ABSTRACT
We know more about the names of ancient Romans than those of many other historical societies as a result of what has been called their “epigraphic habit”.1 The Romans liked to place inscriptions on buildings, on statues, at shrines and on tombs, paying honour to or commemorating particular people. These individuals’ full names were inscribed, and on monuments so were those of the persons who had erected them. Indeed the name of the commemorator was frequently more prominent that that of the commemorated, since it was the duty of heirs to put up tombstones and to show that they had done so. Monuments were usually in durable stone, and over 300,000 inscriptions are known from all over the Roman Empire and from most periods. Inscriptions have been widely and ingeniously used by historians to investigate different aspects of Roman society, starting with naming practices.
