Online: Theophoric Personal Names in Graeco-Roman Egypt. The Case of Sarapis

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Via History of the Ancient World

Theophoric Personal Names in Graeco-Roman Egypt. The Case of SarapisWilly Clarysse (Leuven) and Mario C.D. Paganini (Oxford)

Abstract: The present study, with its concentration on the diffusion of Sarapis names, is intended to demonstrate how onomastic data, collected in computerised databases, can be useful in different ways. It took a long time before parents were prepared to give children Sarapis names, and the majority (85%) were derivations (e.g. Sarapion, Sarapias) rather than full theophoric names (e.g Sarapadoros, Sarapammon), which occur only in Roman times. Some names like Sarapous and Sarapas are geographically limited, and a local martyr cult preseves the popularity of Sarapion and Sarapammon into the Christian period in Middle Egypt. The refinement of the statistical method may lead to wider and different questions.