Project Description
This project investigates how socially marginalized groups in the Roman world expressed their identity and sought to be recognized as part of the communities around them. It focuses on funerary inscriptions left by individuals at the edges of ancient society—slaves and freed persons, women and minors, immigrants and foreigners—to understand the strategies they used to assert their presence and achieve some form of social inclusion. Drawing on evidence from different regions and time periods, the project addresses three key research questions:
- What rhetorical strategies were used to construct a memory that legitimized an individual and their group in the eyes of a community that had excluded them?
- How did the mobility of individuals and groups affect their chances of being included or integrated?
- What can we learn from these ancient experiences to better understand the challenges of inclusion today?
Research team
The research team includes scholars of the Universities of Genova and the University of Seville, with expertise in Latin epigraphy, literature, rhetoric, and Roman social history. Their combined approach will enable a contextual and interdisciplinary analysis of the selected material, shedding light on how marginal voices sought visibility, legitimacy, and connection in the ancient world.
Research Units:
- University of Genova: Biagio Santorelli (PI), Alice Bonandini, Elena Cimarosti, Arianna Fecit, Lisa Longoni, Gabriella Moretti
- University of Seville: María Limón Belén (Associate PI), Anthony Álvarez Melero, Francisco Cidoncha