Heikki Solin#

1. Inscriptions #

A new edition of the Latin inscriptions of Southern Italy (Latium, Campania, Lucania, Bruttii, Sicily and Sardinia with the minor islands), which will appear as part X of the Corpus inscriptionum published by the Academy of Berlin (it will replace the first edition published by Theodor Mommsen in 1883). Directly involved in this publication are my close collaborators Prof. Olli Salomies, Dr. Mika Kajava, Mr Kalle Korhonen and Mr Pekka Tuomisto, plus several graduate students, all from the Department of Classics in Helsinki. I have been preparing the edition since 1979, studying and photographing the material in situ; M. Kajava and K. Korhonen have taken an active part in this work, Kajava from the very beginning, Korhonen from 1995 onwards. In the publishing work, Olli Salomies has been involved from the very beginning. The project has required years of fieldwork in Southern Italy, archival research work above all in Rome and Naples (State Archives and archives of Departments of Antiquities), and research work in libraries.

We have built up a large CIL X archive over the course of years, which includes tens of thousands of photographs, microfilms and photocopies of ancient epigraphical manuscripts and a large collection of Italian local literature needed in the research work. This archive is also at the disposal of foreign scholars, many of whom have already visited the archive.

To publish these epigraphic sources properly requires an interdisciplinary approach and certain practical qualilities such as a command of photography and driving abilities. The main result of this project is naturally the new edition itself with its complete photographic documentation and the thorough historical and philological exegesis of the epigraphic texts. But it is also important for epigraphic studies in general. The new edition, needless to say, also has great importance for the study of political and social history, onomastics or the history of Latin language, to mention just some of the disciplines that can profit from our edition.

The main cooperative partners are the Department of Geography at the University of Helsinki (cartography) (Finland), the Depatments of Antiquities of Rome, Latium, Naples, Pompeii and Molise, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the German Archaeological Institute of Rome, the Universities of Rome and Naples, the Monastery of Montecassino, several municipalities in Latium, Campania and Molise, local history associations and private persons who are interested in the past history of their home district (Italy); the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Kommission für Alte Geschichte in Munich (Germany). Among other partners, there are several universities, research institutes and museums in Europe and America.

Other major epigraphic projects: A new edition of ancient curse inscriptions, aimed at replacing the old edition by A. Audollent from 1904. The other editor is David Jordan (Athens). No date of final publication can be established.

An edition of Roman wall-inscriptions in the Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum. For the moment, the work is in abeyance.

An edition of the wall-inscriptions of Ostia in the the series "Scavi di Ostia". The fieldwork is virtually finished, but the publication work is in the same state as the previous work.

2. Ancient Onomastics:#

Introduction to Ancient Onomastics. There is, mirabile dictu, no general introduction to Greco-Roman onomastics. My intention is to fill this gap by writing a short introduction to the topic. It is probably the interdisciplinary character of onomastic resesarch that has so far frightened scholars from undertaking such a general treatment.

Another larger undertaking of an onomastic nature is a comprehensive analysis of the Greek personal names in Rome. When the new edition of my onomasticon of the Greek names in Rome appears in 2002 (by W. de Gruyter, Berlin - New York), the prerequisite for a historico-philological analysis of the names will have been fulfilled.

A third main onomastic undertaking, the accomplishment of which I would like to further, is the compiling of a comprehensive Onomasticon of Roman names. There is no such Onomasticon. I have negotiated with several European colleagues about this matter, but the project is still in the embryonic stage. First of all, it needs sufficient European funding. (See Bibliogr. No. 334.)

In addition, I would like to mention that I am continually writing shorter and longer articles on onomastic topics and that also a few books are in preparation (see Bibliogr. Nos. 328, 329).

As a fourth project, I would like to mention a historico-philological study on Roman slave names, the writing of which has become topical after the publication of my onomasticon of Roman slave names in 1996 (Bibliogr. No. 244). The monograph will be published by the Academy of Mainz.

3. Social history and demography of the Roman Empire #

A third field capturing my attention in recent years is the demography of the Roman Empire. I enthused over it especially when giving a seminar on the topic as a guest professor in Hamburg in 1990.The object of my interest has been especially the eastern population in the western part of the Empire. See No. 4.

4. Judaism in the Graeco-Roman World#

From demographic studies, it was no great step to Jews whom I have been studying intensively from the beginning of the eighties onwards. In 1983 I published a large study of more than 200 pages on the spreading of Jews in the western part of the Roman world. After shorter contributions on African, Pannonian and Sicilian Jews (see Bibliogr. Nos. 168, 183, 264) it is my enthusiastic intention to return to Roman Jews (see Bibliogr. Nos. 339, 341-344, 347-348).

5. Ancient Medicine#

In recent years I have become more and more interested in ancient medicine. It is my intention, on the one hand, to continue to present the Hippocratic tradition to the Finnish audience, and on the other hand to study especially the Roman health service personnel's social position; such an approach would have a plausible connection to my onomastic studies.

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