after 25 years was an appealing enough prospect to get a lot of provincials to sign up voluntarily ( ... )

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