Epigraphic evidence on the ethnic composition of Ulpiana in the Roman period

Abstract

Epigraphic evidence from Ulpiana during the Roman period provides a clear insight into its multiethnic composition and the processes of Romanization that accompanied the city’s development. In this pre-Roman Dardanian settlement, which was transformed into a municipium following the Roman conquest, inscriptions attest to the presence of the local population alongside colonists arriving from Italy, from the western and eastern provinces, as well as from Hellenophone and Oriental communities. This ethnic diversity is clearly reflected in the onomastic material. Although Roman nomina are more frequent, the presence of non-Latin names indicates the continuity of local traditions and their partial integration into the cultural and legal framework of the Empire. Romanized locals often retained traditional cognomina, combining elements of local identity with Roman naming conventions. At the same time, Italic colonists and Roman freedmen, widely attested in the epigraphic record, played an important role in the economic and administrative life of the city. Within this mosaic, the Hellenophone and Oriental element is also evident, identifiable through characteristic Greek and Eastern names. The involvement of these groups in trade, mining industries, and cultic functions indicates Ulpiana’s connections with the eastern provinces and the emergence of new layers of identity within the city. Overall, the inscriptions from Ulpiana present the city as a typical provincial center of the Roman world, where cultural interaction, gradual Romanization, and social and economic mobility played a continuous role in shaping urban life. In this context, the onomastic data not only reveal the city’s diverse ethnic composition but also reflect broader social, legal, and cultural changes that accompanied Ulpiana from the first to the fourth century CE.