Abstract:

As of 212 when Caracalla extended Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the em­pire, people in the Eastern provinces used various ways to bring together the widely different Greek and Roman onomastic formulae. Greek inscriptions of the post-212 period show that a few pro­vinces of Asia Minor chose a particular style by adding a new cognomen, usually related to the father’s name, between the nomen Aurelius and the diacritical cognomen: Aurelius Sosibius son of Demetrius, for instance, later changed his name to Aurelius Demetrianus Sosibius. We first intend to stress that such new cognomina may sometimes be related to feminine names or to some rela­tives other than the father, thus indicating kinship rather than direct filiation. We then consider which provinces across Asia Minor shared this characteristic onomastic style. Beside Pamphylia and some neighbouring provinces where such cognomina have been noticed long ago, several cities of Bithy­nia in Northern Asia Minor shows a very similar onomastic pattern. It is suggested that the fre­quent imperial expeditions crossing Bithynia during the Severan period encouraged new Roman citizens to systematically transform their previous nomenclature.

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