Identifiers and Identification Methods in the Ancient World

Legal Documents in Ancient Societies III

edited by M. Depauw and S. Coussement

Book cover: Identifiers and Identification Methods in the Ancient World

Extent: 292 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Classical Studies

Series: Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta

Series volume number: 229

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2014)

ISBN: 9789042929838

Price: $105.00

Out of stock

This volume provides a survey of how people were identified in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and Rome. Rather than discussing the identifiers themselves, the contributions focus on the selection of elements such as names, genealogy, titles, or ethnics, as well as on legal confirmation of identity in the form of witnesses, seals or signatures. The varying socio-onomastic and legal conventions illustrate intense cultural exchange as well as regional traditions in the Ancient World, and this collection of papers will be of interest to both social and legal historians.


This volume provides a survey of how people were identified in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and Rome. Rather than discussing the identifiers themselves, the contributions focus on the selection of elements such as names, genealogy, titles, or ethnics, as well as on legal confirmation of identity in the form of witnesses, seals or signatures. The varying socio-onomastic and legal conventions illustrate intense cultural exchange as well as regional traditions in the Ancient World, and this collection of papers will be of interest to both social and legal historians.

  • Edited by S Coussement
  • Edited by M Depauw

"...this is a helpful book that will provide a quick overview of all possible identifiers in various regions and time periods." --Arthur Verhoogt, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2015.08.13
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