Research project on personal names in the Roman Empire got SSHRC Partnership Development Grant

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Three history research projects receive SSHRC Partnership Development Grants

Three history research projects led by York University researchers have received close to $200,000 each in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Projects led by Professors Jonathan Edmondson, Paul Lovejoy and Carolyn Podruchny have been awarded the research grants through SSHRC’s Partnership Development Grants program.

“York University is delighted with the success of our researchers. I want to congratulate Professors Edmondson, Lovejoy and Podruchny,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation at York University. “These SSHRC grants provide support for team-based partnerships and collaborations to develop research and related activities in the social sciences and humanities. York U, No. 1 in Ontario for collaborative research publications, values collaboration.”

Analyzing the value of personal names in the Roman Empire

Jonathan Edmondson

Edmondson is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of History in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) at York University. His research interests are in Roman History, in particular in the society, economy and culture of Roman Spain (especially Lusitania) from the late Iron Age to the late Roman Empire; Roman epigraphy, especially of the Roman Empire; gladiators in Roman society; the Roman family; and Greco-Roman historiography, especially Cassius Dio.

Edmondson’s international project is titled, “Names and identity in Roman Spain: The ADOPIA project.” Using the provinces of Lusitania and Baetica as test cases, the project team consisting of 23 scholars from four institutions will develop the digital mapping web-portal Atlas Digital Onomastique de la Péninsule Ibérique (ADOPIA). The four partner organizations involved in this three-year project are York University, the Institut Ausonius in France, the Centro CIL II and the Archivo Epigráfico de Hispania, both based in Spain.

Scholars from all four institutions will collect and analyze more than 15,000 inscriptions of varied types from a variety of sources including tombstones, public and private documents, building inscriptions and votive dedications to divinities. The findings will be used to deepen scholarly understanding of the significance of personal names as evidence for personal identity and cultural change in the Roman Empire from 200 BCE to 250 CE.